PARIS, Sept 26, 2007 (AFP) - Social networking sites like Facebook have wooed millions of users with their easy format for keeping in touch but left them navigating the pitfalls of interacting online -- is it really private?

The debate -- which some debunk -- is heating up after the once-exclusive Facebook recently began listing users' profiles on public search engines like Google and Yahoo!

NEW YORK, Sept 5, 2007 (AFP) - Thousands of New York's taxi drivers on Wednesday put on the brakes with a 48-hour strike just as the US Open tennis tournament moved toward a climax and the city's Fashion Week started up.

Passengers took to the subway or shared rides in lighter-than-usual traffic as drivers of the city's signature yellow cabs halted work in anger at plans to introduce satellite positioning systems in their cars.

NEW YORK, Sept 5, 2007 (AFP) - Thousands of New York's taxi drivers on Wednesday put on the brakes with a 48-hour strike just as the US Open tennis tournament moved toward a climax and the city's Fashion Week started up.

Passengers took to the subway or shared rides in lighter-than-usual traffic as drivers of the city's signature yellow cabs halted work over plans to introduce satellite positioning systems in their cars.

NEW YORK, Aug 23, 2007 (AFP) - New York's taxi drivers on Thursday said they would mount a two-day strike in early September if authorities did not scrap plans to introduce satellite positioning systems in the city's yellow cabs.

'We are ready to go on strike on September 5 and September 6,' Bhairavi Desai, executive director of the New York Taxi Workers Alliance, which represents some 8,400 of New York's 26,000 cabbies, told AFP.

NEW YORK, Aug 23, 2007 (AFP) - New York's peeping toms could face up to 90 days in jail and a 500-dollar fine if caught leering over people in private or public places, under a bill put forward this week to outlaw voyeurism.

'These perverts use their eyes to invade the privacy of people's bodies, leaving many feeling violated,' said council member Peter Vallone, the lawmaker behind the proposed legislation.

'Up until now, there has been a peephole loophole that gives anyone a license to gawk, leer and spy anywhere they please.'

BEIJING, Aug 6, 2007 (AFP) - China is planning to introduce its first law on protecting personal data, amid rising anger at how easily people's private details are falling into the hands of advertisers, state media reported Monday.

Such a law has become necessary in China as more and more people find their personal information, such as mobile phone numbers, home addresses and even medical records, disclosed to unauthorised parties, the China Daily said.

SAN FRANCISCO, July 23, 2007 (AFP) - Microsoft and Internet search rival Ask.com are bolstering online privacy and calling for a tech industry summit devoted to that goal, they said Monday.

The move increases pressure on the world`s most popular Internet search firm Google, which has been eyed warily by privacy advocates since it announced plans to buy online ad-targeting titan DoubleClick.