Digital World Forums - Main site news http://www.digitalworldz.co.uk/ This is where we type news for the main portal :) .... no nonsense in here this will reflect on the main site !!!!! en Fri, 18 May 2012 14:18:23 GMT vBulletin 60 http://www.digitalworldz.co.uk/images/styles/lifeSpace/misc/rss.png Digital World Forums - Main site news http://www.digitalworldz.co.uk/ Right to be insulted http://www.digitalworldz.co.uk/286617-right-insulted.html Fri, 18 May 2012 02:15:24 GMT A campaign calling for the right to be insulted without running to the law for protection from hurt feelings is being backed by UKIP. Local MEP... A campaign calling for the right to be insulted without running to the law for protection from hurt feelings is being backed by UKIP.

Local MEP Paul Nuttall, the Party's Deputy Leader, said that the Party has pledged wholehearted support for the “Reform Section 5” campaign which is calling for the repeal of Section 5 of the Public Order Act.

"The principle that freedom of speech, a basic liberty, must be defended and protected from well meaning legislation is one that UKIP has supported for years. We have had a commitment to reform Section 5 almost since we had any commitments.

"In a robust democracy people must be free to insult and be insulted. We have laws that protect against incitement to violence and hatred, that should be enough. To protect my feelings from those who wish to laugh at me or hold me in contempt is a freedom I never wanted, nor hoped for," he said

The Government launched a consultation on the Public Order Act last October, including whether the word ‘insulting’ in Section 5 strikes a good balance between freedom of expression and the right not to be harassed, alarmed or distressed. It is expected MPs will be able to vote on repealing Section 5 later this year.

"I am delighted that the campaign is gaining momentum and various bodies, including the Christian Institute, the National Secular Society and the Freedom Association and prominent individuals are standing up for the liberty of people to throw verbal brickbats around," said Mr Nuttall..


Source [url=http://www.rochdaleonline.co.uk/news-features/2/news-headlines/69823/right-to-be-insulted[/url] ]]> Main site news Pete_London http://www.digitalworldz.co.uk/286617-right-insulted.html <![CDATA[Met Police to extract suspects' mobile phone data]]> http://www.digitalworldz.co.uk/286614-met-police-extract-suspects.html Thu, 17 May 2012 23:04:34 GMT Met Police to extract suspects' mobile phone data

The Metropolitan Police has implemented a system to extract mobile phone data from suspects held in custody.


Image:
Only registered members can view images.

The kiosks have been fitted in 16 London boroughs for a 12-month trial


The data includes call history, texts and contacts, and the BBC has learned that it will be retained regardless of whether any charges are brought.

The technology is being used in 16 London boroughs, and could potentially be used by police across the UK.

Campaign group Privacy International described the move as a "possible breach of human rights law".

Until now, officers had to send mobiles off for forensic examination in order to gather and store data, a process which took several weeks.

Under the new system, content will be extracted using purpose built terminals in police stations.

It will allow officers to connect a suspect's mobile and produce a print out of data from the device, as well as saving digital records of the content.

'Retained and handled'

A Met Police spokesman told the BBC that when a suspect was released, "data received from the handsets is retained and handled in accordance with other data held by the MPS [Metropolitan Police Service]" - regardless of whether charges had been brought.

Guidelines given to officers state that data extraction can happen only if there is sufficient suspicion the mobile phone was used for criminal activity.

"Mobile phones and other devices are increasingly being used in all levels of criminal activity," said Stephen Kavanagh, Deputy Assistant Commissioner of the Metropolitan Police Service.

"When a suspect is arrested and found with a mobile phone that we suspect may have been used in crime, traditionally we submit it to our digital forensic laboratory for analysis.

"Therefore, a solution located within the boroughs that enables trained officers to examine devices and gives immediate access to the data in that handset is welcomed."

'Illegal'

Over 300 London officers will be trained in using the "intuitive, fully-guided touchscreen desktop data acquisition tool", created by mobile forensic firm Radio Tactics.

The cost of leasing the 16 terminals for 12 months and training the officers will be £50,000, the Met said.

Privacy International has expressed serious concern over the system.

Image:
Only registered members can view images.

Privacy International has warned against the possibility of such tech eventually be used on the streets

"We are looking at a possible breach of human rights law," spokeswoman Emma Draper told the BBC.

"It is illegal to indefinitely retain the DNA profiles of individuals after they are acquitted or released without charge, and the communications, photos and location data contained in most people's smartphones is at least as valuable and as personal as DNA."

Ms Draper added that while the Met's current plans were limited to fixed extraction terminals in stations, portable technology was readily available.

"Examining suspects' mobile phones after they are arrested is one thing, but if this technology was to be taken out onto the streets and used in stop-and-searches, that would be a significant and disturbing expansion of police powers."




By Dave Lee
Technology Reporter, BBC News
17 May 2012 Last updated at 18:20
BBC © 2012
BBC News - Met Police to extract suspects' mobile phone data ]]> Main site news hamba http://www.digitalworldz.co.uk/286614-met-police-extract-suspects.html Donna Summer, the Queen of Disco, Dead at 63 http://www.digitalworldz.co.uk/286597-donna-summer-queen-disco.html Thu, 17 May 2012 16:00:36 GMT Recording artist Donna Summer -- the Queen of Disco -- died Thursday morning following a battle with cancer. She was 63 years old. Summers was... Recording artist Donna Summer -- the Queen of Disco -- died Thursday morning following a battle with cancer. She was 63 years old.

Summers was reportedly in Florida at the time of her death.
The five-time Grammy winner rocketed to fame in the 1970s with iconic hits like "Last Dance," "Hot Stuff" and "Bad Girls."

She continued her dominance in the 1980s with "She Works Hard for the Money" and "This Time I Know It's for Real.

Summer was the first artist to have three consecutive double albums reach number one on the U.S. Billboard chart.

She also charted four number-one singles in the United States within a 13-month period.

Summer married Brooklyn Dreams singer Bruce Sudano back in 1980. They had two daughters together.

donna-summer-the-ultimate-collection-front-cover-64072.jpg
Attached Images
]]> Main site news Zooropa http://www.digitalworldz.co.uk/286597-donna-summer-queen-disco.html The Pirate Bay hit by DDoS attack http://www.digitalworldz.co.uk/286560-pirate-bay-hit-ddos.html Wed, 16 May 2012 20:07:59 GMT *The Pirate Bay hit by DDoS attack** File-sharing website The Pirate Bay (TPB) has been hit by a Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) attack. *... The Pirate Bay hit by DDoS attack

File-sharing website The Pirate Bay (TPB) has been hit by a Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) attack.

Image:
Only registered members can view images.
The site has been largely inaccessible for the last 24 hours



The site has been largely inaccessible for the last 24 hours, and the service is intermittent in the UK.

The Pirate Bay has confirmed the attack on its Facebook page, saying that it did not know who was behind it, although it "had its suspicions".

A provider of DDoS defence systems said that it was unlikely that the attack came from hacking group Anonymous.

"There will be further attacks, but what's significant about this whole story is that people think that it is the Anonymous attacking a site which is typically a type of site that they defend," said Andre Stewart of Corero Network Security.

"It could be the record labels, or a government somewhere that has had enough of not being able to catch The Pirate Bay, it could be just one person who had rented some cloud power from Amazon and is sitting in a cafe, and is able to launch an attack."

Although some users may have attempted to access the site using proxies, TPB itself warned them against doing so.

Illegal file sharing

"Use proxies at own risk. Don't login unless you trust the proxy supplier. Don't freak out. You'll get your TPB fix tomorrow," said the site.

Being an illegal file-sharing site, TPB allows users to obtain songs, films and other content free, thus angering copyright holders who end up losing money.

"If they're losing money and seeing that the government is not being able to stop it, there's a real monetary value reason for them to try and bring it down," said Mr Stewart.

"And if they can do it in the name of Anonymous then it's great for them.

"Equally the governments that protect these industries are frustrated as well because they haven't been able to see it close down, unlike a number of other torrent sites."



Open and free

Image:
Only registered members can view images.
Virgin Media users trying to access The Pirate Bay are shown a message explaining why it is blocked


Virgin Media began preventing access to the file-sharing site following a High Court order last week.

Some time later the Virgin Media website suffered a hack attack that many thought was organised to protest against efforts to block access to TPB.

Twitter feeds associated with the Anonymous collective wrote: "Virgin Media - Tango Down #OpTPB".

But TPB criticised Anonymous for the attack, writing on its Facebook page that it did not "encourage these actions".

"We believe in the open and free internets, where anyone can express their views," wrote TPB.

"Even if we strongly disagree with them and even if they hate us. So don't fight them using their ugly methods. DDoS and blocks are both forms of censorship."



16 May 2012 Last updated at 18:16
BBC © 2012
BBC News - The Pirate Bay hit by DDoS attack ]]> Main site news hamba http://www.digitalworldz.co.uk/286560-pirate-bay-hit-ddos.html <![CDATA[Pirate Pay torrent 'blocker' backed by Microsoft]]> http://www.digitalworldz.co.uk/286450-pirate-pay-torrent-blocker.html Mon, 14 May 2012 17:24:45 GMT Pirate Pay torrent 'blocker' backed by Microsoft

A Russian company has developed software it says can disrupt and prevent people from downloading pirated content

Image:
Only registered members can view images.
Blocking tool Pirate Pay draws its name from controversial piracy site The Pirate Bay


Pirate Pay has been backed by Microsoft and has so far worked with Walt Disney Studios and Sony Pictures to stop "thousands" of downloads.

The tool poses as real bit torrent users but then "confuses" peer-to-peer networks, causing disconnections.

Critics argue that the method will be ineffective in the long term.

The entertainment industry claims that the downloading of pirated material costs copyright holders billions of pounds in lost revenue every year.

Last month, the British Phonographic Industry won a court battle to force UK internet service providers to block its customers from accessing high-profile piracy site The Pirate Bay.

However, the true extent of the financial impact is strongly questioned by internet rights campaigners.

Swamping

Bit torrent blog Torrent Freak reported that Pirate Pay began life as traffic management software for internet service providers.

From here they discovered it could be used to swamp peer-to-peer networks - which are used to share the files - with false information.

"After creating the prototype, we realised we could more generally prevent files from being downloaded, which meant that the program had great promise in combating the spread of pirated content," said Andrei Klimenko, the company's chief executive, in an interview with Russia Beyond the Headlines.

The technology has received high-profile praise from the president of Microsoft Russia - Pirate Pay was awarded one million rubles (£62,000, $100,000) from a seed investment fund set up by the company behind Windows.

A recent campaign saw Pirate Pay "protect" recent Russian film Vysotsky. Thanks to God, I am Alive, made by Walt Disney Studios.

Pirate Pay said it blocked 44,845 attempted illegal downloads of the film.

