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It may come as a surprise to know that police generally need a warrant to search your house, but not to track your whereabouts through your cell phone.

This is what Sen. Ron Wyden, an Oregon Democrat who has become the Senate's leading champion of electronic privacy, wants to change. Wyden recently spoke with CNET in an interview transcribed below about his forthcoming legislation.

It's hardly Wyden's first foray into technology. In 2006, he introduced a pro-Net neutrality bill, opposed a renewal of the Patriot Act, and proposed restrictions on the Bush administration's controversial Total Information … Read more

People are passionate about page numbers.

Just ask the hundreds of posters in Amazon's Kindle forums who've debated the issue of how Amazon numbers its pages with "locations" on the Kindle and in its Kindle e-book-reading apps. And just ask the readers who've e-mailed me over the years complaining about Amazon's numbering scheme.

"I got a Kindle for Christmas and I like it a lot but I still don't understand what those numbers are at the bottom of the screen," one reader e-mailed me recently. "Someone explained it to me … Read more

There are some do's and don'ts with location sharing. Things like not publicly posting geo-tagged photos of gold bricks near open windows, or alerting the world to your extended absence are the more obvious ones. But not everyone knows these things, which is why Microsoft is sharing some tips of its own based on research it commissioned around location based services.

The 1,500-person survey, which was conducted back in December of last year, involved people in the U.S., the U.K., Canada, Japan, and Germany, and will be discussed by Microsoft's Chief Privacy Officer Brendon … Read more

Federal law needs to be updated to halt the common police practice of tracking the whereabouts of Americans' mobile devices without a search warrant, a Democratic senator said today.

Ron Wyden, an Oregon Democrat, said it was time for Congress to put an end to this privacy-intrusive practice, which the Obama Justice Department has sought to defend in court.

In an luncheon speech at the libertarian Cato Institute in Washington, D.C., Wyden said his staff was drafting legislation to restore "the balance necessary to protect individual rights" by requiring police to obtain a search warrant signed by … Read more

Relying on drivers to not use their phones each time they get behind the wheel is about as effective as McDonald's expecting consumers to substitute a salad for fries with their value meal. But LocationLabs, which develops location-based services for mobile devices, released an Android app that takes the honor system out of the equation, and automatically prevents the driver from receiving or making calls or texts while driving.

LocationLabs' DriveSmart Plus application is a one-time opt-in subscription service that automatically enforces this practice. Ford's MyFord and MyLincoln Touch infotainment systems have a similar "Do Not Disturb&… Read more

Lookout Mobile Security has become a darling of the Android app world, although the hype isn't without good reason. Even if the antivirus and malware threats haven't fully materialized quite yet for the mobile operating system--and there are some indications that's changing--Lookout offers enough solid security features to make it a must-have app. It comes with a free phone locator service that can be upgraded to include remote wipe and remote lock options, as well as online backup for your contacts and anti-malware scans.

So what did we think of it? Check out the review for a … Read more

The bottom line: Lookout's broad range of effective mobile device-specific security features are coupled with a minimal performance hit, making it a must-have app.

Update: This review was updated on January 26, 2011 with revised benchmarks in the Performance section. Accordingly, the score has been raised from 4.5 stars to 5 stars.

Review: Antivirus prevention isn't anywhere near as necessary for Android devices as it is for Windows computers just yet. As Android's market share grows, though, so will the attacks. More importantly for the here and now, Lookout Mobile Security provides key security options that … Read more

Collection managers are databases optimized for collectors. Tian's GCstar is a free tool that can not only help you manage your collections but also keep track of items you've loaned to friends and neighbors and even update your records automatically by fetching additional information online. It's an open-source project, but it's not some half-app work-in-progress.

GCstar opened with its main interface and a New Collection dialog showing numerous default selections. GCstar can manage any collection, which is to say a collection of anything, from digital snapshots on your hard drive to vintage cars in your garage. … Read more

A news item this week over at AppleInsider uncovered a troubling practice by a developer at the iTunes App Store. Apparently, users who downloaded a free massive multiplayer online game from a Chinese developer complained of unauthorized in-app purchases, running up the bills on their iTunes accounts. One user reported the situation to Apple resulting in him getting a refund for the fraudulent purchases and Apple promising to investigate the claims.

Even with a closed system like iTunes, apparently it is still possible for dishonest people to find a way to steal our money. Let's hope that Apple gets to the bottom of this case and finds a way to prevent these unauthorized purchases in the future. Until there's more news about this problem, be sure to regularly check your iTunes receipts (sent to the e-mail address attached to your iTunes account) for strange charges and report the issue to Apple if you have any problems.

This week's apps include a unique location-based social network app and an arcade golf game where you flick to win.… Read more