The Australian government has been busy mapping the facial features of adult citizens that will be stored in a government database and used with facial recognition software to identify and track people on public surveillance cameras.

Until now, few Australians were aware that their facial features were being mapped and stored in a central database of drivers license pictures that the Government is sharing with state and federal police.

Facial recognition experts claim successful match rates are around 90 percent, causing concerns that the names of people with faces that have a similar structure to recorded criminals could be misidentified.

Australian police want to use facial recognition in smart CCTV cameras that would make it easy to track people on public surveillance cameras.

Some airports already use face recognition tools and there has been talk of the US using the technology at border crossing checkpoints.

The Australian government began building the facial recognition database last December.

Government officials say the database will eventually be shared with other government departments.

[ Source: Daily Telegraph ]

We have launched the People Search Forums to help you find and reunite with friends and family that you have lost contact with.

To post a search in the People Search Forums, you must register and follow the posting guidelines.

The search forums are divided into eight different boards, including: Find Family, Find Friends, Find Classmates, Find Military Buddies, Find Birth Parents, Find Adopted Children, Find Lost Loves and Find Coworkers.

We also have a tips post to help you optimize your search post for best results.

Click People Search Forums to register and post your people search for free.

The forums are part of the Skipease people search and public records site.

Stung and chastened by an onslaught of privacy problems, Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg has promised to fix mistakes at the world’s number one social network.

In an email exchange with tech blogger Robert Scoble on Sunday, Zuckerberg admitted that Facebook has made mistakes and will fix user privacy controls.

Zuckerberg reportedly stated in the email that –

“I know we’ve made a bunch of mistakes, but my hope at the end of this is that the service ends up in a better place and that people understand that our intentions are in the right place and we respond to the feedback from the people we serve.”

According to Zuckerberg, Facebook is set to start speaking publicly this week about user privacy control changes that they have been working on.

Facebook is planning to simplify privacy options to please privacy critics.

Facebook maintains that users like their latest social networking options, but want easy ways to opt out of sharing personal details with third-party websites and data collection companies.

[ Source: Breitbart.com ]

Many consumers don’t realize this, but one of the most popular places for collecting and mining consumer data is at their grocery store.

The KY Post recently featured a news story about how grocery store chain Kroger collects and analyses customer behavior through their Kroger Plus Cards.

Bill Brown, a Kroger customer featured in the story, acknowledges that he is aware that his grocery card tells Kroger what he buys and when he buys it. However, he isn’t concerned about privacy issues when he uses the card due to the cost savings the card gives him.

Millions of Kroger customers receive coupons in Loyal Customer Mailings that are based on mined data from their Plus Card information.

Matching customers with the best coupons is a complex effort. One Kroger mailing was individually targeted to 95% of the recipients.

Yes, your mailing is based on what you buy.

Businesses like Kroger are stepping up their data mining efforts to learn more about customer behavior and increase sales.

It is estimated that 40% of all U.S. households have a Kroger’s card.

Interestingly, Kroger also owns a 50% stake in dunnhumbyUSA, the company that handles its data mining operations.

Over 330 dunnhumby employees analyze customer data daily to identify the best shoppers for Kroger.

Other dunnhumbyUSA clients include Macy’s, Procter & Gamble, Coca Cola, Pepsico, Kellog’s, Kraft Foods and Home Depot. Panera Bread is also using dunnhumby to create a customer loyalty plan.

A treasure trove of customer data is collected and mined daily by dunnhumby which leads to privacy concerns for some.

To protect its customers, Kroger lets card holders opt out of their mailings and Kroger executives say that consumer information is never sold to third parties.

[ Source: KY Post ]

Pennsylvania Attorney General Tom Corbett doesn’t like what some Twitter users are tweeting about him.

In fact, the Pennsylvania attorney general’s office has sent a subpoena that threatens Twitter officials with arrest unless they identify two users that criticize Tom Corbett and his public corruption investigations.

The subpoena demands that Twitter’s custodian of records release “any and all subscriber information” for the accounts bfbarbie and CasablancaPA, including name, address, contact information, creation date, and IP address for the two users.

The two users have been critical of Corbett’s use of grand juries and suggest that he uses investigations for political gain and to go after political adversaries.

Neither user seems phased, as they are still tweeting against the AG and even wearing the subpoena as a badge of honor.

A Twitter representative was summoned to appear before a state grand jury on May 14 to “give evidence regarding alleged violations of the laws of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania.”

However, the vague court document does not specifics about what crime(s) are being investigated.

The subpoena was issued on May 6 and states that failure to appear could result in an arrest warrant being issued for contempt of court.

It is not known whether or not Twitter has released the requested information to the court.

Vic Walczak of the American Civil Liberties Union stated that the subpoena “raises grave concerns about abuse of the grand jury process to retaliate against political critics and opponents.”

Walczak further stated that US citizens “have a right to criticize government officials and to do so anonymously.”

Last week Corbett won the Republican primary to run for governor of Pennsylvania. He claims that he doesn’t have any problem with people criticizing him on Twitter.

However, he would not discuss the subpoena, saying the investigation stops him from discussing the issue publicly.

[ Source: WHTM.com ]