in a water. but in any case, gerard, chin up. this was in all the papers but it's nothing but yellow journalism, so just go with the flow on the ridiculist. >> that was it, the number one ridiculist of the year. thank you for those, all of you, who voted for it. you can watch all top ten in our blog in the featured section of the cnn app for ipad. that does it for this edition of "360." erin burnett's "outfront" starts right now. we will take a look at the under surveillance lenses. and after a year-long investigation, two maryland doctors have been charged with murder for performing two late-term abortions. and count them, four days until the iowa caucuses, and ron paul is not too far behind mitt romney.

let's go. and good evening to you, i'm brooke baldwin sitting in for erin burnett. out front, crunch time in iowa. you know the clock is ticking away. and candidates four days left to pick up support for the nation's first contest in the gop nomination. first up is mitt romney bringing out the big guns and look at this, the very popular chris christie stumping on his behalf and the new jersey governor had what we will call a stern warning for the voters of iowa. take a look. >> i'm in a good mood this morning and i'm feeling happy and upbeat, but let me tell you if you people disappoint me on tuesday -- >> quiet down. >> if you don't do what you are supposed to do tuesday for mitt romney, i will be back, jersey-style, people, i will be back. >> that jersey style he says, but will chris christie get what he wants? a new poll was released echoing

clo closely what our own cnn poll has indicated in the hawkeye state. romney on top here clearly trailed closely by ron paul, and rick santorum, and in third with 15% and newt gingrich there in fifth place. and the former speaker of the house, he had a bit of an emotional moment today shedding a couple of tears, but not for that reason in the polls. we will tell you why that happened in a minute, but first right to cnn's political correspondent jim acosta who was there in the chris christie event. i suppose if mitt romney can hold on to the standings there, governor krchristie won't have make good on that promise. >> ell with that, was new jersey nasty to mix in with the iowa nice out here, brook. he has the big mo coming into the iowa caucuses, but the question right now is whether or not he is going to break a sweat in winning tuesday night. there are several reasons why. he is leading in the polls right

now, although statistically tied with ron paul, but there are a couple of other dine mix going on and one is that you saw newt gingrich and he has cratered in the polls, and just this week and it shows that his support has basically eroded. he is fourth or fifth in many of the polls here in iowa and that is bad news for newt gingrich, and meanwhile, rick perry and a bat of the ricks right now, because rick perry is going after rick santorum and the battle for the third place and going back to the old saying, three tickets out of iowa. another revelation has come out this week from the former bachmann campaign manager ed rollins told me in an e-mail earlier in the day, that michele bachmann has essentially held her fire on mitt romney throughout the entire campaign process in the hopes of being his vice presidential running mate. so if you add it together and add that, the fact that ron paul is going to be going home this weekend to texas instead of campaigning here in iowa and adding all of it, it is clear

why mitt romney may do well in the state and run the caucuses. >> well, the stakes are high, but i want to get to romney's image, because his wife has been out in iowa with him today while former massachusetts governor went on to new hampshire. she has been doing, jim a little bit more campaigning lately, and does that at all help soften his image? >> it does. you know, one of the big criticisms of mitt romney is that he is too robotic, and so they have gotten ann romney out there, and she has gone out at many campaign events and told the stories about how mitt romney was by her side when she was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis and he is kind of the frugal family man who knows how to handle the family's budget and never the mind ta fact that this family is worth a quarter of a billion dollars, but yes, she has been out and the campaign trail and one of the most potent weapons, but what is really interesting about how mitt romney may pull this off in

a iowa, he pulled out all of the stops in '08 and spent million trying to win the race, and he has had a light footprint this time, and we went by the headquarters and in a old blockbuster store in des moines and barely operational and yet he may go on to win the iowa caucuses and the new hampshire mare, and it would be stunning if he duds that. >> we want to go on to talk about newt gipg rich and he cried today and it is not about the fifth-place standing in the latest poll, but it was about his mom. the former speaker of the house was asked about his mother and how she might have perhaps influenced his policies. watch this. >> and in my whole emphasis on brain science comes in directly from dealing with -- you see how emotional this is -- coming from dealing with the real problems of real people in my family. and so it is not a theory. it is in fact, you know, my mother. >> i want to bring in cnn