However, as the Torrent Freak blog pointed out, the blocked downloaders might have simply just tried again later.

'Social issues'

Although exact details on how the system operates are not known outside of the company, security researcher Richard Clayton from the University of Cambridge told the BBC it was a process that could work, if only in the short term.

"If you flood the network with lots of lies, then you will be short of real things.

"[But] the networks are robust about this in the long term because you will say to your peer 'please give me this data', and when it gives you the data it will say 'this doesn't match' and throw it away."

Mr Clayton, who blogs about such issues, said peer-to-peer networks would eventually adapt, sharing information about "bogus" peers such as those reportedly utilised by companies like Pirate Pay.

Mr Clayton added: "You don't solve social issues with technical fixes.

"The social issue here is that a lot of people think that the legal offerings are too expensive and don't provide what they want.
"Once you solve that, nobody's going to want to mess around with complicated bits of software to get what they need."




14 May 2012 Last updated at 17:37
BBC © 2012
BBC News - Pirate Pay torrent 'blocker' backed by Microsoft ]]> Main site news hamba http://www.digitalworldz.co.uk/286450-pirate-pay-torrent-blocker.html Fire in Williams F1 Pit Garage - Spanish GP http://www.digitalworldz.co.uk/286406-fire-williams-f1-pit.html Sun, 13 May 2012 19:19:19 GMT BBC Sport - Spanish Grand Prix: Williams crew injured in pit fire (http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/formula1/18051779) Fire in Williams F1 Garage........ BBC Sport - Spanish Grand Prix: Williams crew injured in pit fire

Fire in Williams F1 Garage.....

Quote:
Williams's celebrations of first Grand Prix victory in eight years have been marred by injuries to four team members in a fire in the team's garage.

Three members of the Williams team were taken to hospital, while four Caterham mechanics were treated at the track's medical unit.

A Force India team member was also treated on the site after suffering smoke inhalation.

The incident is believed to involve a Kers unit, which sparked a fuel fire.

Caterham, who occupied the garage next to Williams in the Circuit de Catalunya pit lane, explained that one of those injured had a minor hand injury, with three others suffering respiratory issues.
Fire breaks out in the Williams garage


Image:
Only registered members can view images.

The fire began at the back of the Williams garage

A Williams spokesperson said: "Four team personnel were injured in the incident and subsequently taken to the medical centre. Three are now receiving treatment at local hospitals for their injuries, while the fourth has been released. The team will monitor their condition and ensure they receive the best possible care.

"The team, the fire services and the police are working together to determine the root cause of the fire."

The fire occurred after Williams's group photo commemorating Pastor Maldonado's victory , the Grove-based team's first since Juan Pablo Montoya's win in the 2004 Brazil Grand Prix.

Founder Frank Williams, whose family attended the race in celebration of his recent 70th birthday, was led to safety.

"I was there when [founder] Frank Williams was giving his speech to everyone," said Williams reserve driver Valtteri Bottas.

"I felt an explosion from behind, somewhere from the fuel area, and everyone ran out quickly."

Mechanics from several teams joined Williams's pit crew in attempting to extinguish the flames which sent smoke billowing across the paddock.

Maldonado's car was parked elsewhere awaiting post-race checks during the blaze, but the FW34 of team-mate Bruno Senna, who crashed out after 12 laps, was in the garage at the time.
]]> Main site news Rs2k_Rider http://www.digitalworldz.co.uk/286406-fire-williams-f1-pit.html Ferrari sorry after car damages Nanjing city wall http://www.digitalworldz.co.uk/286212-ferrari-sorry-after-car.html Thu, 10 May 2012 06:18:36 GMT *Italian sports car maker Ferrari has apologised after one of its cars drove on an ancient Chinese monument, prior to a publicity event, causing... Italian sports car maker Ferrari has apologised after one of its cars drove on an ancient Chinese monument, prior to a publicity event, causing damage.



Video:
Only registered members can view videos.

Ferrari suggested the incident was the fault of a local dealership employee.

The car was filmed wheel-spinning on top of a 600-year-old Ming-dynasty era wall in the city of Nanjing.

Footage of the screeching vehicle has infuriated China's online community, hitting a nerve in a society where such cars are a symbol of privilege.

One web user called it a "rude insult" to Chinese tradition and culture.

The incident, in the run-up to a Ferrari show, left tyre marks on the wall.

But most public anger has been directed at city officials after reports emerged suggesting they had agreed to rent the use of the wall to the Ferrari dealership for about $12,000 (£8,000).

City officials have retorted that the car company did not have approval.

"No enterprise or individual is allowed to use the city ramparts in Nanjing for commercial purposes," Nanjing Cultural Relics Bureau Captain Wu Jing said.

Ferrari has denied the episode was a publicity stunt and has laid the blame with a member of staff at a local dealership.

"Unfortunately, an employee of the dealership - not a Ferrari employee - took it upon himself to drive the car in the way that you will see in the video, with the very regrettable result that tyre marks were left on the ancient monument.

"Ferrari SpA has unreservedly apologised to the Chinese authorities and local community for any damage and offence caused, and has promised to work with the necessary officials to repair any damage caused by the negligence of this individual."

The BBC's John Sudworth in Shanghai says that other than the tyre marks, physical damage to the monument does not appear to be substantial.

The night-time spin, shortly after the car had been hoisted on to the wall, reportedly led to the cancellation of the event itself, a celebration of 20 years since Ferrari entered the Chinese car market.

The word Ferrari has now been blocked on Chinese microblogs, perhaps as part of an effort to contain criticism of the actions of government officials, our correspondent says.

BBC News - Ferrari sorry after car damages Nanjing city wall ]]> Main site news snapman http://www.digitalworldz.co.uk/286212-ferrari-sorry-after-car.html Walthamstow Stadium housing estate plans approved http://www.digitalworldz.co.uk/286201-walthamstow-stadium-housing-estate.html Wed, 09 May 2012 22:11:21 GMT Walthamstow Stadium housing estate plans approved

Image:
Only registered members can view images.
Image:
Only registered members can view images.

In brief, L&Q's planning application for 294 homes at Walthamstow Stadium was narrowly approved tonight at a heated council meeting which lasted three and a half hours.

The evening was quite emotional at times, and councillors who voted for the plans were confronted at the end of the night by a minority of furious campaigners.

There was lots of heckling and at one point the council chair even threatened to eject all members of the public.

So, what next? Well, the application is to be referred to London mayor Boris Johnson and the Greater London Assembly. So potentially it could still be thrown out.

Mr Johnson has spoken publicly of his support for a return to greyhound racing at the site but he also has tough targets for building new housing in the capital, so it's unclear quite what he'll do.

What is clear, however, is that this is not the end of the Walthamstow Stadium saga. But this is undoubtedly a hugely significant chapter in both the history of the iconic site and the future of south Chingford as a whole

Source Walthamstow Stadium housing estate plans approved (From East London and West Essex Guardian Series) ]]> Main site news Pete_London http://www.digitalworldz.co.uk/286201-walthamstow-stadium-housing-estate.html British-born celebrity hairdresser Vidal Sassoon dies http://www.digitalworldz.co.uk/286196-british-born-celebrity-hairdresser.html Wed, 09 May 2012 21:07:37 GMT British-born celebrity hairdresser Vidal Sassoon has died at his home in Los Angeles, aged 84. A police spokesman said officers went to the... British-born celebrity hairdresser Vidal Sassoon has died at his home in Los Angeles, aged 84.

A police spokesman said officers went to the stylist's home on Wednesday morning to confirm the death. He said Sassoon had died of natural causes.

Sassoon is regarded as one of the best-known hairdressers of his generation.

He is credited with revolutionising haircuts in the 1960s, and developed a popular line of hair products under his name.

The creator of the "Bob" hairstyle, he is best known for his simple, shaped cuts, ending the bouffant styles trendy in the 1950s.

One of his followers was Mary Quant, the famous British fashion designer who popularised the mini-skirt.

Sassoon opened his first salon in his native London in 1954, later expanding to the US.

His private life attracted as much publicity as his business success. He divorced three times and married his fourth wife in 1992.

source: BBC News - British-born celebrity hairdresser Vidal Sassoon dies ]]> Main site news Highlander http://www.digitalworldz.co.uk/286196-british-born-celebrity-hairdresser.html <![CDATA[Queen's speech confirms government internet snooping plans still in place]]> http://www.digitalworldz.co.uk/286172-queens-speech-confirms-government.html Wed, 09 May 2012 14:15:33 GMT The government has used the Queen's Speech to confirm it intends to press ahead with controversial snooping plans that will make it easier for the police and intelligence agencies to access communications data.

While the announcement was light on detail, previous discussions hinted that the government wants to be able to access emails and web records at will.

“My Government intends to bring forward measures to maintain the ability of the law enforcement and intelligence agencies to access vital communications data under strict safeguards to protect the public, subject to scrutiny of draft clauses,” the Queen told parliament.

Those details have already prompted inflammatory responses from privacy campaigners.

“The Home Office have been very good at saying what the problem is, but seem intent on keeping the technical details of what they are proposing secret,” said Nick Pickles, a director of Big Brother Watch, in a blog post.

“Is it any wonder that the public are scared by a proposal for online surveillance not seen in any other Western democracy?”

Whether the proposals will meet European data protection laws depends on what protections are included in the forthcoming bill, said Sarah Needham, data protection lawyer at law firm Taylor Wessing.

"In order not to infringe our [European] laws, the snooping must be fair, justified and proportionate to the objective," she warned.

The Conservative party had been fiercely critical of the internet surveillance plans of the previous Labour administration, but has seemingly gained an appetite for snooping having taken power.

Last month, the Home Office confirmed it want snooping powers adding to the Queen's Speech.

"It is vital that police and security services are able to obtain communications data in certain circumstances to investigate serious crime and terrorism and to protect the public," it said in a statement.

The announcement was criticised by Jim Killock executive director of the Open Rights Group who argued that it would give police powers that would be open to abuse.

"Gaining access to your Facebook and Google data without court supervision is not preserving powers, it is a massive extension of the ability of a police officer to see what you are doing," he said.

"It would be wide open to abuse, endangering whistleblowers and journalists' sources.

"The interception powers open a whole new can of worms. No law has ever previously claimed that people's communications data should be collected by third parties just in case. This data has never been previously collected.

"This Bill could mark the end of the government's reputation as a force for protecting our freedom and privacy. They should scrap it now."

Further details of the government proposals can be expected in the coming months.

Source ]]> Main site news snapman http://www.digitalworldz.co.uk/286172-queens-speech-confirms-government.html Virgin Media hacked by opponents of The Pirate Bay block http://www.digitalworldz.co.uk/286138-virgin-media-hacked-opponents.html Tue, 08 May 2012 21:38:01 GMT *Virgin Media has said it was forced to take its website offline for an hour during a hack attack. * Twitter feeds associated with the Anonymous... Virgin Media has said it was forced to take its website offline for an hour during a hack attack.

