Footprints on the Internet
It's called behavioral marketing, but it might just as well be called virtual profiling. Websites, search engines, advertising agencies and Internet data collectors - they're all using relatively basic technology to record what you're looking at, how much you like it, and most importantly, what you might want to buy online. "Advertisers are building large, complex profiles on customers," says Ginger McCall with the Electronic Privacy Information Center.

Experts Question US Claims Of Delays In Iranian Nuclear Program
The New York Times reported on Friday that US officials have "persuaded" Israel it will take Iran at least a year to build a nuclear weapon, a claim that came under immediate criticism from American experts on the issue. Gary Samore, the top adviser to US President Barack Obama on nuclear issues, told the Times he thinks it would take Tehran "roughly a year" to turn low-enriched uranium into weapons-grade material, based on US intelligence and international inspectors' reports.

Deep Water Plume Persists Months After BP Oil Well Blowout
A new report finds that the oil in the Gulf of Mexico still persists in the form of a massive plume that, according to scientists is not going away anytime soon. More than a month after BP capped its broken oil well in the Gulf of Mexico, experts have differed on how much of the more than four million barrels of spilled crude remains in Gulf waters and where that oil is going.

The Net Neutrality Debate: Is All Content Created Equal?
Many people haven't yet heard about the concept of Internet neutrality -- or net neutrality as it's more commonly called. That's about to change. A debate is under way in the United States that could have consequences for the way people experience the Internet. But what exactly is net neutrality?

Russia Poised To Activate Iranian Nuclear Plant
A spokesman for Russia's state atomic agency confirmed on Friday that Russia will begin to load fuel into the Bushehr nuclear power plant in southern Iran on August 21, a move that could immunize the site from Israeli or American air strikes. The Russian official said the rector will not become operational right away; however, "from that moment the Bushehr plant will be officially considered a nuclear-energy installation."

WikiLeaks’ Afghan War Reports Stir Debates On Journalism, Law
As the Pentagon investigates the potential damage from the leak of more than 91,000 classified U.S. military reports on the war in Afghanistan, the leak is fueling debate about the role of whistle-blowers as journalistic sources in the age of digital data.

Iron Dome System To Be Deployed In Israel By November
Even as fears of a regional war increase, Israel’s deterrence received a large boost on Tuesday with the announcement that the Iron Dome air defense system will be fully operational and deployed by November. Yossi Drucker, director of Rafael's Iron Dome project, told Israel Radio that the system had exceeded the IDF’s requirements and would be on the ground protecting the Gaza border community of Sderote and other strategic installations around the country.

UN Panel Seeks Financing Sources to Offset Climate Change
The co-chairs of the United Nations advisory group charged with finding $100 billion a year to help developing countries meet the challenges of climate change said Tuesday that they will present their final report in October, ahead of the U.N. climate conference in Mexico. The 21 member high-level advisory panel headed by Ethiopian Prime Minister Meles Zenawi and his Norwegian counterpart Jens Stoltenberg wrapped up its second meeting on Tuesday in New York.

The Pathway to a Clean Energy Future
Jon Kyl
After meeting with his Cabinet recently, President Obama said that "it is time for us to move to a clean energy future." A clean energy future is certainly a worthy goal. The questions are: How do we get there? And what are the costs and benefits? Is the path forward best determined by government through multiple new taxpayer subsidies, mandates, and regulations?

A Safe Place for Nuclear Waste
Joe Pitts
In February of this year, President Obama announced his support for billions of dollars in loan guarantees for two new nuclear reactors in Georgia. This is the first nuclear power plant project to break ground in nearly three decades. Energy Secretary Steven Chu hailed the loans as "a significant step by the Obama Administration to restart our domestic nuclear industry, helping to create valuable long-term jobs and reduce our greenhouse gas emissions." However, only a few months later, Secretary Chu endangered the future of the reactors in Georgia and every other nuclear power project.

Energy Expert Questions Green Future
The oil disaster in the Gulf of Mexico has intensified the effort to move away from petroleum and other fossil fuels in favor of what is often described as a "green energy future", where clean renewable sources of energy would power the electric grid as well as transportation. Even oil companies now promote wind turbines, solar arrays and bio-fuels as part of their "green energy" initiatives.

Turkish Internet Bans Dismay EU Advocates
It was meant to herald the start of an epic democratic odyssey that would see Turkey easing censorship and free-speech restrictions and result in it joining the European Union. Instead -- five years after the opening of membership talks -- the country finds itself increasingly stigmatized as an enemy of the Internet after a wave of website bans that has prompted dismayed supporters of its EU aspirations to draw comparisons with Iran and China.

Is This Espionage 2.0?
Catherine A. Fitzpatrick
The media following the intriguing story of the FBI’s roll-up of a network of alleged Russian spies have been obsessed with the Facebook pictures of one of the accused, Anna Chapman -- a striking redhead who posted numerous sexy poses of herself taken against the Manhattan skyline. Yet few have bothered to look past the sensational shots to her list of friends -- perhaps because many of the names were unfamiliar and Russian -- to see the kind of network a would-be spy might create using today’s free and easy social media tools.