correspondent joe johns with this, and joe johns, wow, i mean, you have newt gingrich in the coffee shot surrounded by a bunch of mothers and starts to initially coughing back the tears and quickly in the response, does he not? >> well, i have to tell you that i was kind of stunned. i was in the room watching all of this going on and i have is covered newt gingrich on capitol hill in the '90s and i was stunned to see the tough talking speaker of the house actually basically breakdown in tears talking about his dearly departed mother. this was something very atypical for the speaker. you know, he has problems here in iowa with women voters and we evangelicals, and so, this may be that kind of thing that sort of softens his image with them, if you will. you were talking to jim about romney's image, but the former speaker here has an image of being a tough talker and somebody who shoots from the hip, and not everybody likes it

when he uses some of his toughest words, brook. >> and yeah, and if i may speak of the emotional moments on the trail, we thought of hillary clipton when she was teary-eyed in 2008. here is that moment. >> i have so many opportunities for this country, and i just don't want to see us fall backwards. you know. so -- >> is there any comparing that moment to the moment that we saw today? >> hmm. very different. i think that you have to say that first. that was new hampshire, and this is iowa. she's a democratic woman, and newt gingrich is a republican man. that said, they both had these images of very tough people, and there's that possibility as i said that it is soft of softening the image, and the other problem with newt gingrich and i don't know that crying on camera or anything else can help him at this stage of the caucus is that a lot of of the questions that surround him involve the past and the fact that he has been married three

times and the admitted adultery and son o. so -- and so on. so it is not clear at all that his emotional moment here on camera no matter how spontaneous and genuine is going to help him with those voters who still have those questions, but we will see. the caucuses are not far away now, brook. >> they are not, four days. four days, here we go. joe johns, thank you so much. let's continue the conversation and let me bring in will cain, and sherry jacob kjacobus, and this tough-talking guy with tears streaming down his face talking about his mom, and did that surprise you? >> absolutely. i have never seen anything like that from newt gingrich and as much as we talk about the substantive things, people remember mitt romney's hair, and

michele bachmann's outfit, and this kind of humanizes him, and plays off well for him. >> well, it is sincere, kind of, cheri is what will says. what do you say about it? >> well, i spent time around newt gingrich when he took the house, and he does not show this emotion easily and he is a professional man. so for this to happen in the set, it was very genuine and i think that it even caught him off guard. the difference however between newt gingrich and hillary clinton is that hillary clinton seemed to be tearing up four years ago because she realized that she would not be the party's nominee and therefore not be president, so i think that is very different than newt gingri gingrich basically tearing up about his mother, and the affliction that she suffered from and his acknowledgment and understanding that so many families have loved ones affected as well. he shows the empathy and not to be crass, but tearing up over the right things if you will and i think it was genuine.

>> it certainly did appear genuine. and cheri, let me talk about the "i'll be back jersey-style" chris christie, and he is out there for mitt romney and necessary to keep him there four days to go here? >> i am sure he is happy to have him, and even if it buoys the candidate a little bit, i am sure it helps him. mitt romney was not to put anything into iowa and he had to put all of the chips in new hampshire and nothing in iowa. he would finish low, but he would say, i didn't put a lot of resources there, and when that changed, the wheels changed and he shot people out to iowa and started to spend the money. so for him to win iowa should that happen is going to be very, very good for him. it is sort of the story of the tortoise and the hear, and he is the tortoise and there is a lot of he

