================================================= Expat Worlds Monthly Digest ================================================= January, 2007 Vol. 9, Issue 1 .....IN THIS DIGEST..... ==== THE STORY =================== -=EXPAT WORLD'S Privacy World=- ==== OTHER EZINES ================ ==== EW SPECIAL ================== -=Need a Second Nationality/Passport?=- ==== HUMOR, TRIVIA, NEWS AND MORE... == -=Trivia=- -=News Story=- -=Jokes=- ==== THE RESOURCE TIP ============= -=Spyme Tools 1.5=- ==== INSIDE THE CURRENT EXPAT WORLD == -=Table of Content=- ==== THE STORY ================================== EXPAT WORLD'S Privacy World The American Privacy Police are "licence to snoop" on UK air travellers Air passengers face having credit card transactions and email messages inspected by the American snoop patrol. Britons flying to America could have their credit card and email accounts inspected by the United States authorities following a deal struck by Brussels and Washington. By using a credit card to book a flight, passengers face having other transactions on the card inspected by the American authorities. Providing an email address to an airline could also lead to scrutiny of other messages sent or received on that account. The extent of the demands were disclosed in "undertakings" given by the US Department of Homeland Security to the European Union and published by the Department for Transport after a Freedom of Information request. About four million Britons travel to America each year and the released document shows that the US has demanded access to far more data than previously realised. Not only will such material be available when combating terrorism but the Americans have asserted the right to the same information when dealing with other serious crimes. Shami Chakrabarti, the director of the human rights group Liberty, expressed horror at the extent of the information made available. "It is a complete handover of the rights of people travelling to the United States." As the Americans tightened security after the September 11 attacks, they demanded that airlines provide comprehensive information about passengers before allowing them to land. But this triggered a dispute that came to a head last year in a Catch 22 situation. On one hand they were told they must provide the information, on the other they were threatened with heavy fines by EU governments for breaching European data protection legislation. In October, Brussels agreed to sweep away the "bureaucratic hurdles" preventing airlines handing over this material after European carriers were threatened with exclusion from the US. The newly-released document sets out the rules underpinning that deal. As a result the Americans are entitled to 34 separate pieces of Passenger Name Record (PNR) data - all of which must be provided by airlines from their computers. Much of it is routine but some elements will prove more contentious, such as a passenger's email address, whether they have a previous history of not turning up for flights and any religious dietary requirements. While insisting that "additional information" would only be sought from lawful channels, the US made clear that it would use PNR data as a trigger for further inquiries. Anyone seeking such material would normally have to apply for a court order or subpoena, although this would depend on what information was wanted. Doubts were raised last night about the effectiveness of the safeguards. There is no guarantee that a bank or internet provider would tell an individual that material about them was being subpoenaed, an American lawyer said. Then there are problems, such as where the case would take place and whether an individual has time to hire a lawyer, even if they wanted to challenge it. Initially, such material could be inspected for seven days but a reduced number of US officials could view it for three and a half years. Should any record be inspected during this period, the file could remain open for eight years. Material compiled by the border authorities can be shared with domestic agencies. It can also be on a "case by case" basis with foreign governments. Washington promised to "encourage" US airlines to make similar information available to EU governments - rather than compel them to do so. It is pretty horrendous, particularly when you couple it with our one-sided extradition arrangements with the US," said a leader of a rights activist's group in the UK. "It is making the act of buying a ticket a gateway to a host of personal email and financial information. While there are safeguards, it appears you would have to go to a US court to assert your rights." Chris