The U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) expects to have face, fingerprint, and iris scans of at least 259 million people in its biometrics database by 2022, according to a recent presentation from the agency's Office of Procurement Operations reviewed by Quartz. From the report: That's about 40 million more than the agency's 2017 projections, which estimated 220 million unique identities by 2022, according to previous figures cited by the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF), a San Francisco-based privacy rights nonprofit. A slide deck, shared with attendees at an Oct. 30 DHS industry day, includes a breakdown of what its systems currently contain, as well as an estimate of what the next few years will bring. The agency is transitioning from a legacy system called IDENT to a cloud-based system (hosted by Amazon Web Services) known as Homeland Advanced Recognition Technology, or HART. The biometrics collection maintained by DHS is the world's second-largest, behind only India's countrywide biometric ID network in size. The traveler data kept by DHS is shared with other U.S. agencies, state and local law enforcement, as well as foreign governments.

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The T-Mobile and Sprint merger hasn't been officially completed yet, but that hasn't stopped the "Un-carrier" from talking about what it will do with its newfound resources. T-Mobile announced today that it plans to launch the company's cheapest phone plan ever and roll out its 5G network starting December 6th. Gizmodo reports: Starting at just $15 a month, the new T-Mobile Connect plan offers unlimited talk and text plus 2GB of 4G or 5G data. Now admittedly, 2GB of data per month isn't all that much, but considering the T-Mobile's current least expensive plans start at $30 a month (and that's including a discount for having four lines), T-Mobile Connect could provide some much-needed savings for low-income families -- at least temporarily while it gathers all the goodwill it can muster in the merger process. Additionally, T-Mobile also teased two other new programs with its Connecting Heroes Initiative, which promises to give unlimited talk, text and 5G access to every first responder in the U.S. for the next 10 years. This includes public and non-profit fire, police, and EMS personnel. Then there's T-Mobile's Project 10 Million, which promises to handout 10 million hotspots to students across the country that will provide up to 100GB of free mobile data per year. With Project 10 Million, T-Mobile is hoping to give children and students greater access to broadband internet in order to make completing homework just a bit easier. Also, next month T-Mobile says it will turn on its nationwide 5G network on December 6th, which promises to bring 5G coverage to over 200 million Americans in more than 5,000 cities. That said, this 5G network won't have the combined resources of both T-Mobile and Sprint until sometime in 2020 when T-Mobile can integrate its mmWave and sub-6GHz spectrum with Sprint's mid-brand spectrum. Looking even further ahead, T-Mobile claims its new 5G network will offer 14 times more capacity than it could on its own, and that the combined T-Mobile/Sprint network will cover 85 percent of the rural U.S. within three years, and 90 percent coverage after six years.

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Catching markets off guard, the Monetary Policy Committee was divided 7-2 but held its key interest rate steady.

Two candidates are revealing plans that could send state spending up to levels not seen since the 1970s.

An anonymous reader quotes a report from TechCrunch: Security researchers have discovered a vulnerability in Ring doorbells that exposed the passwords for the Wi-Fi networks to which they were connected. Bitdefender said the Amazon-owned doorbell was sending owners' Wi-Fi passwords in cleartext as the doorbell joins the local network, allowing nearby hackers to intercept the Wi-Fi password and gain access to the network to launch larger attacks or conduct surveillance. "When first configuring the device, the smartphone app must send the wireless network credentials. This takes place in an unsecure manner, through an unprotected access point," said Bitdefender. "Once this network is up, the app connects to it automatically, queries the device, then sends the credentials to the local network." But all of this is carried out over an unencrypted connection, exposing the Wi-Fi password that is sent over the air. Amazon fixed the vulnerability in all Ring devices in September, but the vulnerability was only disclosed today.

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A lawsuit alleged Trump used his charitable foundation to further his business and political interests.

Turkish president says number of Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi's family members caught is 'close to reaching double digits'.

This week marks 30 years since the Berlin Wall came down, signalling the end off the decades-long Cold War.

Experts warn of privacy risks and mass surveillance as government prepares to roll out new camera technology.

theodp writes: Q. What's the difference between Andrew Carnegie and Google? A. Andrew Carnegie used his wealth to help build libraries, while Google's using its wealth to get libraries to help build its brands. "In advance of Computer Science Education Week (CSEdWeek)," announced the American Library Association (ALA), "an annual event to get students excited about coding, ALA will be awarding $300 mini-grants to school and public libraries that facilitate a program for youth during Computer Science Education Week, December 9-15, 2019, using Google's CS First Hour of Code activity. This year, youth can use their imagination to turn a real-life hero into a superhero using code. Code Your Hero is an activity that honors the everyday heroes in our students' lives who use their powers to better their communities. Libraries Ready to Code is an initiative of the American Library Association (ALA) and sponsored by Google, which aims to ensure libraries have the resources, capacity, and inspiration to embrace activities that promote computational thinking (CT) and coding among our nation's youth." Last month, the ALA announced it had received a $2 million Google.org grant to develop library entrepreneurship centers. In advance of last December's CSEdWeek, Google announced a $1 million sponsorship to the ALA, creating a pool of micro-funds that local libraries could access to bring digital skills training to their community in conjunction with the Libraries Lead with Digital Skills and Libraries Ready to Code ALA-Google joint initiatives.

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Jennifer Williams, the special adviser to Vice President Pence for Europe and Russia, testifies in closed-door hearing.

Pierre Krahenbuhl denies wrongdoing maintaining 'there is no corruption, fraud or mismanagement of aid'.

An unspecified number of smart TVs manufactured by Samsung will lose native support for Netflix next month, the companies said in an announcement this week. From a report: Netflix app installed -- or available for -- Samsung smart TVs manufactured in 2010 and 2011 (C and D lineups) -- and likely sold for many years after that -- will stop functioning December 2, Samsung alerted customers this week. In a statement, a company spokesperson said these TV models were sold only in the U.S. and Canada. In its statement, the top smart TV manufacturer advised affected customers to look for a game console, streaming media player, set-top box or other devices that still support Netflix app to continue their binge-watching sessions. A Netflix spokesperson cited technical limitations for the change. The developement comes weeks after Netflix alerted several Roku customers that they, too, will lose access to the streaming service on December 1.

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Naval coalition aims to ward off perceived Iran threat to the world's oil supply following string of attacks on tankers.

Naval coalition aims to ward off perceived Iran threat to the world's oil supply following string of attacks on tankers.