CurrentC has its email list hacked, but the press is having a heyday. Microsoft reveals their fitness band & we are impressed.

Plus the GCHQ loophole & the Humble Bundle win for Linux users.

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CurrentC Hacked

Here’s a bad sign for CurrentC, the fledgling mobile payment system in development by a consortium of retailers.

CurrentC is sending emails to people who signed up for the beta version of the app warning them “that unauthorized third parties obtained the e-mail addresses of some of you.”

It doesn’t sound as if it’s the worst breach in the world, but it’s definitely not good for CurrentC, which is just getting started.

CurrentC is in the news this week because of Apple Pay, Apple’s mobile payment system for the iPhone 6.

CurrentC is backed by MCX, the Merchants Consumer Exchange, which is a group of retailers trying to create a mobile payment system. It is being spearheaded by Wal-Mart.

• MCX Says QR Payments App Will Pivot To NFC If Necessary, Won’t Fine Retailers Who Break Exclusivity | TechCrunch

Davidson also detailed a hack of its email system that was revealed this morning, saying its email provider was hacked, though he wouldn’t disclose the name of the provider. He says the hack exposed dummy zip codes and “some tester email addresses.”

“The CurrentC app itself was not affected. We own this and are taking it seriously,” he said. The investigation is ongoing, and involves security experts and partners organizations. Stolen email addresses were not stored in the cloud.

Microsoft’s health revolution is here, starting with a $199 fitness tracker | The Verge

Microsoft Band, a black $199 wearable that tracks your steps, heart rate, and stride length, all while showing you text, email, and Twitter alerts. It will be available from Microsoft Stores in the US tomorrow.

Simply by virtue of being available to Android, iOS, and Windows Phone users all at once, Microsoft believes it can make inroads in an otherwise terribly siloed marketplace. Health will work with Android Wear watches, Android phones, and the iPhone 6’s motion processor, automatically collecting data from all three. Microsoft’s also been working with Jawbone, MapMyFitness, My Fitness Pal, and Runkeeper to import their data, and plans to incorporate many more.

The Band is sort of Microsoft’s take on the Google Nexus strategy, which Microsoft hopes will show others how to build great trackers. Microsoft is even licensing the ten sensor modules it has developed, so others can build new and different ways to measure your heart rate and step count.

Secret Policy Allows GCHQ Bulk Access To NSA Data

Though legal proceedings following the Snowden revelations, Liberty UK have succeeded in forcing GCHQ to reveal secret internal policies allowing Britain’s intelligence services to receive unlimited bulk intelligence from the NSA and other foreign agencies and to keep this data on a massive searchable databases, all without a warrant. Apparently, British intelligence agencies can “trawl through foreign intelligence material without meaningful restrictions”, and can keep copies of both content and metadata for up to two years. There is also mention of data obtained “through US corporate partnerships”. According to Liberty, this raises serious doubts about oversight of the UK Intelligence and Security Committee and their reassurances that in every case where GCHQ sought information from the US, a warrant for interception signed by a minister was in place.

Eric King, Deputy Director of Privacy international, said: “We now know that data from any call, internet search, or website you visited over the past two years could be stored in GCHQ’s database and analyzed at will, all without a warrant to collect it in the first place. It is outrageous that the Government thinks mass surveillance, justified by secret ‘arrangements’ that allow for vast and unrestrained receipt and analysis of foreign intelligence material is lawful. This is completely unacceptable, and makes clear how little transparency and accountability exists within the British intelligence community.”

Humble Indie Bundle 13

It’s baaaaacccckkkk! In the distance, a dog barks. A crow caws. A spider drops from the ceiling. Why the commotion? It’s the return of the Humble Indie Bundle! Pay what you want for OlliOlli, Insanely Twisted Shadow Planet, and Tower of Guns. Beat the average price, and you’ll also receive four copies of Risk of Rain (one for you and three shareable copies to give away*), Jazzpunk, and Amnesia: A Machine for Pigs. Pay more than $12, and you get all of that plus Shadowrun Returns.

But that’s not all! If your purchase is over $65, you also get a Fangamer merch box decked out in custom Humble Indie Bundle 13 art, 11 custom Humble Indie Bundle 13 collectible cards, a hoodie with custom Humble Indie Bundle 13 art, a cassette with tracks from the games in the bundle, and a Humble Indie Bundle 13 and Humble Bundle patch.

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