Grayling, the UK shadow transport secretary, said: "Our government and the EU have handed over very substantial powers to gain access to private information belonging to British citizens." A Department for Transport spokesman said: "Every airline is obliged to conform with these rules if they wish to continue flying As part of the terms of carriage, it is made clear to passengers what these requirements are. The US government has given undertakings on how this data will be used and who will see it." ( EW notes: Yes you can bet the farm, that this info won't be abused by US authorities. ;>) ==== OTHER EZINES & BOOKS ======================== ASIAN TIMES ONLINE Asia most trusted source for news, business,commentary and analysis from throughout Asia and our world. (www.atimes.com). ----- SURVIVAL BOOKS Go to and check it out! ----- japan-guide.com Extensive, up to date online guide on Japan living and travel related information. http://www.japan-guide.com/ ==== EW SPECIAL ================================= NEED A SECOND NATIONALTY/PASSPORT? Expat World knows of a program that has been running for over 4 years now and has added many new citizens and passport holders. We have heard nothing but good reports about it. In our humble opinion, it is the best value for money today in securing a second pp/nationality that is in all the computer data bases and comes from a government source. IT has all the additional bells and whistles, is time-proven to be hassle free. It also has very good visa free entry to most of the world's countries. No matter what your reasons for seeking second citizenship, you won't find a better deal. The time it takes is about 3 weeks from the time application, photos and payment is in hand. Want to know more? Email: office@expatworld.net with pp/nat in the subject heading. Note: EW does not sell pps, we act only as the advertiser for companies working directly with gov authorities to provide what is on offer. ==== HUMOR, TRIVIA, NEWS AND MORE... ================ NEWS STORIES Starbucks may be "forbidden" at China Palace Museum BEIJING (Reuters) - Beijing's Forbidden City may close down its Starbucks in the face of growing protests that the presence of a U.S. coffee shop in the former imperial palace is an insult to Chinese culture, a newspaper said on Thursday. An online campaign initiated by a television host to drive Starbucks Corp. out of the Forbidden City had won the backing of more than half a million Internet users, the official China Daily reported Thursday. Rui Chenggang, an anchorman on state television channel CCTV9, wrote in his blog that Starbucks' presence at the Forbidden City was "not globalizing, but trampling, Chinese culture," the paper said. "The museum is working with Starbucks to find a solution by this June in response to the protests," Xinhua news agency quoted museum spokesman Feng Nai'en as saying. "Whether or not Starbucks remains depends on the entire design plan that will be released in the first half of the year." Feng said that as part of a facelift, shops in the Forbidden City were being "reassigned" and that one-third had already been removed. The rectangular Forbidden City, formally known as the Palace Museum, covers 74 hectares (183 acres) surrounded by a moat to the north of Tiananmen Square and has a fabled 9,999 rooms. It was listed by UNESCO as a World Heritage Site in 1987. The Starbucks outlet opened in 2000 amid a media backlash so severe that the museum authorities considered revoking its lease after a couple of months. Starbucks could not immediately be reached for comment, but the Vice President for Greater China Eden Woon was quoted as saying the company had no plan to leave the site. "As the contract with the museum has not expired, we have no plan to move out," Woon told Thursday's Beijing News. In 2002, public protests led to a Kentucky Fried Chicken outlet being booted out of Beihai Park, a former royal garden neighboring the Forbidden City. --- Meal fried in artist's own body fat "BON APPETIT," said Chilean artist Marco Evaristti as he presented his friends with his newest creation: meatballs cooked with fat from his own body, extracted by liposuction. "Ladies and gentleman, bon appetit and may god bless," said Evaristti, a glass in his hand, to his dining companions seated Thursday night around a table in Santiago's Animal Gallery. On the plates in front of them was a serving of agnolotti pasta and in the middle a meatball made with oil Evaristti removed from his body in a liposuction procedure last year. "The question of whether or not to eat human flesh is more important than the result," he said, explaining the point of his creation. "You