Twitter feeds associated with the Anonymous collective announced: "Virgin Media - Tango Down #OpTPB".

The messages suggest that the attack was organised to protest against efforts to block access to The Pirate Bay's (TPB) file-sharing pages.
Virgin Media began preventing access to TPB last Wednesday following a High Court order.

Four other internet service providers - Sky, Everything Everywhere, TalkTalk and O2 - have also been ordered to prevent their users being able to visit TPB by this coming Friday. A sixth ISP, BT, has requested "a few more weeks" to consider its position.

'Legal alternatives'

Tweets issued by accounts linked to Anonymous also claimed TalkTalk was targeted over the weekend, although the network could not confirm the details.
A statement by Virgin Media said that the distributed denial of service (DDoS) attack lasted one hour, beginning at 5pm BST.
It added that it was only blocking TPB because it had been forced to do so.

"As a responsible ISP, Virgin Media complies with court orders but we strongly believe that tackling the issue of copyright infringement needs compelling legal alternatives, giving consumers access to great content at the right price, to help change consumer behaviour," it said.

Copyright defenders, including the British recorded music industry body BPI, have argued that illegal copies of films, books and music made available on file-sharing sites destroy creative industry jobs and discourage investment in new talent



 ]]> Main site news Dibbers http://www.digitalworldz.co.uk/286138-virgin-media-hacked-opponents.html Google gets Nevada driving licence for self-drive car http://www.digitalworldz.co.uk/286107-google-gets-nevada-driving.html Tue, 08 May 2012 10:58:45 GMT *Google gets Nevada driving licence for self-drive car** Driverless cars will soon be a reality on the roads of Nevada after the state approved... Google gets Nevada driving licence for self-drive car

Driverless cars will soon be a reality on the roads of Nevada after the state approved America's first self-driven vehicle licence.

Image:
Only registered members can view images.
Google has been experimenting with driverless Toyota Prius cars in the US



The first to hit the highway will be a Toyota Prius modified by search firm Google, which is leading the way in driverless car technology.

Its first drive included a spin down Las Vegas's famous strip.

Other car companies are also seeking self-driven car licences in Nevada.

Accident

The car uses video cameras mounted on the roof, radar sensors and a laser range finder to "see" other traffic.

Engineers at Google have previously tested the car on the streets of California, including crossing San Francisco's Golden Gate bridge.

For those tests, the car remained manned at all times by a trained driver ready to take control if the software failed.

According to software engineer Sebastian Thrun, the car has covered 140,000 miles with no accidents, other than a bump at traffic lights from a car behind.

Human error

Bruce Breslow, director of Nevada's Department of Motor Vehicles, says he believes driverless vehicles are the "cars of the future".

Nevada changed its laws to allow self-driven cars in March. The long-term plan is to license members of the public to drive such cars.

Google's car has been issued with a red licence plate to make it recognisable. The plate features an infinity sign next to the number 001.

Other states, including California, are planning similar changes.

"The vast majority of vehicle accidents are due to human error," said California state Senator Alex Padilla, when he introduced the legislation.

"Through the use of computers, sensors and other systems, an autonomous vehicle is capable of analysing the driving environment more quickly and operating the vehicle more safely."



8 May 2012 Last updated at 11:27
BBC © 2012
BBC News - Google gets Nevada driving licence for self-drive car ]]> Main site news hamba http://www.digitalworldz.co.uk/286107-google-gets-nevada-driving.html Farting Dinosaurs http://www.digitalworldz.co.uk/286066-farting-dinosaurs.html Mon, 07 May 2012 14:02:20 GMT Dinosaur gases 'warmed the Earth'


Image:
Only registered members can view images.
Apatosaurus, formerly known as Brontosaurus, produced a lot of wind


Giant dinosaurs could have warmed the planet with their flatulence, say researchers.

British scientists have calculated the methane output of sauropods, including the species known as Brontosaurus.

By scaling up the digestive wind of cows, they estimate that the population of dinosaurs - as a whole - produced 520 million tonnes of gas annually.

They suggest the gas could have been a key factor in the warm climate 150 million years ago.


Sauropod facts


Image:
Only registered members can view images.



  • Sauropods included some of the largest animals ever to live on land including the gargantuan Argentinosaurus
  • Fossil evidence suggests the herbivores lived in herds
  • Recognisable features include long necks, long tails and relatively small heads






David Wilkinson from Liverpool John Moore's University, and colleagues from the University of London and the University of Glasgow published their results in the journal Current Biology.

Sauropods, such as Apatosaurus louise (formerly known as Brontosaurus), were super-sized land animals that grazed on vegetation during the Mesozoic Era.

For Dr Wilkinson, it was not the giants that were of interest but the microscopic organisms living inside them.

"The ecology of microbes and their role in the working of our planet are one of my key interests in science," he told BBC Nature.

"Although it's the dinosaur element that captures the popular imagination with this work, actually it is the microbes living in the dinosaurs guts that are making the methane."

Methane is known as a "greenhouse gas" that absorbs infrared radiation from the sun, trapping it in the Earth's atmosphere and leading to increased temperatures.

Previous studies have suggested that the Earth was up to 10C (18F) warmer in the Mesozoic Era.

With the knowledge that livestock emissions currently contribute a significant part to global methane levels, the researchers used existing data to estimate how sauropods could have affected the climate.

Their calculations considered the dinosaurs' estimated total population and used a scale that links biomass to methane output for cattle.

"Cows today produce something like 50-100 [million tonnes] per year. Our best estimate for Sauropods is around 520 [million tonnes]," said Dr Wilkinson.


Modern methane producers



  • Microbes in the stomachs of "ruminant" species produce methane gas as they break down vegetable matter which is released as flatulence
  • Modern "ruminant" animals that chew on plant materials include cows, goats and giraffes
  • Methane trapped in the Earth can also be released during drilling for natural gas



Current methane emissions amount to around 500 million tonnes a year from a combination of natural sources, such as wild animals, and human activities including dairy and meat production.

Expressing his surprise at the comparative figures, Dr Wilkinson added that dinosaurs were not the sole producers of methane at the time.

"There were other sources of methane in the Mesozoic so total methane level would probably have been much higher than now," he said.


7 May 2012 Last updated at 10:43
BBC © 2012
BBC Nature - Dinosaur gases 'warmed the Earth' ]]> Main site news hamba http://www.digitalworldz.co.uk/286066-farting-dinosaurs.html Adobe posts fix for critical Flash flaw http://www.digitalworldz.co.uk/286016-adobe-posts-fix-critical.html Sun, 06 May 2012 13:52:02 GMT Adobe is posting an update to address a critical flaw in Android and all desktop versions of its Flash media platform. The company said that the... Adobe is posting an update to address a critical flaw in Android and all desktop versions of its Flash media platform.

The company said that the security update would patch a remote code execution flaw in the Flash Player plug-in which is currently being exploited by cybercriminals in the wild.

The update addresses Flash Player 11.2.202.233 and earlier on Windows, OS X and Linux systems as well as Flash Player 11.1.115.7 and earlier for Android. The company is recommending that all users run the latest version of Flash Player and update if needed.

The company noted that Windows users should place a particularly high priority on the update as the attacks spotted have targeted the Flash component within Internet Explorer.

Keeping systems updated and patched has become a top security concern for Adobe. A recent study from security firm Zscaler found that Adobe Flash, Acrobat and Reader are among the most common outdated components reported by users.

A recent study from Microsoft also found that Flash was one of the most commonly-targeted components for web-based exploits.

The Adobe release lands just four days before Microsoft is set to post its May security update. The release is set to include at least three bulletins which will address critical remote code execution flaws in Windows and Office.

Source ]]> Main site news snapman http://www.digitalworldz.co.uk/286016-adobe-posts-fix-critical.html Beastie Boys star Adam Yauch dies aged 47 http://www.digitalworldz.co.uk/285949-beastie-boys-star-adam.html Fri, 04 May 2012 19:05:38 GMT Absolutely gutted about this. I was hoping that I would see them in concert again sometime soon :-( Beastie Boys rapper Adam Yauch has died at... Absolutely gutted about this. I was hoping that I would see them in concert again sometime soon :-(

Beastie Boys rapper Adam Yauch has died at the age of 47, his publicist has confirmed to the BBC.

The star was diagnosed with cancer in 2009 but it is not clear whether his death was connected with the illness.

Yauch had surgery and radiation therapy but said last year "reports of my being totally cancer free are exaggerated".

Under the alias MCA, he joined the group co-founded by Mike D and Ad Roc in 1981. They went on to sell more than 40 million albums worldwide.
The Beastie Boys Yauch, pictured with his bandmates in 2011

Tributes have already been paid to the star on Twitter, with the likes of De La Soul, Ice T, Joe Satriani and Common passing on their condolences.

BBC News - Beastie Boys star Adam Yauch dies aged 47 ]]> Main site news Purity http://www.digitalworldz.co.uk/285949-beastie-boys-star-adam.html Premier League televised football packages up for grabs http://www.digitalworldz.co.uk/285918-premier-league-televised-football.html Fri, 04 May 2012 07:33:56 GMT The Premier League has issued an invitation to tender for the domestic UK broadcast rights for the 2013-14 to 2015-16 football seasons. It says... The Premier League has issued an invitation to tender for the domestic UK broadcast rights for the 2013-14 to 2015-16 football seasons.

It says 154 matches will be shown live on TV each season from 2013-14 - 16 more than currently broadcast and more than 40% of all top-level matches

The extra 16 live games comes as matches are moved away from Saturday 3pm kick-off times, due to Europa League involvement or police advice.

No 3pm kick-offs can be shown live

Code:
Only registered members can view code.
]]> Main site news joe516 http://www.digitalworldz.co.uk/285918-premier-league-televised-football.html Rivals launch a printing revolution that could be as significant as Gutenberg http://www.digitalworldz.co.uk/285899-rivals-launch-printing-revolution.html Thu, 03 May 2012 16:06:58 GMT *Rivals launch a printing revolution that could be as significant as Gutenberg** Landa and Xeikon to unveil new inkjet and toner technology at... Rivals launch a printing revolution that could be as significant as Gutenberg

Landa and Xeikon to unveil new inkjet and toner technology at drupa exhibition in Düsseldorf


Image:
Only registered members can view images.
Prints of innovation … Benny Landa.


This week will see the launch of a revolution in printing that may turn out to be as significant as the invention of the Gutenberg printing press - if entrepreneurs and analysts are to be believed.


From May 3 to 16 more than 390,000 visitors are expected to visit drupa 2012 . Known as "the Olympics of printing", it is held every four years in Düsseldorf, Germany, and is the largest printing equipment exhibition in the world.