hares out there who keep turning the corner. >> let me turn the attention to congressman ron paul and the passage of the book because this is headlines from the 1997 book, and he says that the individual who suffered from aids is certainly a victim of his own lifestyle, but the same individual victimizes innocent citizens by forcing them to pay for his care. and will cain, could this come back to haunt him like the news letters that we are talking about? >> yes, it is haunting hill right now, and it is a shame, because the libertarian philosophy and libertarian philosophy is one about individualism and principled and ron paul has been one of the greatest advocates for that over the past 20 years and it is a shame that this is going on at the same time and printing and publishing statements like this that is not going the tarnish ron paul, but i'm afraid tarnish lib libertarianism and anybody who advocates going forward will have to answer for him going forward with these issues. >> and what do you make that all

of the candidates have been nasty and hating on ron tall in the last few days and you shrug, because it is par for the course that you are doing well and bull's eye on the back. >> yes, he is a front-runner iowa and second the views are easily outside of the main stream and therefore it is easy for them to attack him and it does not mean he is right or wrong on the issues, but it is easier for them to do. >> will cain and shercheri jaco thank you. >> thank you. >> it is a busy day for the last trading day of 2011 and what is in store for the hopefully more optimism for 2012. and general motors say that cars may have been shipped without one crucial part. we have those details out front. next. d new pronutrients omega-3. it's from centrum. a name i trust. it goes beyond my heart to support my brain and eyes too. and these ultra concentrated minigels are much smaller than many others. it's part of a whole new line of supplements.

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today was the final day of trading in what was a volatile year. we go to alison kosik in a year of volatile trading. i can hear them together, na, na, na, na. >> good riddance is what they said. as far as today goes, brooke, wall street wound up going out with a whimper than a bang. after the wild swings we saw

this year, not such a bad thing to end the year on a quiet note. you look at what the dow did, it ends on the plus column compared to 2010. the nasdaq actually ended lower for the year. down almost 2%. the s&p 500 basically ending flat below the break-even level and it's interesting to watch the s&p 500 because how it did is probably a good indicator of how your own retirement funds and other mutual fund investments did this year. many of them track the s&p 500 and yes, i know, it's a cliche, but you know what? it really was a roller coaster ride for stock market investors. lots of ups and downs, thrills and nausea along the way. we ended up right where we began. brooke? >> 2012, you and i talked about the euro zone crisis. obviously, that's still looming and how are investors and strategists feeling? is it cautious optimism? >> there is more optimism that it could be a better year for investors. the thing is that it is far from a sure thing. sure the outlook has improved over the last month. cnn money survey of top economists is predicting the economies are going to grow at

3.5% for the current quarter and 3.2% for all of next year. that's good news because that's about double the rate of the growth that we've seen so far this year and it's considered pretty healthy. sure, it's what you said. we have these big worries as we head into 2012. we have the european debt crisis still hanging over. jobs in this country, housing in this country and rising oil prices and europe is going to be the biggest wild card and the biggest unknown with the debt problems still far from resolved. the good news is that we have better looking data here in the u.s. from the jobs and housing recently. unemployment is coming down, and the economy is adding jobs and the housing market is even planting a few seeds of a recovery. so, you know, at least we have a little bit of optimism as we head into 2012. >> we will take it, but i know that we will be talking a lot about europe in the weeks and the months to come. allison kison kosik, thank you. verizon sending out a reversal letter saying lit not go forward with the single-pay

system. earlier the wireless company said it would charge you $2 for any debit card or credit card payments taken on the phone. but verizon says that the plans were scrapped after getting the feedback from you, their customer customers. and you know the car recalls are not really anything new, and it seems like we are hearing about one each and every week, but one from gm definitely caught our eye here at "outfront." the company says that 4,000 of the subsonics may have been shipped without the inner and outer brake pad, you know the things that help stop your cars. right now no injuries or accidents reported as a result of the missing pad pads. the company said they would replace them of course at no charge. and the brake pads you would think that gm would notify the

customers right away, but no, they are to notify the customers before january 14th, and we hope they will do it before then. and president obama said he will speak to his supporters via the internet. we will talk to brianna keilar and what the president plans to say. and how safe is your personal information? we find out under "surveillance" tonight, and not one, but two maryland doctors charged with murder for performing illegal late-term abortions. those stories are outfront next. they came to see us in florida... nice try, they came to hang out with us in alabama... once folks heard mississippi had the welcome sign out, they couldn't wait to get here. this year was great but next year's gonna be even better. and anyone who knows the gulf knows that winter is primetime fun time. the sun's out and the water's beautiful. you can go deep sea fishing for amberjack, grouper and mackerel. our golf courses are open. our bed and breakfast have special rates.

