INTERNATIONAL FUNDS TRANSFERS FROZEN BY SWIFT

SWIFT Says No Transfers until Parliament Votes

The Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Transactions (SWIFT) says it will not share European banking data with U.S. officials, pending further action by the European Parliament, reports Handelsblatt (in German).

On February 10, Parliament will vote whether to accept the SWIFT agreement reached between U.S. authorities and the EU Council of Ministers late last year, prior to the Lisbon Treaty going into effect. The agreement allows for the sharing of European citizens' transaction data with the U.S. Justice Department for counterterrorism efforts. Under the deal, SWIFT was to have resumed the data sharing as of February 1, but the society now says it will not engage in such transfers until Parliament has had its say.

It is widely expected that Parliament will vote against extending the agreement next week. "This shows that companies in the EU take Parliament seriously," says Henriette Tielemans, a partner in the Brussels office of Covington & Burling LLP. "It also shows that Parliament has every intent to use the powers that it received under the Lisbon Treaty."

EU Parliament to Reject US Demand for Bank Transfer Data

Recent years of what some have described as over-reaching US policy has lead to a backlash from the European Parliament.

SWIFT, the Society for Worldwide Funds Transfers, is the mechanism by which nearly all international bank transfers are sent and received, and by which funds are verified internationally. SWIFT handles some 15 million international money transfers each day.

Secret deals during the last decade moved SWIFT servers from Europe to US Soil, so that US intelligence agencies could monitor money transfer activity over the SWIFT system. This arrangement met with severe opposition when it saw the light of day in 2009, as SWIFT defied US requests and moved its servers back to Europe.

FULL STORY: SPIEGEL ONLINE

Now the European Parliament is likely to spike a deal which would allow US terrorism investigators access to European bank transfer data. Privacy advocates oppose the deal and Germany's Federal Criminal Police Office says the data profiling is ineffective in counter terrorism efforts.

US Loses Ground in Swiss Diplomatic Banking Standoff

UBS CUSTOMER WINS SWISS APPEAL, DENIES CAUSE IN TAX EVASION CLAIMS

4,450 OTHER CASES IN JEOPARDY BY PRECEDENT-SETTING CASE

FULL STORY - NY TIMES

The case follows a deal in August in which Switzerland agreed to give data to authorities in the United States on as many as 4,450 UBS accounts to settle a lawsuit in which the United States had sought information on as many as 52,000 accounts. This ruling throws doubt on whether Switzerland will be able to turn over all 4,450 accounts.

2 in 5 Employers Admit Eliminating Candidates Due To Facebook Profile

Creditors have already admitted to screening you on Facebook, now its employers. Half of employers now admit to screening your facebook profile as part of the hiring process.

COMPLETE STORY from CareerBuilder.co.uk

What if they have the wrong person? Search for friends by your own name, and see how many pop up. Could you be confused with them? What if one of those other people with your name decides to pretend to be your facebook profile, to improve their chances of getting a job, or even credit?


A new Facebook application can make sure your profile checks out as yours, and that nobody else's can pretend to be you. Identify.nu, a service of the Consular Chamber of Commerce has created a global platform whereby members provide passport copies to consular officers anywhere in the world, who then verify and legalize a copy of the passport for upload to identify.nu secure servers in Denmark. The member always owns and can delete the data.

COMPLETE STORY - FACEBOOK APPLICATION

Members can trade passport identification with other members, and can authorize social networking interfaces like Facebook and even Gmail to display certain criteria, such as the name, age and confirmation that a full passport copy including passport photo is on file and can be provided to other members when authorized by the identified person.

Credit Issuers Turn to Social Networks to Profile You

It's not just your score anymore. Now it's your friend list too.

CNBC: "They're able to scour the social media universe. They are constantly listening and reporting back."

-Jesse Torres, CEO of Pan American Bank in Los Angeles, regarding the new Social Network Information Aggrigators

COMPLETE STORY

New Hampshire Bars RFID

Leading the nation in what is sure to be a wildfire of similar legislation, NH House votes to bar the unauthorized implants of tracking chips in people and clothing, criminalizes the use of RFID for tracking consumers.

FULL STORY: ASSOCIATED PRESS

In a further sign of things to come, the State is updating its anti-skimming laws to prohibit the closing of data broadcast by RFID-enabled credit and debit cards. The affect may render RFID without value to retailers otherwise supporting its use.

Local Governments Not Qualified to Handle Personal Data

Yet another example of local government offices unqualified to handle personally identifiable information.

THINK TWICE before you turn over any personal document or information to local government, or even worse, any government contractor.

FULL STORY:

Confidential information abandoned in forgotten Houseing Authority building