Clark has a little bit of egg on his face right now in light of his total enthusiasm for Google Voice. The celebrated free service is suffering some growing pains that you need to know about!

First, people have been upset that Google Voice is rationing who can come into the system. That means there is a waiting list for this no-fee service.

Second, some calls you try to place on Google Voice will be prohibited. The reasoning behind this has to do with an arcane topic known as competitive local exchange carriers.

Finally, one new hitch has emerged and it's a biggie. Certain voicemails handled by Google Voice were accidentially leaked online, making them available to anyone doing a simple Google search!

As our ClarkHoward.com users pointed out, however, these messages were typically marked as public by the user at the time of registration.

Still, this last gotcha has prompted a change in Google Voice policy. "We made a change to prevent these voicemails from being crawled so their content will not be indexed," a Google Voice spokesperson told PCMag.com.

Would you be in favor of police using technology to automatically scan license plates whenever a car enters or leaves a town?

That's the situation the residents of a relatively isolated San Francisco suburb called Tiburon could be facing. Authorities want to install cameras to scan each tag and automatically alert them if a match is found with an outstanding warrant.

What a change from the old days when an officer had to radio a dispatcher with a tag number to run through a database!

Police say the technology should make identifying burglary suspects much easier. "We'll look for a plate that came and went," the town's police chief tells The San Francisco Chronicle. "That's going to give us a very short list to work on."

What do you think? Be sure to vote in our poll and let us know!

Think your browsing is being tracked too heavily on the web? Online advertising trade groups have released new guidelines that are aimed to give consumers a little breathing room.

No word yet if these "self-regulatory principles for online behavioral advertising," as they're called, will represent meaningful regulation or not.

The alternative is too frightening for the online advertising industry to consider. Just look at the European model, where there are very heavy-handed privacy regulations from the EU. In the United States, we're more laissez-faire about the whole issue…and the industry wants to keep it that way.

What's also going on behind the scenes is that online advertisers are trying to avoid federal regulation by proposing their own self-regulatory policies.

This is all about you having control of information and privacy. Clark is hopeful it can be done without government intervention. In reality though, the industry wouldn't be doing this at all if they weren't in fear of what President Obama will do to them if they don't act.

Is that free wifi you're surfing on at the airport or the coffee shop really secure? Forbes reports there's a nearly 75% chance that it's not.

The single worst location for wifi compromises was Newark Airport. Out of all the networks they scanned in that particular airport, only 9% of them were secure. See Forbes' complete tally of results for some of the nation's most popular airports.

So what can you do about it? Simple -- don't under any circumstances visit the website of your bank, credit union and brokerage house or mutual-fund company when using a free wifi connection while you're out and about. The risk is just too great.

Clark has long advised his listeners to be careful of employers spying on e-mails, text messages, instant messages and more. Now a new decision from the U.S. Court of Appeals rules that employers can only spy if the info is stored on one of their servers. If the info is hosted by a third party offsite somewhere, they don't have the legal right to snoop under this latest decision.

Employers will likely have new hires sign paperwork waiving their rights to electronic privacy to get around the decision. Existing employees may be asked to sign the same paperwork.

The reality is that most employers have keylogger programs and use artificial intelligence to look for keywords related to corporate espionage, sexual harassment or something else that could harm their bottom line. They're not usually spying to be nosy, though it all has a real creep-out factor to it.

Clark recalls when he once worked at a radio station where an employee was looking for another job and had been updating her resume on her work computer. When she was found out, she was called in and fired on the spot.

So be careful what you do at work. If you're working on equipment issued by your employer -- be it a PC, a laptop or a cell phone -- just be safe and assume they can have prying eyes.

Behavioral targeting for ads is all the rage these days among both online and traditional advertisers. When you're surfing around on your computer, a user profile can be easily built as you're tracked from site to site using cookies. Based on that profile, you can then be fed targeted ads.

The Washington Post reports that one marketer has fine-tuned this process to the point that they were able to identify 40,000 brides-to-be based on their visits to sites that had nothing to do with getting married. Of course, the surfers were then served ads related to their coming nuptials.