are not a cannibal if you eat art," he added. Evaristti produced 48 meatballs with his own fat, some of which would be canned and sold for $US4000 dollars for 10. A veteran at shock-art, in an earlier work Evaristti invited people to kill fish by pressing the button on a blender the fish were held in. In April 2004 he dyed an enormous iceberg in Greenland with red paint. --- Daughter wanted ad draws 100-plus candidates BEIJING, Jan 16 (Reuters Life!) - A retired Chinese couple have advertised for a "daughter" to look after them in place of their son who has emigrated to Canada -- and more than 100 candidates signed up to try their luck, a newspaper said on Tuesday. Tian Zhendong and Ding Shuhui, a former construction expert and a university professor from central Wuhan, felt "lonely and lost" after their only son moved to Canada with his wife, even though he called home every week, the Guangzhou Daily said. But he didn't want to come back to China. "I regret letting him leave," the newspaper quoted mother Ding as saying. The couple used to visit their son in Canada, but they could not get used to life there, it said. After six years of loneliness, the couple decided to seek a daughter to be with them and look after them, who would be given an apartment if she passed the trial period of three years. "We are not looking for a maid, but someone to be with us until we are dead," father Tian was quoted as saying. The "fierce competition" was entering its final stage as the couple were expected to choose the final winner from the last five candidates soon, the newspaper said. --- Oxymoron: Bug Fix ----- As your attorney, it is my duty to inform you that it is not important that you understand what I'm doing or why you're paying me so much money. What's important is that you continue to do so. -- Hunter S. Thompson's Samoan Attorney ----- "So... your place or my mother's?" -- me ----- "Television: A medium. So called because it's neither rare nor well done." -- Ernie Kovacs. ----- If we aren't supposed to eat animals, why are they made of meat? ----- After insulting the female genie from the magic bottle, Carlos makes his wish: "To wake up with 3 women in my bed." She says, "So be it!" and disappears back into the bottle. The next morning, Carlos wakes up with Lorena Bobbitt, Tonya Harding and Hillary Clinton. His penis is gone, his leg is broken and he has no health insurance. ----- A man was driving up a steep and narrow mountain road. A woman was driving down the same road. As they passed each other, the woman leaned out the window and yelled, "Pig!" The man immediately leaned out his window and replied,"Bitch!" They continue on their way and as the man rounded the next corner, he crashes into a pig in the middle of the road. ==== THE RESOURCE TIP ============================ Spyme Tools 1.5 A very useful program in detecting Registry and Disk changes. You can either do a Real Time Monitoring or you can scan the active state of the Registry/Disk and compare it to a previous state. This is useful because you'll save the scan Dump in a file so whenever you want you may open that file to see the state of the Disk(s)/Registry just as it was when you've performed the scan process. You may also use the program as a Registry backup tool because the Dump files contain all the necessary data needed to restore the scanned Registry keys. Go to . ==== INSIDE THE CURRENT EXPAT WORLD =============== EXPAT WORLD NEWSLETTER (VOL.19 ISSUE 01) Table of Content: - BELIZE - LIVING THE GOOD LIFE ON $800 A MONTH - BITS & PIECES - US PASSPORT CHANGES TO GO INTO EFFECT ON JANUARY 23, 2007 - PASSPORT SUBSTITUTE - HOW A RFID PASSPORT CAN BECOME DISABLED - HONDURAS - GREAT MEDICAL CARE - AN ALTERNATIVE TO HONDURAN HEALTH CARE DOWN MEXICO WAY - THE MYTHICAL HONEST BUSINESSMAN FROM THE BOOK COLLECTION OF BYE BYE BIG BROTHER - AROUND THE WORLD WITH EXPAT WORLD - LETTER TO AMERICA - INTERNATIONAL SNIPS & CLIPS - EXPAT WORLD'S PRIVACY WORLD - POLITICIANS THE BOTTOM FEEDERS OF SOCIETY - EXPAT WORLD'S SECRET - POINTS TO PONDER WHILE ON THE POTTIE - DON'T TRY THIS AT HOME!!! YOU MISSING SO MUCH Each week the EXPAT WORLD DIGEST gives you just a smattering of what you can find in the EXPAT WORLD newsletter that we produce once a month. Why not get the whole story and subscribe now to our electronic version for just US $30 per year. Go to our website: www.expatworld.net to sign up. ********************************************************************* EXPAT WORLD - the newsletter of international living URL - http://www.expatworld.net Email - office@expatworld.net ---------- End of Expat World Digest --------------------------------