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formal charges have been filed against the man who confessed to murdering and dismembering the 9-year-old girl he was supposed to be baby-sitting. he was charged with murder, the death of aliana lemon. he did confess to hitting her over the head with a brick, cutting up her body and then leaving pieces of it in the freezer. he now faces up to 71 years in prison. >> police investigating the case of missing maine baby ayla reynolds have returned cars belonging to both her father justin dipietro and also the car of an unidentified portland, maine, woman. investigators though are not saying what they were searching for, when those vehicles were seized and in recent days the mother of the missing 20-month-old and her father said

that dipietro has not communicated with them since that child's disappearance in waterville, and she was last seen december 16th, and he however maintains that he has no idea where little ayla is and has nothing to hide. also murder charges have been filed against not just one, but two abortion doctors for performing illegal late-term abortions. they're a result of a year-long investigation that began with a gruesome discovery at a clinic. in elkton, maryland. the dr. stephen brigham was arrested last night and dr. nicola riley was arrested in salt lake city on wednesday. i want to bring in cnn's national correspondent david mattingly with more on this. help us connect the dots on this very troubling story and what more can you tell us about how an abortion at a state licensed clinic can now turn into a case of murder. >> this all came about last fall when police went in there doing an investigation and they found a freezer in there. inside they found frozen aborted

fetuses. they were able to examine those fetuses, and they were also able to examine records who were at the clinic and they're now alleging that the doctors performed abortions on aborted fetuses that were viable and could have lived outside the womb in cases that did not fall under the legal exceptions that the state of maryland allowed. these exceptions being the health of the mother and also the possibility that the fetus may have had some sort of severe genetic problem or abnormality. these cases are resulting in murder charges and five against dr. brigham. one count of first-degree murder against dr. reilly, and we talked to the attorneys and the attorneys for brigham says that he has complied with all of the state laws in maryland and he has broken no laws, there and he has cooperated fully with the investigation. the attorney for dr. r, iley

says that the charges are without merit and she objects to the client now held in utah on without bond. so at this point, very early in the prosecution of the case, but it began with the discovery of that clinic in elkton. >> some of these happened at 35, 36 weeks and it begs the question how authorities found out and this all started a year ago and one of the patients ended up in a hospital, correct? >> that's right. she was there having an abortion and during the abortion there were complications and the doctors there had her driven to a local hospital in elkton, and there it was determined that her internal injuries were so severe that she had to be air lifted to johns hopkins. and at that point the doctors that were looking at this said she should never have been transported to the hospital and it objected to the ways the doctors were treating her as a result of this abortion. so that started the investigation. that's what got the police started looking at this chin

clinic and they went inside and now they're coming out with murder charges. >> david mattingly, thank you. president obama said he will be addressing iowa supporters online. this upcoming tuesday. brianna keilar comes out front with us tonight to what he plans to say. also, google, apple, two of the most powerful and popular companies in the world, but just how much do they know about you? we will dig deeper tonight in "under surveillance." and we are "rolling in the deep" with the latest viral sensation. the south korean wows the judges with her voice "outfront" tonight. ♪