The feds are trying to decide if these practices violate your privacy. The ad agencies and advertisers obviously don't want you to have anonymity on the web.

The cable TV industry, meanwhile, has a new $150 million initiative in the works called Project Canoe. The goal of Project Canoe is to come up with ways to feed targeted commercials to your TV based on your show preferences. So the ad spots you'll see may be completely different than the ones your neighbor sees. The hope is that you won't TiVo past the ads because you'll actually be interested in them.

Clark believes there's a serious creep-out factor here! What do you think?

Clark often wishes he had a dollar for every time someone asked him about ZabaSearch.com, the website where you can search public records to locate a person. The info on the site is not always accurate or up to date, and Clark compares using ZabaSearch.com to being a private investigator tracking down leads.

Case in point: When executive producer Christa searched her name, she got a bunch of old addresses and also some listings for a woman who shares the same moniker in San Francisco.

Now ZabaSearch.com has spawned several imitators such as Wink.com and Spock.com. Clark isn't sharing this info to make you paranoid; he just wants you to be informed about the public info that may be out there about you.

Best Buy's Geek Squad is accused of spying on customers by digging through the hard drives of computers brought in for repair. This is not exactly a case of ID theft; at least one Geek Squad employee has fessed up to copying a woman's personal nude photos from her computer.

The message here is that you shouldn't be careless with your own info. This is especially important for teens that use popular social-networking sites like MySpace and Facebook. Members of those sites usually list personal info -- date of birth, city and other specific identifiers -- that can greatly aid ID thieves.

Politicians have become particularly savvy at using the social-networking sites. Obama has done a great job reaching out to first-time voters. They're invited to join his MySpace page as virtual "friends." The politicians, of course, are ultimately seeking campaign money -- a more legitimate desire than an ID thief who also wants money but for a different reason.

If you're a parent, do you know if your child has a MySpace or Facebook page? Do you know who their virtual "friends" are or have any idea about what's on their page? One requirement should be that they make you one of their friends. You've got to know who they're virtually interacting with for their own good.

Following the last major security breach of veteran info, Congress ordered all government agencies to have procedures in place to protect your info. Now the Government Accountability Office -- the investigative arm of Congress -- has found that only 2 out of 24 agencies they checked had implemented any new procedures. It's not just the feds not securing your info; most local governments and court systems also have it unsecured. Isn't it ironic that corporate America is actually further along in protecting you than government? That's not saying much considering how lousy of a job corporate America is doing! So what's the problem? Simple -- it's not anyone's primary mission in either of those sectors to secure your info. It's like rearranging a sock drawer -- will you ever get around to that? The only cop on the beat is you. The weapon of choice is a credit freeze. There's a new sheriff in town. You just have to choose to put on the badge.

RIP-OFF ALERT: The Berkeley Center for Law and Technology analyzed corporate America to see which companies have the highest incidence of ID theft. The No. 1 company? Bank of America. BoA is the nation's second largest bank. (If you look at the numbers based on total customer base, BoA then actually comes in second behind HSBC). AT&T occupies the second slot, followed by Sprint (No. 3), JPMorgan Chase (No. 4) and Capital One (No. 5). Think about it: 3 of the first 5 are banks, which is understandable. But why are two phone companies way up there? The reason is because they do a credit check when you apply for phone service, and open yourself up as a potential target when they get your info. In the No. 6 spot, we have Citibank. As the nation's largest bank, Citibank has one-third less incidences of ID theft than the smaller BoA! Verizon, American Express, Washington Mutual and Wells-Fargo all round out the top ten. View the complete list online at the Berkeley site.

Now the inevitable question: Why do these institutions have high rates of ID theft? Clark speculates that it must have to do with the way they internally handle your information. Interestingly, the bank with the lowest incidence of ID theft is ING Direct. You would think they'd be up at the top of the list since they're Internet only. But being a newer bank, they've been dealing with outsmarting ID thieves since they launched. It's much tougher for a legacy financial institution to retroactively patch good protection into systems that were built decades ago. ID theft has not grown significantly -- it still happens to about 10 million people a year -- but it's still a major issue. Finally, from the "no they didn't!" category, the New York City Department of Finance sent tax forms to 1000s that showed people's Social Security numbers through the envelope. C'mon people, this is 2008! Get with the program.

