The AP reports on efforts to tighten access to Social Security numbers, saying they have evolved into "dangerous master keys for fraud."

One solution could be a "federated identity" system that relies on the mathematical principles of cryptography to ensure information can be transferred only among prearranged parties.

For several years, technologists with the Liberty Alliance, an industry consortium, have been developing a way for people to log in to one network and be automatically authenticated at another.

The idea is to avoid sharing a single password among multiple parties with which you transact business — the model followed when your bank and insurance carrier both ask for your Social Security number. Instead, one site sends another an encrypted numeric token that represents the user’s identity — but only for that single Web session or transaction. The token is useless to anyone else or at another time.

The alliance’s brain trust is now exploring ways its system can be applied more broadly in online systems where most identity thefts happen.

Jolayne Houtz of the Seattle Times answers a reader's inquiry about not signing the back of credit cards and instead writing: "See photo ID."

A Visa USA spokesman said the company "does not accept 'see ID' as a valid substitute for a signature." Leaving it blank hinders the merchant's ability to compare signatures, he said.

Your best bet: Do both, said Melissa Wolff, loss-prevention and compliance manager for the Washington State Employees Credit Union. It is OK for cardholders to squeeze both their signatures and the "see photo ID" phrase onto the back of the card, she said.

Ted Griffiths reports for the Wilmington, Delaware News Journal on the potential impact MBNA's acquisition by Bank of America may have on the local community.

For Delaware, the stakes are enormous. Wilmington-based MBNA has about 10,500 Delaware workers, more than any other business. Charlotte, N.C.-based Bank of America also has a sizable Delaware presence, operating credit card call centers in Dover and near Christiana that employ a total of about 1,300. MBNA and Bank of America have said they will eliminate 6,000 jobs between the two companies after the buyout closes, although they haven't said where.