This year, visitors will see a number of rival technologies launched, each of which promises to deliver a "second digital revolution in printing" that will allow the digital printer to kill off the offset press for commercial printing, and may even allow the printed page to compete with the iPad in terms of visual quality and individualisation of content.


Digital printing mostly uses inkjet or laser printers to print directly from a digital image whether on your PC, phone or camera, for example, without using inked printing plates. Compared with the high speed, quality and efficiency of traditional offset printing, digital printing has suffered a so-called "productivity gap" since it first arrived on the scene back in the 1990s – the "first digital revolution". Inkjet printers, which make up the vast majority of digital printers, are able to print a large number of copies quickly but of poor quality and requiring specially prepared paper, while others, like electrographic or laser printers, use dry or liquid toner to print a large number of high-quality copies but at a comparatively slow speed, not to mention the "chemical weapons" such toners leave behind in the office.


Now, with the inkjet and toner technology due to be unveiled at drupa, "every printer could become a digital printer", according to Ralf Schlozer, director of on-demand printing and publishing services at the market research and strategic consultancy Infotrends: it is expected that the digital printer will finally be able to offer the same high (or even higher) quality, fast speeds and low costs as an offset press, even if these will be demonstrations of technology rather than the finished product. And then, according to the prophets of the second digital printing revolution, this new generation of printers will be able to make the quality of the visuals we see on the printed page equal to what you can see on your tablet, and to print each page with a degree of individualisation of content and "just-in-time printing" that may mean that eventually we won't have to click on an app to read our own tailor-made edition of the Guardian, it will be delivered to our door.

Although half a dozen new inkjet technologies and a handful of new toner ones are expected to be revealed at drupa, nothing better illustrates this coming revolution – and the battle over which printing technology is going to take us there – than the race to market between Landa Corporation's Nanography and Xeikon's Trillium Print Technology unveiled today and tomorrow. On one side of this battle is "a truly groundbreaking development" by the Steve Jobs of the printing world (and drupa keynote speaker) Benny Landa, and on the other, "a breakthrough technology" by "printing's best-kept secret", the Belgian company Xeikon.


This is a race that – like all the best ones – comes with its own history, since both Israel's charismatic Landa and Xeikon claim to have started the digital printing revolution in 1993 with the world's first digital press. Landa went on to sell his "iconic" Indigo technology to printing giant Hewlettt-Packard and then set up Landa Labs, his reputation made, while Xeikon sank back into Low Countries relative obscurity after finding their products quickly overtaken by the big boys of the printing establishment.


The secretive Landa seem to believes that he can do the same again by stealing a march on his competitors with his pre-drupa launch of the Landa Nanographic Printing process with a Jobs-style presentation called "Nano. Bigger Than You Think".


Landa declared that his ten years of research into nanotechnology has led to a "true breakthrough that enables our presses to achieve amazing results", meaning that "for the first time commercial printers don't have to choose between the versatility and short-run economics of digital printing and the low cost and high productivity of offset. Now they can have both".


It is thanks to a new water-based ink called Landa NanoInk, coupled with innovative ink ejectors, that Landa's new nanographic printers can print with "game-changing performance and costs per page" making print more profitable again. The ink consists of pigment particles smaller than the width of a strand of hair that "will allow unprecedented image qualities" to be printed very thinly, very quickly, in a sustainable way and on untreated "off the shelf" materials. The ink container can even be recycled in the domestic waste.


It is also a race that has just got tougher as, rather than technology demonstrators, Landa has launched actual presses with innovative large flat screen controls that are expected to be shipped in the second quarter of next year – even if there is still "tweaking" to be done – as well as strategic partnerships with Komori, Manroland Sheetfeed and Heidelberg – some of the biggest manufacturers of printing presses in the world.


This time, though, Xeikon is determined that the outcome is going to be different. However, a rather embarrassing last-minute change of name from Quantum to Trillium due to patent problems does not augur well.


"Forget what happened 15 to 20 years ago; Trillium is a breakthrough technology which is going to turn the world of printing upside down," says Michael V. Ring, vice-president of worldwide marketing and president of Xeikon America. "After all, we get the technology as we invented it in the first place."


And they are staking their future product line on the assumption they are right. "Trillium is so revolutionary because with today's printing technologies you always have to compromise as you can only ever get two out of cost, quality, and speed. Tomorrow with Trillium you can get all three and that is not possible with today's inkjet or toner machines. And do so in a way that is sustainable as well."


This is a technology that they have not developed by themselves, but rather by acquiring the IP of a rival company, the name of which they have somehow kept out of the record books.


While Xeikon – like Landa – has kept the actual details of their technology sketchy, bloggers who have searched patent applications believe that they have established that Trillium Technology is a high-speed electrographic printer using a high-viscosity liquid toner developed by Research Laboratories of Australia that is more like a paste than a liquid and is safe enough to wash down the kitchen sink.


The technology has then been combined with Xeikon's existing innovative fast printing presses that will close the gap with offset presses and ultimately send them to the scrapyard.

For Danny Mertens, Xeikon's business development manager, the implications of Trillium Technology are profound thanks to the "philiosophy it expresses".

"Trillium will help turn print into a VIP medium to compete with the iPad, as it can print very high quality product with very short production runs, at very low cost, close to the point of need and individualised, which is what each individual wants as each page can be unique."


And Mertens is not too worried by Landa's Nanography.


"When I put the pieces of the puzzle together [Nanography] is what I call an 'indirect imaging inkjet' that introduces an intermediate system to transfer the image on to the final paper or film in order to get inkjet to print higher quality or on a wider range of material, and that means you are adding extra complexity into the process, which will make it more difficult to control and which will increase the costs.


"However, after 20 or so years it is good to see that the two pioneers that introduced digital printing to the world are here again with new stuff."


Gareth Ward, the editor of Print Business magazine, has been "floundering in patent applications", searching for the truth behind the claims made for these rival technologies.


"Up till now there has been little activity on the patents front for Nanography so it is a case of smoke and mirrors", and while "it is unlikely to be a red herring", "it might also be some way from commercial release".

Landa , he believes, has found the partners he has been looking for "to take on the technology and develop it to the next stage while allowing him to work on his energy-creating technology, which will put him up there with Edison and the truly greats".


On the other hand, Trillium is "potentially significant technology" from a "reliable company", as it could break through the "barrier of speed, quality and cost" that has held back digital printing from taking over the mainstream. Though it still comes with a lot of "ifs" –"if it works and if it can be commercialised at a low enough price and in a reliable way".


However, Ward adds, "while Trillium is interesting, it is not going to change the world by itself … It is part of a much larger current towards the digitisation of the print industry and just-in-time printing that the book trade is already experiencing. So there are at least half a dozen rival technologies being launched at drupa."


Ralf Schlozer of Infotrends strikes a more cautious note as "the 'second digital revolution' are big words".

"Digital printing has come of age and is now reaching speeds and levels of quality that could mean that every printer could become a digital printer. And if you have digital printers as your main printer then things like personalisation can be done at little extra cost as something on top."


Nonetheless it may take a while for digital printers to replace offset printers, which can last for years.

"From what we know," says Schlozer, "both Xeikon and Landa Labs are presenting new technology that offers very similar things such as fast speeds, low cost and high quality. But, at this stage, we don't know whether either technology delivers.


"However, with so many new printing technologies all promising the earth the hope is that one will actually get to the point of delivering it.


"While Landa Labs especially has had a lot of press, and Xeikon too, there are other developers out there who haven't succeeded in getting their message out or will just wait to the big day to announce their technology."

However, his money is on Landa Labs as Landa is "very credible".


"While Benny Landa is always secretive, publishing his innovations with a big bang, he has a lot of technological knowledge and does employ a lot of scientists out in Israel. And he is doing the patents for his technology at the moment."


Credibility that he has only been reinforced with recently announced partnerships with big-name manufacturers.


In the end, revolutions are often easier to anticipate than predict the outcome of, and the second revolution in digital printing is no exception. Until one of these revolutionary technologies is actually turned into a press that we can see in our local printers – at least a year away – it is going to be impossible to know whether the wildest dreams of the digital printing revolutionaries to in some way "turn the clock back" to the era when the printed page was a highly valued commodity can ever or will ever be realised and, ultimately, whether our love affair with the printed page that began with Gutenberg will be renewed or just fade away.





Mark Piesing
guardian.co.uk, Thursday 3 May 2012 14.04 BST
© 2012 Guardian News and Media Limited or its affiliated companies. All rights reserved.
Rivals launch a printing revolution that could be as significant as Gutenberg | Technology | guardian.co.uk ]]> Main site news hamba http://www.digitalworldz.co.uk/285899-rivals-launch-printing-revolution.html Soca attack: Serious Organised Crime Agency site taken down http://www.digitalworldz.co.uk/285886-soca-attack-serious-organised.html Thu, 03 May 2012 12:18:38 GMT Soca attack: Serious Organised Crime Agency site taken down

The website of the UK's Serious Organised Crime Agency (Soca) has been taken offline following a cyber attack.

Image:
Only registered members can view images.
The Soca website has been targeted and taken offline in the past


Soca confirmed to the BBC that soca.gov.uk had suffered a Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) attack.

A spokesman said the site was taken offline at 22:30 on Wednesday, but that the attack did not "pose a security risk to the organisation".

Soca has recently closed 36 websites believed to be selling stolen credit card information.

'No security risk'

"We took action to limit the impact on other clients hosted by the [same] service provider," the spokesman said.

"DDoS attacks are a temporary inconvenience to website visitors but do not pose a security risk.

"Soca's website contains only publicly available information and does not provide access to operational material."

Soca would not confirm if it knew the source or motive of the attack.

A distributed denial-of-service attack is a common techinque in which sites are overloaded with data requests, causing it to fall over.

Last month, Soca was part of a joint effort with the US Federal Bureau of Investigation to shut websites associated with selling stolen financial information.

Soca said 2.5 million items of compromised data was recovered, preventing an estimated potential fraud of £500m.

The website has been targeted in the past by members of "hacktivist" group LulzSec. In June 2011, they forced the site offline using similar tactics.

Alleged members of the group were subsequently arrested in connection with the attack.



3 May 2012 Last updated at 12:28
BBC © 2012
BBC News - Soca attack: Serious Organised Crime Agency site taken down ]]> Main site news hamba http://www.digitalworldz.co.uk/285886-soca-attack-serious-organised.html Ebay traders under HMRC tax spotlight http://www.digitalworldz.co.uk/285767-ebay-traders-under-hmrc.html Tue, 01 May 2012 11:30:53 GMT Ebay traders under HMRC tax spotlight

HMRC's ongoing tax dodging crackdown targets regular eBay traders and those who buy items to sell them on at a profit

Image:
Only registered members can view images.
A 'significant minority' of regular eBay sellers are not paying enough tax, HMRC says. Photograph: Linda Nylind for the Guardian


If you are a regular eBay trader and haven't been declaring your income, you may be in for an unpleasant surprise.

