With almost 600 million registered people, India's Unique Identification (UID) project is the largest biometrics identity program in the world. By collecting fingerprints, iris scans, photographs and demographic information, the initiative hopes to eliminate a range of problems.

Tired of spending your commute to work stuck in traffic jams? Urban Engines hopes to solve this problem by incentivising people to use less congested routes. It uses algorithms to help cities determine key congestion areas, and rewards commuters for avoiding them.

Using location-based demographic data purchased from mobile carriers, StreetLight Data provides insights into how people move through cities, and where they spend time. But as privacy concerns grow, what are the benefits for consumers?

Easy-to-use personal security measures are a welcome antidote to the privacy fears that plague a post-PRISM scandal world. But are encrypted text messages a necessity, or just a fan to the flames of a paranoia epidemic?