Clark is one man who's used to being on camera -- whether it's during the course of his TV work or when he's in the studio for his radio show. Camera technology has become so cheap that there's an eye in the sky almost everywhere you look. In fact, the studio where Clark works even has spy cameras hidden in fake air vents! The days of cameras just being in retail stores to combat shrinkage are over. Small businesses can now buy inexpensive camera systems online. The Dallas Morning News reports that franchise owners use them to monitor activity remotely over the Internet. This is great for employers, but many folks are uncomfortable about giving up their privacy. Some New York taxi drivers recently went on strike because they objected to having to put GPS systems in their vehicles so riders could track their route. Meanwhile, truck drivers are now spied on in real-time by their employers via camera. England is one nation that spies on its citizens several times a day on public roads. The benefit to this was seen after the recent U.K. terror attacks. Police were able to instantly generate pictures thanks to all the camera technology. There's a fine line here between the invasion of individual privacy and the potential benefit for capitalism, according to Clark.

There's been an e-mail flying around the country again about the Do Not Call list and how cell phone users are supposedly about to have their names sold to marketers. Law enforcement has denied that this is true and Clark too wants to emphasize this is a false rumor. When it comes to the National Do Not Call Registry, you want to register your home phone number. Clark also thinks you should register your business number -- even though it's discouraged. That way you'll have full protection from solicitors. But the bogus e-mail that's been circulating shows that more and more people use their cell phones as their sole point of contact. This is a bad idea because marketers can sell it again and again if they get hold of it. If your only phone is your cell and you want to avoid annoying solicitation calls, try signing up at GrandCentral.com where you can get a "fake" home number. Special kudos to one listener who pointed out that GrandCentral is still being tested. At this point you must be invited to join by someone who already has an account. All others will be wait-listed until the service officially launches.

If you're a parent, do you know where your kids go when they're online? Are you aware that predators often lurk on popular social-networking sites like Facebook and MySpace. Contrary to popular belief, online predators don't just target teenage girls. Facebook and MySpace are social interaction hubs for both girls and boys. Kids set up their own pages and invite people they've never met to become their online friends. The real danger comes when people with bad intentions want to meet your child in person. Facebook previously shrugged its shoulders about the predator problem, but the company has now reached a deal with the Attorney General of New York to institute new security practices. MySpace likely will follow suit with its own similar initiatives. The truth is that most parents don't know what their kids are up to on the Internet. As a parent, this frightens Clark. His teenager didn't have a computer in her room until she was 16. But even then Clark and his wife monitored their daughter's computer use. Parents have a right to be nosey and know what kids are up to when they live at home. Clark advises parents to not sneak behind their kids' backs -- instead, simply tell them that you are a nosey parent and will be monitoring them online. You may decide altogether that your children won't be allowed to have a presence on social-networking sites. The choice is up to you. Meanwhile, MySpace has struck a partnership with Skype and will soon offer users free Internet phone services.

Clark has been a big fan of eye scan technology and other biometrics as a way of identifying people. Christa has always thought the idea is a little creepy and could cause people to go to extreme lengths to create new identities or cover up old ones. She refers to an incident that occurred in Malaysia several years ago, when criminals cut off a wealthy man’s finger to use his fingerprint as identification. Well, the Japanese have come up with a new kind technology that involves your palm. Customers must press their palms against a monitor and the machine reads the veins in their hands before they can get money. So, the good news for Christa is that blood has to be flowing in the body part. We’ll see how it works.

The Chicago Tribune recently wrote a story about a company called “Pay by Touch.” The company registers and identifies you by phone number and finger print. Then, a special algorithm is used to prevent people from duplicating your fingerprint or pretending to be you. The marketplace will decide whether this method works, but Clark has no problem with ideas like this. There will be problems and attempts to crack this kind of system. It also has a slight creep factor. But, we need to keep coming up with new ways of protecting our information.