As part of its ongoing crackdown on tax dodging, HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) has written to 32,500 people who it believes are regularly trading online and may not have paid all the tax they owe.

The letters, which should start landing on doormats on 2 May, give people the chance to pay up now and benefit from reduced penalties. If they fail to come forward, and HMRC has evidence they have not paid the right amount of tax, they will be hit with much higher penalties and could potentially face criminal proceedings.

Ebay traders are the latest group to be targeted by HMRC, which has previously had in its sights plumbers, doctors, dentists, home tutors, market stall holders, car salespeople and those with money offshore.

A spokesman said this latest campaign wasn't aimed at people who occasionally sell a few personal items in order to raise some extra cash. They are unlikely to need to pay tax as they aren't trading.

But if you regularly sell goods or services "you are almost certainly trading". That is likely to include people who buy items in order to sell them on at a profit.

The spokesman added: "Most e-traders pay what they owe. However, there is a significant minority not paying all that they should, and we are encouraging those people to come forward now, get their tax affairs straight, and benefit from the best possible terms."

Those who fail to come forward by the 14 June deadline outlined in the letter face a penalty of between 40% and 100% of the tax due, as opposed to just 10% or 20% if they put things right now.

"We want to make sure that in the future all e-marketplace sellers will know what they need to do to keep their tax affairs in order," said HMRC, which announced in February that 30 taskforces intended to tackle tax evasion would be launched in 2012-13.



Rupert Jones
guardian.co.uk, Tuesday 1 May 2012 11.57 BST
© 2012 Guardian News and Media Limited or its affiliated companies. All rights reserved.
Ebay traders under HMRC tax spotlight | Money | guardian.co.uk ]]> Main site news hamba http://www.digitalworldz.co.uk/285767-ebay-traders-under-hmrc.html British ISPs will block The Pirate Bay within weeks http://www.digitalworldz.co.uk/285732-british-isps-will-block.html Mon, 30 Apr 2012 19:39:03 GMT *British ISPs will block The Pirate Bay within weeks* *High court orders service providers including Sky and Virgin Media to block The Pirate Bay... British ISPs will block The Pirate Bay within weeks

High court orders service providers including Sky and Virgin Media to block The Pirate Bay in the UK


Image:
Only registered members can view images.

The high court has ruled that British ISPs must block access to The Pirate Bay in the UK. Photograph: Claudio Bresciani/Scanpix/PA Photos


Britain's internet providers have been ordered by the high court to block access to the filesharing website The Pirate Bay.

The high court on Monday told five leading internet service providers (ISPs) , including Sky and Virgin Media, to block the site in the UK after ruling that it breaches copyright laws.

The block, starting within weeks, will mean millions of Britons will no longer be able to access one of the biggest and longest-running global filesharing sites.

The high court order provoked criticism from internet advocacy groups, who likened action against illicit filesharing websites to other forms of online censorship.

Jim Killock, executive director of the Open Rights Group, said: "Blocking The Pirate Bay is pointless and dangerous.It will fuel calls for further, wider and even more drastic calls for Internet censorship of many kinds, from pornography to extremism.

"Internet censorship is growing in scope and becoming easier. Yet it never has the effect desired. It simply turns criminals into heroes."

The order to block The Pirate Bay – requested by the major music groups, represented by the British Phonographic Industry – comes as authorities and courts have tightened the net on illicit downloading sites, which film studios and music majors claim are responsible for billions of pounds in lost revenue.

Robert Ashcroft, chief executive of the musicians' lobbying group PRS for Music, said: "We're delighted the high court has sent another clear signal to damaging sites like the Pirate Bay that they will be blocked."

In the order, the judge Mr Justice Arnold told Sky, Virgin Media, TalkTalk, O2 and Everything Everywhere to begin blocking access to The Pirate Bay.

Britain's biggest ISP, BT, also received the court order but has requested further time to consider how to block the site.

According to record labels, The Pirate Bay generated up to $3m (£1.8m) from advertising last October by making 4m copies of music and films available to its 30 million users worldwide. The site has 3.7 million users in the UK, according to comScore.

Mr Justice Arnold said in a written judgment in February: "In my judgment, the operators of [The Pirate Bay] do authorise its users' infringing acts of copying and communication to the public. They go far beyond merely enabling or assisting.

"I conclude that both users and the operators of [The Pirate Bay] infringe the copyrights of the claimants … in the UK."

The high court action follows a blocking order made against the Newzbin2 website in October, after a judge found it infringed copyright on a grand scale.

The case was seen as a green light for rights holders to force ISPs to block access to a number of high-profile filesharing sites in the UK, using the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.


Josh Halliday
guardian.co.uk, Monday 30 April 2012 16.41 BST
© 2012 Guardian News and Media Limited or its affiliated companies. All rights reserved
British ISPs will block The Pirate Bay within weeks | Technology | The Guardian ]]> Main site news hamba http://www.digitalworldz.co.uk/285732-british-isps-will-block.html Crazy planes landing in cross winds http://www.digitalworldz.co.uk/285727-crazy-planes-landing-cross.html Mon, 30 Apr 2012 18:07:21 GMT BBC News - High winds shake planes landing in Bilbao, Spain (http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-17863501) BBC News - High winds shake planes landing in Bilbao, Spain ]]> Main site news oneman http://www.digitalworldz.co.uk/285727-crazy-planes-landing-cross.html Cyber-security bill Cispa passes US House http://www.digitalworldz.co.uk/285549-cyber-security-bill-cispa.html Fri, 27 Apr 2012 10:19:41 GMT Cyber-security bill Cispa passes US House BBC News - Cyber-security bill Cispa passes US House... Cyber-security bill Cispa passes US House

BBC News - Cyber-security bill Cispa passes US House

The US House of Representatives has passed a cyber-security bill amid a veto threat from President Barack Obama.

The Cyber Intelligence Sharing and Protection Act (Cispa), would allow the government to access web users' private data on suspicion of a cyber threat.

It would also allow easier information-sharing between security agencies and private web firms.

Advocacy groups claim that it is aimed at file-sharers rather than hackers.

They also raised concerns about the transparency of the act.

Vetothreat

In a statement on Wednesday, the White House said Mr Obama would veto the act if it reached his desk.

The administration said the law repeals "important provisions of electronic surveillance law without instituting corresponding privacy, confidentiality and civil liberties safeguards".

The bill passed the House on Thursday by a margin of 248 votes to 168. Cyber-security legislation is also being considered in the US Senate, but its bill differs considerably from Cispa and is not yet scheduled for a vote.

Before its passage, the House amended the bill to cover information garnered for the investigation of cyber-security crimes, protection of individuals from death or serious bodily harm and the protection of minors from exploitation.

Privacy groups quickly condemned the bill's passage.

"As we've seen repeatedly, once the government gets expansive national security authorities, there's no going back," Michelle Richardson, of the American Civil Liberties Union, said in a statement.

"We encourage the Senate to let this horrible bill fade into obscurity."

Bill sponsor Mike Rodgers argued the bill would make the US "a little safer and our economy better protected from foreign cyber predators".

The House bill won support from tech industry figureheads whereas an earlier piece of legislation, the Stop Online Piracy Act (Sopa) failed after web firms lined up with activists to criticise it.

Facebook, AT&T, Intel, Verizon, and Microsoft were among some 800 firms who indicated they would back the latest bill.

Writing on Facebook's corporate blog a week ago the firm's vice-president of US public policy, Joel Kaplan, said Cispa "would impose no new obligations" on Facebook to share data with anyone.

It also "ensures that if we do share data about specific cyber threats, we are able to continue to safeguard our users' private information, just as we do today," he added. ]]> Main site news skinz http://www.digitalworldz.co.uk/285549-cyber-security-bill-cispa.html Quick fix for Hotmail password bug http://www.digitalworldz.co.uk/285548-quick-fix-hotmail-password.html Fri, 27 Apr 2012 10:19:08 GMT Quick fix for Hotmail password bug BBC News - Quick fix for Hotmail password bug (http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-17866897) Microsoft has... Quick fix for Hotmail password bug

BBC News - Quick fix for Hotmail password bug

Microsoft has rushed out a fix for a serious bug in its Hotmail webmail services.

The bug allowed a hacker to reset the password for a Hotmail account, locking out its owner and giving the attacker access to the inbox.

The fix was put together because the bug was starting to be actively exploited online.

One security news site reported that some hackers were offering to hack Hotmail accounts for $20 (£12).

Computer security researchers discovered the vulnerability in early April and told Microsoft about it soon afterwards. The bug revolved around the way Hotmail handles the data that must pass back and forth when a user wants to reset their password.

Details of the bug leaked out and led to attackers trying to find a way round it.

Using add-on tools for the Firefox browser, hackers realised they could tamper with the data passing between a user and Hotmail servers in a way that handed them control over an account they targeted.

As knowledge of the bug spread, some started offering to hack accounts for cash and others posted YouTube videos of Hotmail accounts being taken over in real time.

It is not clear how many Hotmail accounts have been hacked by attackers exploiting the bug. Those who have fallen victim will know because they will find they are locked out of their Hotmail account.

With the bug being "actively exploited", Microsoft found a way to fix it and updated Hotmail to close the loophole a day or so later. Now Hotmail servers return an error when attackers try to manipulate data exchanges.

Microsoft issued a short statement about the fix and said no further action was needed by customers.

Hotmail is the world's largest web-based email service and Microsoft claims that it has about 350 million users ]]> Main site news skinz http://www.digitalworldz.co.uk/285548-quick-fix-hotmail-password.html <![CDATA[Digital Economy Act's anti-piracy measures are delayed]]> http://www.digitalworldz.co.uk/285523-digital-economy-acts-anti.html Thu, 26 Apr 2012 17:03:14 GMT Digital Economy Act's anti-piracy measures are delayed

The controversial piracy law, the Digital Economy Act, has again been delayed, the Department for Culture, Media and Sport has confirmed.

Image:
Only registered members can view images.

The Digital Economy Act seeks to curb rising rates of online piracy


The measures, such as letters to suspected illegal downloaders and potential disconnection, will not be enforced until at least 2014.

Since being passed at the end of the Labour administration in 2010, action has stalled due to legal challenges.

The delay was welcomed by the Internet Service Providers' Association (Ispa).

Under the Act, letters sent out to apparent illegal file-sharers would offer advice on how to prevent such illegal activity.

Serious repeat offenders risk facing measures that limit, or even cut off, internet connection.

ISPs have criticised aspects of the Act, suggesting it would unfairly force them to police user behaviour on the internet.

'Effective solution'

"The fact it hasn't been implemented is a good thing," an Ispa spokesman said.