♪ sing polly wolly doodle all the day ♪ ♪ hah

crowds in syria defied

danger today and returned to the freedom square for protests. look at the call there. activists urging people to head to public gathering places in spite of sniper attacks by security forces. the opposition says at least 35 people were killed today. protesters have been pushing back against the regime of president bashar al assad since march. >> and just days after north korean dictator kim jong-il was laid to rest and his youngest son took power, the reclusive country is sending out a hostile message to the world. they released a statement and here's part of it. quote, we solemnly declare with confidence that the south korean puppets and foolish politicians around the world should not expect any change from the dprk and end quote, and north korea had harsher words for the neighbor to the south, angry that the south korean leader did not allow some delegates into the north to pay their respects to the late dear leader. the nuclear armed country says that the sea of tears will turn into retaliatory fire, and their

wailing into a roar of veng. al qaeda now actively recruiting in libya. sources tell cnn they have recruited fighters to join the cause in the north african country, and the sources also tell cn than the effort to build up forces is led by some of al qaeda's most experienced fighters and personally by leader ayman al zawahiri. and a fresh look tonight, behind the scenes, of the very day that osama bin laden was killed. the white house posting these images today, and take a look. this is the president there in the outer oval office putting the finishing touches on the statement about bin laden's death. the compilation from that day and who could forget may first also released the president and his team in the situation room going over the mission to get os osama bin laden. tuesday, and i don't have to tell you, because it is a huge day and the stakes are tremendous for the republican

presidential candidates and the iowa caucuses and the first contest to the race to the white house, but the man currently sitting in 1600 pennsylvania avenue would like to make his pres eps felt that day as well. we are learning here at cnn that president obama will be speaking to the iowa supporters via the internet on tuesday night just as the caucus results are coming in. let's go to hawaii, shall we, and check in with brianna keilar who is there with the president, and so, brianna, a web chat. how is that going to work? >> it is a web chat, brooke. he will be talking virtually to the supporters in iowa and of course, all eyes are on iowa and the gop results. it will be a skype technology, but sort of more advanced than the typical skype that maybe you or i would use, because it will allow him to talk to the supporters in various locations, and of course, he will be trying to amp up the supporters in iowa talking about the campaign message that he has already made clear that he is fighting for

the middle-class, and there's something about iowa that is obviously very important to president obama and his re-elect, and that is because it was in 2008 that eight-point lead over hillary clinton that gave him the early momentum and really made him a con tepder and the way that the campaign sees it, brooke, iowa, this sort of ground game that they have going on in iowa is a bit of a test run for the general election, brooke. >> as i am listening to you, there we are looking at the images of the president of course on vacation and we haven't seen too much of him and i want to ask you about that in a minute, but first last night, he and the first family visited pearl harbor. >> well, they went to the arizona memorial, because december of this year, 2011, is 70 years since the pearl harbor attack, so some pretty beautiful photos of them going to the memorial in the afternoon, in the evening, close to sunset where they paid their respects there. it is a beautiful memorial, and the president and the first lady dropped some flowers over the sunken wreckage of the "arizona"

to pay tribute, brooke. >> and you mentioned the pearl harbor visit and what we have not seen on the hawaiian vacation is dinners and golf specifically, and speaking of mitt romney speaking about his enthusiasm of the sport, and there is a website and i'm quoting it, it is time to have a president whose idea of being hand's on does not mean getting a better grip on the golf club. i imagine that the white house press pool is keeping you away from the links and very much so a calculated move. >> and the white house keeping us away, brooke, and the president has played three times since he has been here. he has been a here a week, and playing golf is something that is always a political liability for any president. and it was for president bush before 9/11 and he has played golf and gotten shave ice with the daughters and in the pool with a small group of reporters and photographers who keep an eye on the president at most times was not even allowed to get that picture and something

they have gotten in previous years and yes, he has gone out to a couple of dinners here in waikiki and the pool has been close sd so we can't get shots that or the beach for instance. we have gotten pictures of the first family going the church on christmas day and meeting with members of the military and the pearl harbor visit where you saw press pool taken out on a separate boat to have good access and pictures of president obama visiting that memorial. it is not really surprising that the white house is restricting this access in an election year where you are going to see the focus be on the economy that is not going so well, but it is certainly frustrating from the point of view of a journalist and we have heard a lot of grumbling from the white house press corps following the president here in hawaii, brooke. >> i am sure you point that out as an e lelection year, but you have the beautiful beach behind you. richard branson, president

