Banks mining social media sites for personal information: Via San Francisco News - abc7news.com .

Web users are becoming increasinly aware that companies are secretly gathering and selling the information they post on social sites like Facebook and Twitter. But now, banks may also be judging them based on their social network profile.

For the first time, banks can look pretty deeply into your private life by looking at your Facebook or other social media page and they may even consider your network of friends. The question is, "Will banks use your online persona to decide whether to give you credit?"

Personal finance expert Erica Sandberg is all over the Internet. Anyone can read about her on Facebook or LinkedIn. That's why she's very careful what she writes.

"It's very similar to standing in the middle of the park and screaming. Do you want to scream good things or do you want to scream crazy things?" she says. [ Read more ... ]

Side A: DJs Win Laptops Back: Via EFF.org Updates.

Following a hearing in the San Francisco Superior Court today, DJs and party guests Justin Credible and Matthew Higgins had their illegally seized laptops returned to them. This is great news, and a real relief to the pair who have been without their machines for over a month. It started on Halloween, when San Francisco police officers broke up a private party and took the computers -- even though neither laptop was being used to play music. The police department attorney conceded at today's hearing that no charges would ever be filed against Credible or Higgins, which was clear from the very beginning. [ Read more ... ]

Smart Parking Meters Hacked — Free Parking For All!: Via Threat Level.

LAS VEGAS — Scofflaws could hack the smart cards that access electronic parking meters in large cities around the United States, researchers are finding. The smart cards pay for parking spots, and their programming could be easily changed to obtain unlimited free parking.

It took researcher Joe Grand only three days to design an attack on the smart cards. The researchers examined the meters used in San Francisco, but the same and similar electronic meters are being installed in cities around the world.

“It wasn’t technically complicated and the fact that I can do it in three days means that other people are probably already doing it and probably taking advantage of it,” said Joe Grand, a designer and hardware hacker and one of the hosts of the Discovery Channel’s Prototype This show. “It seems like the system wasn’t analyzed at all.” [ Read more ... ]

The Book vs. The Kindle: Via EFF.org Updates.

San Francisco bookstore Green Apple Books has put together a series of humorous videos that point up the advantages of paper books over Amazon's Kindle e-book reader.

Round 1 takes a look at how the Kindle fares for buyers who might want to resell their book (the so-called first sale doctrine): [ Read more ... ]

Cameras survey Chicago's toughest blocks, but do they reduce crime?: San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom has cited Chicago's experience in arguing for an expansion of his city's camera surveillance program, and even test-drove one of Chicago's cameras during a 2005 visit.

But San Francisco differs from Chicago in one significant respect: In San Francisco, no one watches the action as the cameras record it. Police track down the footage later if they find out that a camera may have recorded a serious crime such as a homicide. No one shifts San Francisco's 70 cameras into better position in an emergency. [ Read more ... ]

Appeals Court Battle Over NSA Surveillance on August 15: "

Government Aims to Block Accountability for Illegal Spying on Americans

San Francisco - In the wake of Congress approving a dramatic expansion of U.S. warrantless wiretapping powers, the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals will hear arguments on the future of two critical lawsuits over illegal surveillance of Americans. The hearing is set for August 15, at 2 p.m. in San Francisco.

The government is fighting to get the cases thrown out of court, contending that the litigation jeopardizes state secrets. The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) is representing the plaintiffs in Hepting v. AT&T, which accuses the telecom giant of collaborating with the National Security Agency (NSA) in illegal electronic surveillance of millions of AT&T's customers. The court will also hear the arguments on the future of Al-Haramain Islamic Foundation v. Bush, a case alleging that the government illegally wiretapped calls between the charity and its lawyers. [ Read more ... ]

Aug 9: Fred von Lohmann speaking on panel at ABA Annual Meeting, San Francisco: "Aug 9 10:30 AM: ABA Annual Meeting, panel: 'The Whole World Is Watching! Privacy, Copyright and Parental Control In the Age of YouTube, MySpace and Beyond', Moscone West, San Francisco http://www.abanet.org/annual/2007/ "

(Read Original Article - Via EFF_Calendar - Week.)

Yahoo Unveils Personalized Ads: Let's say a 25-year-old man in San Francisco is shopping online for a hybrid car. Suddenly, a display ad for the Toyota Prius appears on the Web site he's viewing. The ad appears in colors known for grabbing the attention of men his age. The ad lists San Francisco prices and directs him to his nearest dealer for a test drive.

In a bid to keep up with its competition, Yahoo yesterday launched a system to let marketers tailor advertising content to individual users, theoretically making the ads more effective and, therefore, more lucrative for Yahoo.

Behavioral targeting has been the focus for the Internet giants, many of which have offered large sums for online advertising firms that help track Web users' habits. [ Read more ... ]