"We don't think it's a particularly good piece of legislation."

However, he added that there were other measures being discussed which could see a clampdown on piracy.

"There's more than just the Digital Economy Act when it comes to tackling copyright infringement online," he said.

"Ispa continues to believe that the most effective solution to the problem of users accessing unlawful content is for reform of the licensing framework so that legal content can be distributed online in a way that consumers are demanding."

Last month, BT and TalkTalk lost a two-year legal bid to have the Act overturned. They argued it was incompatible with European law.

The repeated delays have led some industry observers to speculate that the Act's measures will never come into force.

"I think I might be waiting for a fairy to arrive and wave her magic wand over the House of Commons saying 'come to your senses, come to your senses'," wrote Trefor Davies, chief technology officer for service provider Timico.

"Maybe that's the point at which I wake up and find that I've been dreaming."


Image:
Only registered members can view images.
Analysis Rory Cellan-Jones Technology correspondent
For many years, the music, movie and television industries lobbied the government for protection against online piracy, while the internet service providers told politicians they could not be expected to police their customers.

When the Digital Economy Act was rushed through Parliament in the dying days of the Labour government, it appeared to be a great victory for the media industries.

But the ISPs fought back, and although their legal challenges largely failed, they resulted in this long delay in implementing the law.

Four years is a very long time in the fast-changing world of digital content. By the time the process of sending letters to suspected illegal file-sharers begins in 2014, the whole landscape may have been transformed.

The media firms may then find the Act is not as powerful a weapon against piracy as they had hoped.



26 April 2012 Last updated at 13:08
BBC © 2012
BBC News - Digital Economy Act's anti-piracy measures are delayed ]]> Main site news hamba http://www.digitalworldz.co.uk/285523-digital-economy-acts-anti.html Criminal websites are taken down in three continents http://www.digitalworldz.co.uk/285510-criminal-websites-taken-down.html Thu, 26 Apr 2012 11:01:56 GMT *Criminal websites are taken down in three continents* *Dozens of criminal websites offering credit card details and other private information... Criminal websites are taken down in three continents

Dozens of criminal websites offering credit card details and other private information have been taken down in a global police operation.



The Serious Organised Crime Agency (Soca), in Britain, says raids in Australia, Europe, the UK and US are the culmination of two years of work.

Credit card numbers or bank account details of millions of unsuspecting victims were sold for as little as £2.

Two Britons and a man from Macedonia were arrested, with 36 sites shut down.

Lee Miles, the Head of Soca's cyber crime unit, told the BBC that criminals were now selling personal data on an "industrial" scale.

He said: "Criminals are turning over vast volumes of these cards. We must match the criminals - it's an arms race.

"They are industrialising their processes and likewise we have to industrialise our processes to match them."

Mr Miles said traditional "bedroom" hackers were being recruited by criminal gangs to write the malware or "phishing" software that steals personal information.

Other IT experts are used to write the computer code that enables the websites to cope, automatically, with selling the huge amounts of data.

"I'd rather arrest 10 code writers than 1,000 front-end fraudsters," he said.

Joint operations on Thursday in Australia, the US, Britain, Germany, the Netherlands, Ukraine, Romania and Macedonia led to the websites being closed down.

A 23-year-old man in Stechford, Birmingham, and a 27-year-old man in Tottenham, north London, have been arrested, along with the man in Macedonia.

More arrests are expected.

Soca is also calling on internet service providers to stop individuals registering websites anonymously.

Automated computer programs can register thousands of similar, but different domain names, and it can be difficult to trace them back to their owner.

"Where individuals register domain names for criminal purposes there is a very loose 'know your customer' regime among the website providers," Mr Miles said.

"What we are trying to do is influence the industry to introduce more secure systems so they do know who is registering these sites and they have a more comprehensive customer database, and do more aimed at preventing criminals buying websites and using them for criminal ends," he added.

The BBC's Ben Ando said that, privately, officers admitted that it could be frustrating dealing with internet companies who were not used to being policed and were reluctant to agree to anything that they perceived to be an infringement of their freedoms.

Analysis

Ben Ando BBC crime reporter

Police fighting cyber crime can find themselves battling not just the criminals but also, on occasion, the internet service providers.
Not surprisingly, criminal gangs try to recruit the smartest hackers or code-writers to both steal data from unsuspecting internet users, and make their own websites as secure and hard to trace as possible.

But many senior figures at the big internet service providers and domain name registration companies are traditionally anti-establishment and can be suspicious of police interference. They are often reluctant to agree to anything that could be perceived as curtailing the freedom of the web, such as preventing anonymous domain registrations.

Soca officers and their counterparts at Interpol, the FBI and at other law enforcement agencies around the world, say they have been working hard to "influence" the industry, and they are hoping that those efforts will lead to changes that could make their job easier in future.

Without the help of the industry, or a massive investment in law enforcement, it will be increasingly hard to keep track of the millions of items of illegal data being traded in cyberspace.



26 April 2012 Last updated at 10:14
BBC © 2012
BBC News - Credit card 'info for sale' websites closed in global raids ]]> Main site news hamba http://www.digitalworldz.co.uk/285510-criminal-websites-taken-down.html O2 Wallet targets contactless payments market http://www.digitalworldz.co.uk/285508-o2-wallet-targets-contactless.html Thu, 26 Apr 2012 10:48:51 GMT *O2 Wallet targets contactless payments market* *Smartphone app, which aims to simplify online shopping and money transfers, is open to mobile... O2 Wallet targets contactless payments market

Smartphone app, which aims to simplify online shopping and money transfers, is open to mobile users across all networks


Image:
Only registered members can view images.

The O2 Wallet is compatible with the majority of smartphones, as well as the iPad. Photograph: Tim Whitby/Getty Images/O2


Mobile operator O2 has become the latest firm to offer a mobile payments service, allowing consumers to use their handset to send money to other people and shop more quickly online.

Following in the footsteps of Barclay's Pingit and Barclaycard's PayTag, the telecoms firm has launched O2 Wallet, which is open to all mobile users irrespective of which network they are on.

Users can register their bank and credit cards via the app, and securely transfer between £1 and £500 daily to any UK mobile phone number. O2 says the service will make online shopping and lending, borrowing or repaying money to friends and family easier than ever.

The wallet also includes a virtual O2 Money Visa account card, which sits alongside a physical card, to make high street purchases or cash withdrawals. It also allows tap-and-go payments at more than 100,000 contactless payment points across the UK.

James Le Brocq, managing director at O2 Money, said he believed the app would "transform the way people manage their finances and spend money".

"We recognise that security is absolutely key. O2 Wallet has been trialled internally for months and has undergone extensive 'stress-testing' with security experts," he said.

"In addition to pins and passwords, all personal details and financial data are held on remote central servers rather than on the mobile device itself. This, we believe, is the safest and most secure way to deliver mobile payment services."

The O2 Wallet is compatible with the majority of smartphones, as well as the iPad. Those without a smartphone can use O2's Money Messages service providing they have web browsing capability on their handset.

O2's app is the latest in a series of moves to bring mobile payments to the mass market. Earlier in April, Barclaycard launched a stick-on credit card called PayTag, which will allow its 12 million customers the chance to make wave-and-pay purchases.

In March, Barclaycard parent company Barclays launched Pingit, a way to send money between bank accounts using a mobile app. This has since been opened up to all bank customers.



Miles Brignall guardian.co.uk, Thursday 26 April 2012 10.31 BST
© 2012 Guardian News and Media Limited or its affiliated companies. All rights reserved.
O2 Wallet targets contactless payments market | Money | guardian.co.uk ]]> Main site news hamba http://www.digitalworldz.co.uk/285508-o2-wallet-targets-contactless.html Google Drive versus Dropbox and the rest: cloud storage compared http://www.digitalworldz.co.uk/285480-google-drive-versus-dropbox.html Wed, 25 Apr 2012 17:03:41 GMT *Google Drive versus Dropbox and the rest: cloud storage compared* *Which is cheapest? Which offers the best cross-platform support? The results... Google Drive versus Dropbox and the rest: cloud storage compared

Which is cheapest? Which offers the best cross-platform support? The results may surprise you


Image:
Only registered members can view images.
U2's Bono and the Edge with the founders of Dropbox. But how does the battle of the brands come out? Photograph: Dropbox


This week both Microsoft and Google got their acts together and released Dropbox-like applications for their online storage services, SkyDrive and Google Drive respectively.

Why has Dropbox been winning in this space? Fantastic convenience. Just save a file into the Dropbox folder on your PC or Mac, and it syncs everywhere, including iOS and Android mobiles. No official Windows Phone 7 client yet; but nothing is perfect.

Now both SkyDrive and the new Google Drive are equally convenient, though with variations in platform support. Apple iCloud is also worth a mention, since it syncs across iOS and Mac devices. So too is Box, though I doubt either Box or Dropbox enjoyed the recent launches from the big guys.

How do they compare? Here is a quick look at the pros and cons. First, pricing per month:

Service Free storage Cost for 25GB Cost for 50GB
Apple iCloud 5GB $3.33 $8.33
Box 5GB $9.99 $19.99
Dropbox 2GB $9.99
Google Drive 5GB $2.49 $4.99 (100GB)
Microsoft SkyDrive 7GB $0.83 (27GB) $2.08 (52GB)


And now platform support:

Web Android Blackberry iOS Linux Mac Windows Windows Phone
Apple iCloud ✓ X X ✓ X ✓ Limited X
Box ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ X ✓ ✓ X
Dropbox ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ X
Google Drive ✓ ✓ X ✓ X ✓ ✓ X
Microsoft SkyDrive ✓ X X ✓ X ✓ ✓ ✓



Before you say it though, this is not really about price and it is hard to compare like with like – though it is obvious that Microsoft's SkyDrive wins on cost. Note also that existing SkyDrive users have a free upgrade to 25GB if they move quickly.

A few quick notes on the differences between these services …

Apple iCloud is not exposed as cloud storage as such. Rather, this is an API built into iOS and the latest OS X. Well behaved applications are expected to use storage in a way that supports the iCloud service. Apple's service takes care of synchronisation across devices. Apple's own apps such as iWork support iCloud. The advantage is that users barely need to think about it; synchronisation just happens – too much so for some tastes, since you may end up spraying your documents all over and trusting them to iCloud without realising it. As you might expect from Apple, cross-platform support is poor.


Box is the most expensive service, though it has a corporate focus that will appeal to businesses. For example, you can set expiration dates for shared content. Enterprise plans include Active Directory and LDAP support. There are numerous additional apps which use the Box service. With Box, as with Dropbox, there is an argument that since you are using a company dedicated to cross-platform online storage, you are less vulnerable to major changes in your service caused by a change of policy by one of the giants. Then again, will these specialists survive now that the big guns are all in?