Airport security hasn’t really improved in the four years since the terrorist attacks. The TSA was established and airports hired government-employed screeners. It’s caused a very haphazard and inconsistent level of service and screening system. First of all, we need the kind of training that other countries require. Secondly, we need to implement ideas such as “Trusted Traveler” programs. Passengers are screened before they check in through eye scans and fingerprint tests. Orlando International Airport is experimenting with that kind of program now. People who are given the green light basically get a pass and can move through security and through the airport much quicker. Boston, Reagan-National, Houston and LAX are also experimenting with small scale versions of these programs. In addition, the TSA is going through a transformation and more tasks are being turned over to a private contractor. This is a great thing, in Clark’s opinion. To find out more flyclear.com.

---

In other travel news, Northwest employees seem detemined to strike at some time this fall. Clark thinks that after Labor Day, it could happen. So, if you're a traveler with a ticket on Northwest, Clark wants you to be aware. The odds of a settlement are not good.

Two years ago, Clark talked about a program starting in Seattle involving scanning fingerprints as a form of payment. People could use it at grocery stores and the like. CNET recently updated this development and it turns out that people loved it so much that it’s no longer an experiment. Thriftway stores started the service and customers are signing up for it by the dozens. It’s still a bit creepy to think our fingerprints and body parts can be scanned and tracked that easily. But we’ll see if it catches on in more places.

Clark bought his wife a photo printer for Christmas last year. The printer is very easy to use and has a lot of functions. But the market is moving away from printers, because people are moving toward kiosks and 1-hour photo center. People are even e-mailing their shots to offsite printing sites that mail the hard copies back to them. Why are these people moving away from printing? First of all, it costs a lot more. PC World conducted some research into the cost of buying a printer versus printing them out at a kiosk. It urns out it costs double to print them on your own. Plus, Costco, Sam’s Club and other stores are in a price war for your business, so prints continue to go down in price. You can develop pictures now for 15, 17 or 19 cents, depending on where you go. Home printing isn’t over, but now wonders if it was worth it to buy one. With the cost of the printer and the paper, it costs him about 36 cents a print. Yikes!

Have you ever had a car stolen? It’s a huge hassle, not to mention the fact that getting your car back can cost you a ton. Why don’t we just raise the stakes for people who steal cars? In Europe, car thefts were stopped cold with a digital technology that is being used now in multiple countries. They use highly sophisticated roadside cameras that scan license plates to determine if it’s a stolen cars. They take a digital image of every vehicle plate as it goes by. Then, even if a plate is smudged, artificial intelligence determines if the car is stolen, and officers are immediately notified. This can happen even at freeway speed. In Great Britain, 13,000 arrests occurred in just one year. So, now some states in the U.S. are trying it out. Los Angeles and San Fernando police departments are experimenting with the cameras, as are communities in Ohio and Florida. The cameras cost $20,000 to $30,000 a piece. But the average cost of a recovered vehicle is $25,000. There are a few downsides to this, however. Specifically, car thieves often switch tags. So, an officer who thinks you’re a car thief could be following you if the thief switched his tag with yours. Just be sure you know your tag numbers and you should be fine

Two years ago, Clark talked about a program starting in Seattle involving scanning fingerprints as a form of payment. People could use it at grocery stores and the like. CNET recently updated this development and it turns out that people loved it so much that it’s no longer an experiment. Thriftway stores started the service and customers are signing up for it by the dozens. It’s still a bit creepy to think our fingerprints and body parts can be scanned and tracked that easily. But we’ll see if it catches on in more places. Clark is fine with the idea as long as it does not become a mandatory thing.

Have you ever bought a season pass to an amusement park for yourself or your kids? You usually make your money back in about two visits. But the hassle is that you have to keep track of the annual pass. If you lose it, you don’t get another one. But Busch Gardens, which has parks in Tampa, Fla., and Williamsburg, Va., has created a solution. The amusement park has started scanning the hands of season pass holders as they enter the park. The technology, called biometrics, reads our unique fingerprints and hand patterns. Biometrics can also read your eye and even your ear print because they each have a unique mapping. Some people are pretty creeped out about this, but it is the wave of the future.