of the virgin group, is not a shy man, but on his blog he pictured these early '90s and he is partying it up with the members of a virgin atlantic crew and one of these gentlemen wound up to be a pilot and for many ceos showing these images would be a taboo and pr no-no, but he is not the standard executive. he is trying to send regular e folks into space and explore the deepest depths of the ocean, and earlier he told us why his way works. >> i would not recommend how to make a lot of money. be what i recommend people to do is to say, can i -- am i frustrated by the way something is being done and can i do it better than it is being done? i mean, i was fris tr frustrate on other people's hands and maybe if i can get my hand on a 747 i can show people how it is done and get a second and the

third and now we have 250 planes flying around the world. so, it is, you know a lot of the best businesses come out of frustration that screw it, i can do it better than you. >> and you believe that you can do -- or excuse me, you believe you have to do good or some contribution to society to build a successful business and it is not rhetoric in somebody who is successful and has the luxury of saying that? >> no, the most important thing for a business person is survival when they are starting up. but once you feel that you have survived, you should then, you know, obviously create new jobs and obviously get your, you know, your business going really well, but at the same time, try to sort of take on some of the problems in the world, and help get on top of them. and i believe it actually is good for the business. for instance, you know, virgin, we pledge to put all of the profits that we made from the

dirty businesses the airline businesses into clean fuels without companies that we have invested in who have developed clean fuels for the planes and by 2020 most of our planes are going to be flying on clean fuel s. >> what is the most creative thing that you are working on right now? >> well, if we put this sort of not-for-profit, which is a lot of my time is spent on that on one side. >> yes. >> trying to explore the bottom of the oceans, going down 38,000 feet to try to find, you know, the 80% of the species that we don't know exist today. it is tremendously exciting. there are only two people who have been below 18,000 feet ever in the history of mankind, and so we have nearly completed the little submarine and i hope to go down to the puerto rican trench which is 48,000 feet down, which is going to be, you know, a technological different challenge. you know, we have to withstand 1,500 times the pressure on an

airplane, and if we can pull it off, i mean, scientists are frothing at the mouth of what they can discover down there. >> what is harder technologically to get the virgin galactic to space or -- >> i think it is harder to go to the bottomf of the ocean than to go to space. >> amazing. >> and we have just finished, you know, a very important rocket test yesterday for virgin galactic. we've, you know, the mothership is finished and the spaceship is finished a on the spaceport which is absolutely beautiful is finish finished in new mexico, and next christmas we hope we are up, up and away with virgin galactic. >> how does that work with the virgin galactic spaceship, and six passengers three times a day for a price of $300,000 for two hours. given what you have put in it is amazing. >> well, to go up in a russian spaceship h is $6 million.

and the initial people going up are the pioneers, and they will enable us to bring the price down so your chirp and gra grandchildren i suspect will be able to realistically think that i can become an astronaut in my lifetime and the initial flights are only three-hour round-trip flights in time. we will do orbital flights as well, two weeks in space. >> you have been the financial times did a store i are on you where they said that if you succeed with virgin galactic and succeed with the dreams and the ambitions in space, it is the biggest achievements of any british person in history. how does that make you feel? >> i will accept that, because it is very nice. but, look, it has been a dream that i had back in 1990, and i, you know, headed off around the world to see if i could find a brilliant sign pits who coucien

create the spaceship and i came across bert who is an incredible genius, and the dream is about to become a reality, and tremendously exciting. >> thank you, erin and richard br branson. there are all kinds of lists of the year, and 2011 is not the exception, so we wanted to join in the fun. we have compileded our favorite lists of the favorite lists. and the first from the chamber of commerce, the most ridiculous lawsuits include the woman who sued chuck e. cheese to ep courage her kids to gamble. and the man who accidentally shot himself in the bar for suing the bar for not frisking him when he walked in. and the kidnappers who went back on the hostage for not helping him escape. and david letterman who cannot be thrilled from the chamber of commerce is using the "top ten."