Dropbox deserves credit for showing the others how to do it, Apple iCloud aside. Excellent integration on Mac and Windows, and excellent apps on the supported mobile platforms. It has attracted huge numbers of free users though, raising questions about its business model, and its security record is not the best. One of the problems for all these services is that 2GB of data is actually a lot, unless you get into space-devouring things like multimedia files or system backups. This means that many will never pay to upgrade.


Google Drive presents as a folder in Windows and on the Mac, but it is as much an extension of Google Apps, the online office suite, as it is a storage service. This can introduce friction. Documents in Google Apps appear there, with extensions like .gdoc and .gsheet, and if you double-click them they open in your web browser. Offline editing is not supported. Still, you do not have to use Google Apps with Google Drive. Another issue is that Google may trawl your data to personalise your advertising and so on, which is uncomfortable – though when it comes to paid-for or educational services, Google says:

Note that there is no ad-related scanning or processing in Google Apps for Education or Business with ads disabled

Google Drive can be upgraded to 16TB, which is a factor if you want huge capacity online; but by this stage you should be looking at specialist services such as Amazon S3 and others as well.

Microsoft SkyDrive is also to some extent an adjunct to its online applications. Save an Office 2010 document in SkyDrive, and you can edit it online using Office Web Apps. Office Web Apps have frustrations, but the advantage is that the document format is the same on the web as it is on the desktop, so you can also edit it freely offline. A snag with SkyDrive is lack of an Android client, other than the browser.

Conclusions

There are many more differences between these services than I have described. Simply though, if you use a particular platform or application such as Apple, Google Apps or Microsoft Office, it makes sense to choose the service that aligns with it. If you want generic storage and do not care who provides it, SkyDrive is best value and I am surprised this has not been more widely observed in reports on the new launches.

One of Microsoft's problems is that is perceived as an old-model company wedded to the desktop, and lacks the cool factor associated with Apple, Google and more recent arrivals such as Dropbox.

• This article first appeared on Tim Anderson's Gadget Writing blog. It's used with permission.



Tim Anderson
guardian.co.uk, Wednesday 25 April 2012 14.54 BST
© 2012 Guardian News and Media Limited or its affiliated companies. All rights reserved
Google Drive versus Dropbox and the rest: cloud storage compared | Technology | guardian.co.uk ]]> Main site news hamba http://www.digitalworldz.co.uk/285480-google-drive-versus-dropbox.html Watchdog finds undeleted data on second-hand disk drives http://www.digitalworldz.co.uk/285472-watchdog-finds-undeleted-data.html Wed, 25 Apr 2012 11:26:19 GMT Watchdog finds undeleted data on second-hand disk drives

One in 10 second-hand hard drives still contain the original user's personal information, suggests an investigation by the UK's Information Commissioner's Office (ICO).

Image:
Only registered members can view images.
The ICO said two of the purchased hard drives had enough information to steal someone's identity


It purchased devices from auction sites such as eBay and computer fairs.
Of the 200 hard disks collected, 11% contained personal information.

At least two of the drives had enough information to enable someone to steal the former owners' identities, the watchdog said.

A separate survey by the ICO indicated that one in 10 people who had disposed of a mobile phone, computer or laptop had not wiped the device.

21% of users now chose to sell their old mobile phones, computers and laptops rather than get rid of them, it suggested. It added that the trend was even more common among 18-24 year-olds among whom the figure rose to 31%.

"We live in a world where personal and company information is a highly valuable commodity," said Information Commissioner Christopher Graham.

"It is important that people do everything they can to stop their details from falling into the wrong hands."

Soft touch

For its investigation, the ICO employed computer forensic firm NCC Group to source and scour around 200 hard drives, 20 memory sticks and 10 mobile phones.

Nearly half (48%) contained some information. 11% of the devices held personal information.

Among the 34,000 files found were scanned bank statements, passports, information on previous driving offences and some medical details.

Four of the hard drives came from organisations rather than individuals and contained information about employees and clients, including health and financial details.

All four organisations had been contacted, and had subsequently taken action to securely erase data on old equipment, the ICO said.

One - Safe and Secure Insurances Services Limited - has agreed to introduce further improvements.

"People are in danger of becoming a soft touch for online fraudsters," warned Mr Graham.

"Many people will presume that pressing the delete button on a computer file means that it is gone forever. However this information can easily be recovered."

In response to its findings, the ICO has published guidance for individuals on how to securely delete information.



25 April 2012 Last updated at 00:04
BBC © 2012
BBC News - Watchdog finds undeleted data on second-hand disk drives ]]> Main site news hamba http://www.digitalworldz.co.uk/285472-watchdog-finds-undeleted-data.html Google Drive to offer free storage in the cloud http://www.digitalworldz.co.uk/285454-google-drive-offer-free.html Wed, 25 Apr 2012 09:44:10 GMT Google Drive to offer free storage in the cloud

Google's rate for 100GB of space is cheaper than Dropbox but more expensive than SkyDrive

BBC News - Google Drive to offer free storage in the cloud

Google has launched a new consumer service offering up to 16TB (terabytes) of storage for photos and other online content.

Dubbed Google Drive, the service goes head to head with rival cloud services such as Dropbox and Microsoft's SkyDrive.

It offers 5GB (gigabytes) of storage for free. People pay on a rising scale for more space.

Experts say that Google is "late" to the market.

16TB of space could hold more than 4,000 two-hour movies coded in 720p high-definition resolution.
Cloud living

"Today, we're introducing Google Drive - a central place where you can create, share, collaborate and keep all of your stuff," said Sundar Pichai, senior vice president of Chrome and Apps in a blog post.

"Whether you're working with a friend on a joint research project, planning a wedding with your fiancé or tracking a budget with roommates, you can do it in Drive."

The service will allow users to upload and access videos, photos, Google Docs, PDFs and other documents.

It can be installed to a Mac or PC or as an app to an Android phone or tablet. Google said that it was working on an app for Apple's mobile operating system, which should be available in the coming weeks.

For blind users, Drive can be accessed with a screen reader.

"Google Drive will hit some competitors very hard and shake up the market," said Hanns Kohler-Kruner from tech research firm Gartner.

"It will also create another stream of more focused and potential ad revenue for Google around the content of personal files on Google Drive."
Google Drive screenshot Videos stored on Google Drive become available on Google+, helping to promote the social network
Grand canyon

Google will draw on its search expertise to help differentiate the service.

Users will be able search by keyword and filter by file type, owner or activity. Drive will also recognise text in scanned documents using optical character recognition (OCR) technology.

This would allow someone, for example, to upload a scanned image of an old newspaper clipping and search for a word from the text of the news article.

Google Drive will also use image recognition.

"If you drag and drop photos from your Grand Canyon trip to Drive, the next time you search for Grand Canyon, photos of it will pop up," said Mr Pichai.

The first 5GB of storage comes free.

After that users can choose to upgrade to 25GB for $2.49 (£1.50) a month, 100GB for $4.99 a month, 1TB for $49.99 or 16TB for $799.99.

When users upgrade to a paid account, their Gmail account storage will automatically expand to 25GB.

By contrast, Microsoft offers yearly contracts. It charges $50 for maximum storage of 100GB.

Dropbox offers individual users up to 100GB at a rate of $19.99 per month or $199 per year. It also sells larger amounts to groups with the cost and size determined by how many people share the space.
Facebook?

Cloud services have become hugely popular as people seek to access content from a variety of places and devices.
Dropbox graphic Dropbox helped popularise the idea of storage in the cloud, but risks being undercut by its rivals

Richard Edwards, principal analyst at research firm Ovum, said that Google was "very late" to the market but that its move could spur others.

"Facebook doesn't have a cloud service but this may prompt it into an acquisition," he said.

"If Facebook was to buy Dropbox that would be a game-changer."

In anticipation of Google's announcement, rivals updated their own services.

Dropbox now allows users to give non-members access to files via emailed links. Until now it had required both parties to sign up to its service and have shared folders.

Microsoft has also improved its SkyDrive service.

Among other features, it has integrated the drive into Windows Explorer and Apple's Finder so that it works as an extension of the desktop.

It also added capability to access files stored on the drive from an iPad as well as the iPhone and Windows Phone-based handsets. ]]> Main site news skinz http://www.digitalworldz.co.uk/285454-google-drive-offer-free.html Google Drive to offer free storage in the cloud http://www.digitalworldz.co.uk/285410-google-drive-offer-free.html Tue, 24 Apr 2012 14:56:50 GMT *Google Drive to offer free storage in the cloud* *Google is expected to shortly launch a major new consumer service offering cloud-based storage... Google Drive to offer free storage in the cloud

Google is expected to shortly launch a major new consumer service offering cloud-based storage for photos and other online content.


Image:
Only registered members can view images.

A new generation is growing up in the cloud, according to new report

The effort - dubbed Google Drive - is likely to offer 5GB (gigabytes) of free storage with more available for a monthly fee.

It would challenge services including Dropbox and Microsoft's SkyDrive.

Experts suggest it could also force rival Facebook to enter the cloud market.

Synchronisation

Cloud services have become hugely popular as people seek to access content from a variety of places and devices.

Reports suggest that Google Drive will work with sophisticated image search technology to let consumers sift through a wide variety of document types, including PDF files and photographs.

Richard Edwards, principal analyst at research firm Ovum, thinks that it may act as a wake-up call to others.

"Facebook doesn't have a cloud service but this may prompt it into an acquisition," he said.

"If Facebook was to buy Dropbox that would be a game-changer."

Google was "very late to the market" he added.

"I would see this as an extension to its Google Docs offering and it could provide value to its social network Google+, allowing the sharing of files that are too big to email."

The most important aspect of Google Drive would be how it worked with the myriad of devices people carried, he suggested.
"I will be looking to see how I can synchronise content stored in the cloud to all my devices to access as and when I want."

Digital assets

A recent study commissioned by cloud service RackSpace and conducted by Goldsmith University concluded that a new generation of Britons was growing up in the cloud.

A quarter of the 2,000 interviewees estimated that they had £200 or more worth of music, videos, photos in their personal cloud.

31% said that they had considered digital possessions as a potential "digital inheritance" that they could leave behind when they died.

In anticipation of Google's announcement, rivals have updated their own services.

Dropbox now allows users to give non-members access to files via emailed links. Until now it had required both parties to have signed up to its service and have shared folders.

Microsoft has also improved its SkyDrive service.

Among other features, it has integrated the drive into Windows Explorer and Apple's Finder so that it works as an extension of the desktop.

It also added capability to access files stored on the drive from an iPad as well as the iPhone and Windows Phone-based handsets.



