Articles tagged with: data

The Department of Homeland Security in the US has just issued new guidelines confirming that it can seize and search through files and data on your laptop, mobile or PDA, whenever you pass through customs.

The guidelines go so far as to say that hardware and files can be taken from the airport, the contents copied and the information shared with other US agencies. In fact, border agents don't even need probable cause to do this. Thanks to a court ruling back in April, they can nab your equipment on a whim - although they do have to destroy any copied files if nothing out of sorts is found.

Interestingly, "correspondence contained in a sealed letter class mail" cannot be opened without a warrant - leading some to suggest you should just mail any data you'd rather not fall into the hands of US officials direct to your destination, and then pop it in your laptop when you arrive. Head over here for the full guidance in pdf.

[Register]

Ever lost a memory stick? Not to worry - the men and women charged with defending our freedoms have lost 131 of them since 2004, not to mention the 658 Ministry of Defence laptops that have also gone walkies.

The figures were uncovered by the Lib Dems in a parliamentary question to the Government, which also revealed that five pieces of the missing MoD kit held information classified as "secret". Whoops!

It seems it's not just Government departments and MI6 officers that can be loose with personal data on laptops. The Register claims to have seen a letter from the owners of the Daily Mail, Northcliffe Media, to staff advising them of the theft of a laptop containing their names, addresses, bank accounts and sort codes.

That's right, that's same newspaper that just yesterday, ran a headline on "The bunglers of Whitehall", who lost discs containing the personal data of taxpayers. And it's the same tabloid that screamed "Oh no, minister!", when Hazel Blears committed another "data blunder". Her mistake? Er, having a laptop stolen ...

[The Register]

If you're thinking of offloading your original iPhone on eBay or to a family member come iPhone 3G launch day on 11th July, you may want to upgrade the software to version 2.0 first.

Appleinsider.com has spotted that the new update now securely deletes all data when you hit 'erase iPhone'. Previously, iPhone only binned the information, leaving it open to being 'unbinned' and accessed by anyone with the right know-how.

Now the software does a popper spring clean by overwriting your contacts, photos and other precious details with random strings of ones and zeros. It does mean the process takes a tad longer but, short of having a buddy at the Pentagon, it's all but impossible to reverse. So no worrying about whether the text messages you sent your ex will crop up on the Internet. We'll sleep easier tonight.

The number of 3G users in Europe has just crept past the 100 million mark - no doubt helped by the sudden penchant for mobile broadband.

Informa Telecoms and Media says that at the end of May there were 101.5 million 3G subscriptions, although that's still a minuscule proportion of the total 910.8 million European mobiles (although a significant number of these may be attributed to the several pre-pay GSM bricks lurking at the back of our office filing cabinet).

Top of the 3G league was Sweden, followed by Norway and Italy who each had well over 25% subscriptions given over to 3G. With Portugal, Austria and Spain occupying the rest of the top six, it seems the UK may have some catching up to do.

[Reuters]

Half the point of owning an iPhone is the generous unlimited data package - a factor that's set to come into its own with the 3G version. But with it has come a warning, from the Times, about browsing the web while abroad.

TimesOnline points out that O2 will be charging nearly £3/MB for roaming within the EU and almost £6/MB for the rest of the world. In other words, a single minute of cat-falling-in-a-pond hilarity on YouTube could end up costing you up to £12 when you get back home.

Our advice: leave the phone set to the default "Data Roaming Off" setting when you venture abroad. The cat can wait.