The Metropolitan Police Service has signed a identity and access management deal with BT's Global Services division. Under the contract, BT will integrate elements from existing systems to create a comprehensive identity and access management system.

Click here to read the full story: Met Police signs identity management deal

The UK's Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) is funding a major new study into the possibilities of using the human ear as a biometric security system. The council has awarded a grant to the University of Southampton to study otoacoustic emissions (OAE), which are sounds that the ear generates in response to auditory stimuli.

Click here to read the full story: Researchers study ears for unbeatable biometrics

The government is considering monitoring communications on social networking sites, ministers have revealed.

The recent introduction to UK law of the EU Data Retention Directive means that ISPs are now required to keep information on email and internet use.

But home officer minister Vernon Coaker told a Commons committee yesterday that social networking sites, such as Facebook, MySpace or Bebo, are not covered by the new laws.

Click here to read the full story: Government wants to monitor Facebook users

The House of Lords Constitution Committee report Surveillance: Citizens and the State makes 44 recommendations to protect individuals from invasions of their privacy related to surveillance and data collection.

The report urged the government to exercise more restraint over the use of data collection and electronic surveillance powers amid fears it is "undermining" the right to individual privacy and liberty.

Click here to read the full article: Data privacy and the surveillance state

UK data protection watchdog the Information Commissioner's Office (ICO) has launched a new initiative designed to promote safer data handling practices within organisations.

The Personal Information Promise, unveiled on the third annual European Data Protection Day, is a voluntary charter that would allow businesses and government departments to "demonstrate their organisation's senior level commitment to data protection".

Click here to read the full story: ICO launches Personal Information Promise

The government has begun to advertise for an independent commissioner to oversee the £4.7bn National Identity Scheme.

The post is intended to reassure the public that the scheme will not be subject to function creep and impinge further on civil liberties.

Home secretary Jacqui Smith said the commissioner will be formally independent and have a high public profile as a defendant of citizens' interests.

Click here to read the full story: Government advertises for ID card watchdog

The head of MI5 has said he is concerned over new lines of communication between terrorists, particularly internet phone calls.

In an interview with The Daily Telegraph, spy chief Jonathan Evans expressed concern that such calls represented a "significant detriment to national security" and that new powers were needed to tackle the threat.

Click here to read the full story: MI5 chief concerned over web phone calls

Parliament is to vote on giving Information Commissioner Richard Thomas a 40 per cent pay rise, in a move intended to underline the increased importance and status of his post in the wake of mounting public concern over the security of personal data.

Click here to read the full story: Information Commissioner to get pay rise

The Government Gateway web site that allows businesses securely to interact with Whitehall services has reopened after the most recent government data loss forced the site to close for 24 hours over the weekend.

A USB memory stick was lost by an employee of supplier Atos Origin, which won the five-year, £46.7m contract to manage the web site in 2006. The storage device was found two weeks ago outside a branch of the Brewers Fayre pub chain in Cannock, Staffordshire. It was handed to the Mail on Sunday, which handed it on to police.

Click here to read the full story: Government Gateway secured and back online

Internet giant Google celebrated its 10th birthday this week.The firm was started by founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin in a Stanford dorm room, and then run out of a suburban garage.

From these lowly beginnings Google has come to dominate the web search market, expanding into enterprise search, messaging, blogging, social networking and recently the Android mobile phone platform.

Click here to read the full story: Google celebrates its 10th birthday