Information Week has published a quick, convenient list of 5 tips that you can use to keep you Google searches private and protect your online searching and surfing. The Google search privacy tips include:

1. Delete Your History
2. Clear Out Your Cache
3. Bust Your Cookies
4. Use an Anonymous Surfing Tool
5. Rethink Your Search Strategies

The article goes into specific details on each privacy search tip. You can read the entire article @ Five Ways To Keep Your Google Searches Private.

ChoicePoint Inc. agreed today to pay a $15 million settlement to resolve Federal Trade Commission charges that the company’s data security procedures violated consumers’ privacy rights, which allowed thieves posing as small business customers to access the ChoicePoint system and potentially compromised as many at 163,000 customer records at the beginning of 2005.

TMCnet is reporting that wireless cell phone service provider Verizon has thrown its support behind a bill that would protect customer cell phone records from being illegally obtained by data providers.

From the article –

Verizon Wireless issued the following statement today from Steve Zipperstein, vice president of legal and extreme affairs:

“As the first wireless company in the U.S. to take legal action to protect cell phone customers’ private account information from so-called online data brokers, Verizon Wireless applauds the efforts of Sens. Schumer, Specter and Nelson to protect our customers’ privacy from the crooks and predators who we’ve been hauling into civil court. The criminal penalties in this bill will provide another powerful weapon in the legal arsenal that the private sector and the government can use to protect consumers. We believe this legislation will give federal prosecutors and others in law enforcement the tools they need to crack down on this despicable practice and help defend the privacy of U.S. cell phone customers.”

You can read the entire article @ Verizon Wireless Approves of Cell Phone Privacy Bill.

The Register is reporting that Cingular is going after cell phone record providers for allegedly stealing customer phone records. Cingular won a temporary restraining order Friday against two companies it accuses of illegally accessing customer phone records and reselling them online.

However, the article also discusses that Cingular and other cell phone providers are not blameless in the increasing sale of phone records online.

From the article –

But embarrassment for the cellphone operator soared last week on the back of a CBS News item “which condemned the wireless industry at large for not protecting customer call records”, RCR Wireless News reports.

According to Cingular, Data Find “previously owned and operated several websites that advertise the sale of phone records, including http://locatecell.com/ and http://celltolls.com/, and that 1st Source Information Specialists, Inc. currently owns and operates these websites”.

Now for a trenchant quote from Joaquin Carbonell, Cingular’s top in-house lawyer:

“Cingular will not tolerate the theft of customer records We plan to continue fighting cell phone record theft on a number of fronts, including working with law enforcement and policymakers to crack down on websites that offer cell phone records for sale.”

As we reported last week, dozens of data brokers in the US make a business from selling call records - sometimes obtained from phone company insiders or by deception - for about $100 per account per month. The chief market is private investigators, but an investigation by the Chicago Sun Times suggests the information is available to anyone who’s prepared to pay. Few or no checks are applied over the identity of the person requesting information.

The entire article is available @ Cingular accuses two firms of stealing customer records.

Wired Safety is an organization and information clearinghouse that deals with safety and privacy issues for internet and mobile device users, including: identity and credential theft, online fraud and cyberstalking, hacking and malicious code attacks.

You can visit the Wired Safety site at WiredSafety.org.

If US Senator Charles Schumer ( D-N.Y. ) has his way, it will be a criminal offense to sell phone records. Numerous online services sell phone records, including cell phone records, to anyone willing to pay for them, according to an article in the Chicago Sun-Times.

Often these phone record providers skirt the law to obtain the phone records. One of the companies being called into question is locatecell.com. Locatecell.com is an online service that has been used to obtain phone records on government officials, police officers and FBI agents. Current Federal law is written too narrowly to cover the sale of these phone records.

From the article –

Criminals can use such records to expose a government informant who regularly calls a law enforcement official.

Suspicious spouses can see if their husband or wife is calling a certain someone a bit too often.

And employers can check whether a worker is regularly calling a psychologist — or a competing company.

…

Ernie Rizzo, a Chicago private investigator, said he uses a similar cell phone record service to conduct research for his clients. On Friday, for instance, Rizzo said he ordered the cell phone records of a suburban police chief whose wife suspects he is cheating on her.

“I would say the most powerful investigative tool right now is cell records,” Rizzo said. “I use it a couple times a week. A few hundred bucks a week is well worth the money.”

You can read the entire article @ Your phone records are for sale

According to a report from Channel 9 Eyewitness News in Greenville, NC, Marriott International has lost the backup tapes that contain personal information on over 200,000 customers.

From the report -

Marriott International says it’s missing important backup computer tapes. They contain credit card information and social security numbers for more than 200,000 customers, time-share owners with Marriott Vacation Club International. It’s not clear whether the tapes were lost or stolen. The company is offering affected customers the opportunity to enroll in a credit monitoring service at no charge.

Wired News is reporting on some clever hackers who have taken it upon themselves to protect the public from prying government eyes. According to the article, Austrian hackers have been foiling spy cams that monitor people in public places.

The hackers have used everything from simple ballons, to block the lenses on the public spy cams, to using techy infrared lights and lasers aimed at the cameras to disrupt image reception. They have even used an inexpensive 1-GHz satellite receiver to intercept the spy cam images.

Are these hackers troublemakers or modern day Robin Hoods, on a mission to protect the public’s privacy?

You can read the entire article by Ann Harrison @ Hackers Rebel Against Spy Cams

ChoicePoint, a leading provider of consumer information and database searches, has been put at the top of the “losers list” for TechTarget’s annual IT winners and losers of 2005, for their data security debacle that compromised 145,000 customer records and exposed the personal information in these records to hackers.

From the article —

ChoicePoint: The database broker tops the loser list both literally and figuratively after emerging as the poster child for corporate data insecurity. In September 2004, the company’s customer authentication processes were compromised; hackers accessed 145,000 customer records. Amazingly, the company waited until the following February to publicly disclose the breach, resulting in at least 750 cases of identity theft. Sure, there were plenty of other companies that fell prey to hackers and bad data management — and shame on them (i.e., LexisNexis and DSW). But ChoicePoint takes the prize because of its failure to manage the crisis appropriately. Not only did it wait some five months before notifying customers who were victims, it also seemingly underestimated the extent of the damage, adding another 17,000 names just last month in its quarterly report to the SEC. And the kicker? ChoicePoint actually had the audacity to charge victims seeking to access their information.

You can read the full list of TechTarget’s 2005 IT winners and losers @ 2005′S IT WINNERS AND LOSERS

The Associated Press is reporting that a Nigerian national has pleaded guilty to conspiracy and grand theft in a case involving an identity theft ring that obtained consumer data from provider ChoicePoint.

From the article –

Olatunji Oluwatosin, 42, of North Hollywood, Calif., was indicted by a grand jury in August on 22 counts of identity theft, conspiracy, grand theft and credit card fraud.

Oluwatosin pleaded guilty on Tuesday and is scheduled to be sentenced Feb. 10.

At the time of his indictment, prosecutors said the scheme cost at least $4 million in damages and involved 16 victims and five banks or credit card companies.

You can read the full AP article @ Nigerian pleads guilty in ChoicePoint case