and up next is the tongue twist twister. is pit lake superior state university list of words banished from the use and of use and general uselessness. the title is almost longer than the list. the 37th annual list is compiled from the university from lists all over the world and includes words and phrases that people hate like amazing and my personal favorite ginormous and man cave and baby bump and don't use those apparently next year. the next lists are not different, but this year, we have been recapping the lists that includes the horrific tsunami and earthquake in japan and the death of osama bin la n laden, but what if we used a different gauge, and say twitter for example. and so here we go with the top story of 2011, beyonce, and the huge news of unveiling the pregnancy, and people tweeted about this at the rate of 8,969

times per second. wow. the next is the death of osama bin laden was tweeted at a rate of 5,106 tweets a second, just to give you a comparison. if we look at at the facebook post s posts, charlie sheen would be the most successful person for setting a record for the fastest to 1 million followers. and also, rebecca black would be the world's most important person, and i don't want to get this song stuck in my head and she was the rising search on google this year. that is higher than adele whose "21" was the best selling album of all of the year. a and the best viral video coming to us from south korea is of this 15-year-old contestant named park g min who is singing adele's "rolling in the deep." so this is a television talent show with three judges

critiquing sipgers and like the past phenom susan boyle in england, she blew them away. ♪ there's a fire starting in my heart ♪ ♪ reaching a fever pitch and reaching me after dark ♪ ♪ finally i can see you crystal clear ♪ ♪ go ahead and sell me out ♪ and let your ship roll ♪ and see how i leave it ♪ with every piece of you ♪ don't underestimate the ♪ things that i would do pretty good? and breaking news out of tinsel town and ending years of speculation, russell brand filed for divorce from singer katie perry after 14 months of marriage, and via the publicist, he says that sadly katy and i will end our marriage and i adore her and i know we'll remain friends. this is despite the cozy

appearance on the red carpet four years ago. and there were celebrity watchers who fueled rumors that they had a marriage on the rocks spending christmas in separate cities and both spotted without the rings. and using items from google and apple everyday, but how much do they know about us? we will take a look tonight in "under surveillance" next. ms, plus it relieves your runny nose. [ deep breath] awesome. [ male announcer ] yes, it is. that's the cold truth! lord of the carry-on. sovereign of the security line. you never take an upgrade for granted. and you rent from national. because only national lets you choose any car in the aisle. and go. you can even take a full-size or above. and still pay the mid-size price. i deserve this. [ male announcer ] you do, business pro. you do.

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in tonight's "under surveillance" segment we are tracking your privacy and in 2012 you may not have as much as you'd like. for instance there is a thing called google wallet and this the company's tap to pay system

on android phones and maybe it makes shopping easier once it is fully released, but gawker says that the sensitive information of the software stores may not be safe. and apple is exploring technology to allow the iphone to say open your front door, but, you know, sometimes apple not always the best track when it comes to privacy, and by next year, those super secret spy drones that we have been talking about in cnn that the military uses may be hovering over your hometown watching you. noah shactman covering it for "wired" magazine and he is out front with more of the analysis. thank you for coming on. >> my pleasure. >> begin with the facebook phone. so when i think of facebook, you can check in and people know your location and you have contacts, and so is that essentially in a phone? >> well, all of the products are theoretical, but the privacy thing, the privacy concern here is that none of the companies

have a good track record when it comes to privacy. >> you don't get the warm and fuzzies over the facebook privacy? >> no, facebook got rapt by the federal trade commission for misleading all of the users in giving all of their information personal information away to advertisers and google and apple the same thing with pushback from the government for the way they use our information, so that the idea that we are entrusting more and more to them by putting more and more into products they they build and run is concerning. >> let's talk about, you know, police when they look for the criminals and using s.w.a.t. crews and troopers and now we are hearing about the drones to arrest civilians. i remember reading in the "l.a. times" that the drones used in north dakota to catch the guys stealing cattle, and this is something we will see more of next year? >> if not next year, it is the yearf a, because it is a trend in policing. look, the idea of -- >> it is cheaper.

