European data protection authorities concluded this week that Microsoft Corp.'s .Net Passport online authentication system does risk breaching European Union privacy laws, and said that they would continue to study issues raised by the service. E.U. officials did not say that a formal investigation would be launched, however. "The national authorities agreed to look further into .Net passport," said Jonathan Todd, spokesman on internal market issues at the European Commission. Todd stopped short of saying that a full-blown, formal investigation definitely would be undertaken, however. "A number of elements of the .Net passport system raise legal issues and therefore require further consideration," the Internet task force concluded after its initial analysis of the system. Source: ITWorld