US Government gathering data on international travelers

Over the weekend, the Department of Homeland Security admitted that a government program was secretly collecting data on millions of travelers entering and leaving the U.S.

The program, known as the Automated Targeting System, then assign travelers a terrorist-risk rating. The information, which includes personal information, travel data, and court records will be kept for 40 years.

Worse, the information will be shared with other parts of the government on an as-needed basis, like for criminal prosecutions.

Talk about Big Brother.

Perhaps this is what safety has come down to: face recognition software that can pick a terrorist out of a cast of thousands. Travel records that are designed to highlight those who pose a flight risk.

In my mind, my travel plans are between me, my family, my airline and my bank account. Knowing that a trip to Mexico or the Mideast can put me on a travel blacklist doesn't exactly make me want to run to Priceline.com.

Osama Bin Ladin virus is a disrupter

As if he hasn't done enough damage, Osama Bin Laden is now attacking computers world-wide.

Well, not exactly. Here's what's going on: An email featuring pictures of Osama Bin-Laden being hanged are being sent around the world. The re: line on the email says something like "Osama Bin Laden Captured or "Osama Hanged."

If you open up the attachment, it immediately destroys the zero sector of your hard drive, where vital information is kept.

In addition to watching out for the Osama email virus, you should beware of new phishing scams making their way around the globe.

A visit to McAfee.com's threat center shows the top email scams for the past 24 hours involve Fifth Third Bank. In fact, of the top 10 phishing scams, all involve Fifth Third. They account for nearly 98 percent of all phishing scam emails making their way around the globe.

So if you get an email telling you your Fifth Third account needs updating – beware.

Has your child's identity been stolen? Here are the signs to watch out for

Children's identities are being poached at an unprecedented rate. The only problem is, no one knows exactly how many kids' identities are being stolen.

There are two reasons for that. First, more than 65 percent of the cases, the thief is a parent or close relative. They have access to their child's social security information and use it to get credit cards and other lines of credit.

The other reason that more isn't known about child ID theft is that the theft isn't discovered for years. Most find out they were victims years later when they try to apply for a credit card, get a school loan or a driver's license, according to the Identity Theft Resource Center.

Signs your child's identity might have been stolen include having the child's name appear on your caller ID when a family member calls you, your child can't open a bank account or get a driver's license. I'll put other red flags up on my website at www.thinkglink.com.

Superman Vision: the TSA will test a new X-ray machine that can see through your clothes.

I grew up knowing that Superman had X-ray vision, but no one else could see through clothes except doctors with an x-ray machine.

But technology has changed all that, and soon Phoenix Sky Airport will test a new federal traveler screening device that uses x-rays to detect concealed weapons and explosives.

The technology is called backscatter – and it hasn't been used because up until now, it showed too much of what was underneath your clothes. That's right. In addition to showing weapons and explosives, apparently the x-ray were a bit too X-rated.

Now the TSA says they've modified the technology so some parts of you will be blurred while the weapons can be seen clearly. To protect passengers, the images won't be viewed as you walk down the screening line, but by security officers in remote locations.

TSA says that the data will be instantly deleted after passengers walk through but since they're already keeping our travel data for 40 years, this could be next.

The Real December Deals

Now that Black Friday is over, the real holiday shopping has begun. Almost instantly, Christmas trees were put up, lights were lit, and the season moved into full gear.

For shoppers, there are already good deals to be had. But I think the best is yet to come. Year-end deals should be superb. I'm not buying anything big until then.

But I am getting into the spirit.

My own holiday shopping started last night, when I logged onto Costco.com and ordered my holiday cards. The first order of 50 cards was $15.99, including envelopes, and each subsequent set of 35 was $5.99.

That was a pretty good deal. This year, I'm trying to give inexpensive, but meaningful gifts. My sister sent me an early holiday gift of a set of mugs with our niece's photos on them. A bunch of sites, like Kodakgallery.com and zazzle.com, will sell mugs with photos for around $12 plus shipping. It's a perfect Grandparent gift for the holidays that's in your price range.