>> inis the stead of a $1 milli helicopter, you can have a fleet of these things, and also, there is pressure from the end of the iraq war and the wind iing downf the afghanistan war and billions of dollars of the drones built and paid for by the u.s. government and like, what do you do with them? maybe you bring them home. >> and how specifically would they be used? because i know that multiple police jurisdictions are already talking about using them. >> right. they have been held up a little be it by the faa which does not necessarily want the robotic planes flying in the same air space as the manned aircraft, but those restrictions you can look to see loosen in the next couple of years, and then how are they going to use them? on stakeouts, on crowd control, and you know, any way they use a helicopter now and maybe a couple more. >> what about also being in times square today right before the preps for new year's eve and talking about the surveillance cameras and new york police say it is excellent for the counter

terrorism measures, but you are calling b.s. on that? >> yes, that is not true. right. look a couple of years right here in times square we had a guy trying to blow up a car and kill a lot of people, and time square is the most heavily surveillanced place on the planet, and yet he did it anyway. and look at london, because it is the most heavily surveilled place on the planet and yet they have had bombings there repeatedly, so these things do not stop terrorism, but they can be useful when terrorism happens. >> but it is one instance that if the cameras were not there, they could say, think of the instance that we could be reporting on but one instance. >> i don't think that the nypd have a single act of terrorism they prevented with surveillance cameras. >> are you going into the next year fearful that more instances or pieces of technology could in fact reveal our inner personal information? >> well, look, the more we live

our lives online and the more we are going through social networks and the more we use the iphones and the android phones to carry out the lives the more susceptible we are to surveillance, and it is a fact. the more we go digital, the easier it is to hoover up what we do. >> thank you, noah from "wired" magazine. i appreciate it. it is our last show here before new year's eve when 1 million people will pack times square and today i got an exclusive look at the preparations under way and we will share them with you in this behind the scenes video and that is up front and outfront next. ♪ with a free-credit-score-dot-com ♪ ♪ app that he had ♪ downloaded it in the himalayas ♪ ♪ while meditating like a true playa ♪ ♪ now when he's surfing down in chile'a ♪ ♪ he can see when his score is in danger ♪ ♪ if you're a mobile type on the go ♪ ♪ i suggest you take a tip from my bro ♪ ♪ and download the app that lets you know ♪ ♪ at free-credit-score-dot-com now let's go. ♪ vo: offer applies with enrollment in freecreditscore.com™.

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this time tomorrow night, new york's times square will be packed, you know, a cool million or so revelers just in time for the ball to be dropped at midnight. in that crowd we should point out there will be 40-plus cnners the there. so i went down this morning before everyone got there. welcome to times square. this is really the epicenter of the biggest new year's eve celebration in the world and this is the cnn riser. you won't see all of this on television, but follow me this way. this precise spot, this is where you will see anderson cooper and kathy griffin. now let's go. and i've got to say it's not very often i can say that in this exact spot just about 24 hours from now, i'm standing where lady gaga will be.

but here's a little fun behind the scenes fact. on television, this stage will look huge. here in times square, it's really just about 40 feet by 20 feet. you're going to see lady gaga, justin bieber and pit bull. so here's the story behind the confetti. yesterday they actually conducted they call an air worthiness test to make sure that the confetti floats down to times square appropriately. also we found out there are people standing all above on the tops of buildings so just before the strike of midnight, they all do this. so this is a massive 40-plus person cnn staff operation. not only does cnn have you covered with cameras here on the ground at times square, we're going up. and here we are ten stories above times square. you have to have one of these to get anywhere near this location. and this is the spot, the coveted spot where network crews will be watching the moment millions of you around the world will be waiting for, the ball to drop.