24 April 2012 Last updated at 13:21
BBC © 2012
BBC News - Google Drive to offer free storage in the cloud ]]> Main site news hamba http://www.digitalworldz.co.uk/285410-google-drive-offer-free.html Ofcom to probe Sky email hacking http://www.digitalworldz.co.uk/285361-ofcom-probe-sky-email.html Mon, 23 Apr 2012 10:37:33 GMT *Ofcom to probe Sky email hacking* *Ofcom has launched an investigation into the hacking of private email accounts by Sky News. **Image: ... Ofcom to probe Sky email hacking

Ofcom has launched an investigation into the hacking of private email accounts by Sky News.

Image:
Only registered members can view images.

John Darwin, who faked his own death in a canoe accident and fled to Panama, was subject to intense media scrutiny


It comes after Sky admitted earlier this month it accessed the accounts of "canoe man" John Darwin and his wife Anne; and a suspected paedophile.


At the time Sky defended its actions as being in the public interest and said it was "responsible journalism".

The head of Sky News, John Ryley, is due to give evidence to the Leveson Inquiry later.

An Ofcom spokesperson said: "Ofcom is investigating the fairness and privacy issues raised by Sky News' statement that it had accessed without prior authorisation private email accounts during the course of its news investigations. We will make the outcome known in due course."

Ofcom's broadcasting code includes a clause - Rule 8.1 - which states that: "Any infringement of privacy in programmes, or in connection with obtaining material included in programmes, must be warranted."

Operation Tuleta The BBC's Media Correspondent Torin Douglas says intercepting emails is illegal under the Computer Misuse Act, and there is no public interest defence.

But in a blog earlier this month Mr Ryley said the Crown Prosecution Service had acknowledged there were occasions when it was justified for a journalist to commit an offence in the public interest.

He said the Daily Telegraph paid for stolen data to expose the MPs' expenses scandal and the Guardian - which first published this latest news - had admitted hacking a phone in pursuit of a story.

The Metropolitan Police embarked on its own investigation into computer hacking, and email interception last year.

Operation Tuleta is investigating a number of allegations regarding breach of privacy and a number of people have been arrested and released in connection with the inquiry.



23 April 2012 Last updated at 11:14
BBC © 2012
BBC News - Ofcom to probe Sky email hacking ]]> Main site news hamba http://www.digitalworldz.co.uk/285361-ofcom-probe-sky-email.html Virgin TV pirates’ ringleader stripped of more than £7,000 in illegal earnings http://www.digitalworldz.co.uk/285357-virgin-tv-pirates-ringleader.html Mon, 23 Apr 2012 08:20:38 GMT The leader of a gang who pirated Virgin cable TV to more than 40,000 users has been ordered to pay back more than £7,000 of illegal profits. Paul... The leader of a gang who pirated Virgin cable TV to more than 40,000 users has been ordered to pay back more than £7,000 of illegal profits.

Paul Hartrick was jailed in February over the scam, which broadcast Virgin’s encryption keys to specially-imported cable boxes which could then decode the channels for free.

Hartrick was jailed for five years after pleading guilty, and on Friday Derby magistrates stripped him of £7,623 in cash found when police raided his home in Tamworth and business in Leicestershire.

Hartrick and his accomplices - Melvin Howard, Anthony Ginnivan and Amber Ahmed - sold around 44,000 Starview cable boxes imported from Korea, for £120 each

Code:
Only registered members can view code.
]]> Main site news joe516 http://www.digitalworldz.co.uk/285357-virgin-tv-pirates-ringleader.html Labour in electricity discount plan http://www.digitalworldz.co.uk/285274-labour-electricity-discount-plan.html Sat, 21 Apr 2012 09:56:53 GMT Labour could bulk-buy electricity to sell at a discount in an effort to show the party can help people despite being out of power, Ed Miliband has... Labour could bulk-buy electricity to sell at a discount in an effort to show the party can help people despite being out of power, Ed Miliband has said.

Mr Miliband praised the proposal as "outstanding" and embodying the concept of responsible capitalism.

The idea has come from American community activist Arnie Graf, who is advising Mr Miliband on how to revitalise the party.

The Labour leader told The Guardian: "It is an outstanding idea. It might involve working with, or emulating what (activist organisation) 38 degrees and Which? magazine are trying to do, which is to sign up people to bulk-buy energy from the energy companies.

"We are thinking of going to the energy companies as the Labour party so that 'responsible capitalism' is not just an idea, but something practical. We think we may be able to deliver it through our grassroots network."

Party sources reportedly said the plans were at an early stage. Collective purchasing should give the buyer greater leverage to secure a better deal.

The Belgian Labour party has teamed up with ichoosr to become the country's largest switching service, helping to cut energy bills for thousands of people. It recruits members and constituents to the scheme and then once a threshold is passed ichoosr handles negotiations with the energy firms.

Mr Miliband said: "The party needs to prove it has changed and will change more by operating in communities offering practical help, as well as political campaigns."

He said he was increasingly alarmed by the way in which established parties were perceived to have lost touch with local communities - citing Labour's shock defeat in the Bradford West by-election.

"Politics has to change and Labour is changing so we reach out to the voters who have been written off as unreachable or feel they have been ignored for too long," he added.

Labour in electricity discount plan - UK News - MSN News UK ]]> Main site news reggie124 http://www.digitalworldz.co.uk/285274-labour-electricity-discount-plan.html Bruno battling life out of the ring http://www.digitalworldz.co.uk/285273-bruno-battling-life-out.html Sat, 21 Apr 2012 09:42:46 GMT It was nearly 10 years ago Big Frank was detained in hospital under the Mental Health Act after being diagnosed with Bipolar disorder. ... It was nearly 10 years ago Big Frank was detained in hospital under the Mental Health Act after being diagnosed with Bipolar disorder.

God Bless you Frank and I wish you all the best in your recovery.

Frank Warren talks about Frank Bruno | The Sun |Sport|Boxing ]]> Main site news miggy http://www.digitalworldz.co.uk/285273-bruno-battling-life-out.html Influential guitarist Bert Weedon dies http://www.digitalworldz.co.uk/285256-influential-guitarist-bert-weedon.html Fri, 20 Apr 2012 18:01:55 GMT Influential guitarist Bert Weedon, best known for creating the popular tutorial manual Play In A Day, has died aged 91. RIP Bert Weedon :rip: ... Influential guitarist Bert Weedon, best known for creating the popular tutorial manual Play In A Day, has died aged 91.

RIP Bert Weedon :rip:

BBC News - Influential guitarist Bert Weedon dies ]]> Main site news miggy http://www.digitalworldz.co.uk/285256-influential-guitarist-bert-weedon.html Raspberry Pi orders top 350,000 with shipments promised from May http://www.digitalworldz.co.uk/285209-raspberry-pi-orders-top.html Thu, 19 Apr 2012 18:37:53 GMT More than a third of a million orders have been placed for the much-vaunted Raspberry Pi, the credit card-sized computers that cost less than £22. ... More than a third of a million orders have been placed for the much-vaunted Raspberry Pi, the credit card-sized computers that cost less than £22.

Distributer Element14, part of the Premier Farnell group, has said it received around 100,000 orders for the device, and promised to get them delivered from July onwards.

“We appreciate customers are desperate to get their hands on a Raspberry Pi and want to reassure them that we are working on this as quickly as we can,” said Mike Buffham, product director at Element14.

Meanwhile, RS Components, the other Raspberry Pi distributor, confirmed it had received orders in excess of 250,000.

Demand for the devices has already seen the first batch snaffled up and Element14 said it expected the second batch to arrive at some point in early May.

The Raspberry Pi is the brainchild of Eben Upton, a Cambridge University lecturer and his colleagues that grew tired of seeing prospective graduates lack basic programming skills.

They came up with the idea of producing a small, cheap computer that could be widely used in schools and encourage schoolchildren to learn the art of programming.

The Raspberry Pi is comparable in specification to a decent smartphone, with a 700MHz processor and a GPU capable of displaying full 1080p video via a HDMI output and runs a version of Fedora Linux that boots from an SD Card Flash drive.

Source ]]> Main site news snapman http://www.digitalworldz.co.uk/285209-raspberry-pi-orders-top.html MPs call for better porn blocks http://www.digitalworldz.co.uk/285147-mps-call-better-porn.html Wed, 18 Apr 2012 17:00:26 GMT *MPs call for better porn filters to protect children* *A cross-party parliamentary inquiry into how safe children are online has concluded the... MPs call for better porn filters to protect children

A cross-party parliamentary inquiry into how safe children are online has concluded the government and internet service providers need to do more.


Image:
Only registered members can view images.

MPs want to see tighter filters to prevent children seeing unsuitable content online


It found that children were easily accessing pornography and websites showing extreme violence.

The inquiry (PDF) called on the government to back moves for stronger filters of adult content.

The MPs also recommended that the government appoint an internet safety tsar.

The inquiry said that internet service providers (ISPs) and the government should work together to draw up guidelines to make it clearer to parents what safety settings were available on their home computers and other internet-enabled devices.

'Hugely worrying'


Other recommendations included:

  • A government review of an opt-in filter to access adult material on the internet
  • Accelerated implementation of content-filtering system Active Choice for new internet customers
  • ISPs to roll out within 12 months network filters that provide one-click filtering for all devices connected to the same internet account
  • Public wi-fi networks to have a default adult-content bar

Conservative MP and chairwoman of the Independent Parliamentary Inquiry on Online Child Protection Claire Perry said: "Our inquiry found that many children are easily accessing internet pornography as well as websites showing extreme violence or promoting self-harm and anorexia. This is hugely worrying.

"While parents should be responsible for their children's online safety, in practice people find it difficult to put content filters on the plethora of internet-enabled devices in their homes, plus families lack the right information and education on internet safety," she added.

ISPs must take more responsibility, both in providing internet safety education and appropriate filters, she said.

"It's time that Britain's internet service providers, who make more than £3bn a year from selling internet access services, took on more of the responsibility to keep children safe, and the government needs to send a strong message that this is what we all expect," she said.

All the big four UK ISPs, BT, Sky, TalkTalk and Virgin, have agreed to offer all new subscribers the option to install parental controls.

BT has been offering the system - known as Active Choice - to new customers since January and told the BBC it had also written to existing customers reminding them that parental control software is free.

TalkTalk is the only major UK ISP to have implemented a network level filtering system which offers parental controls for all devices that are connected via the home broadband service.

BT is looking into such a system but said that there are "some privacy issues" with this type of network monitoring.
It is also against introducing an opt-in system for viewing adult content.

"We think Active Choice amounts to the same thing. It is not for ISPs to be making these kind of judgements," said a spokesman.
Jim Killock, director of the Open Rights Group, described the proposals as "appalling".

"Default filtering is a form of censorship. Adults should not have to 'opt out' of censorship. Governments should not be given powers to default censor legal material that adults see online," he said.

Social monitoring

 Increasingly security firms are offering packages that allow parents to monitor what their children are doing on social networks.

Zonealarm's Socialguard, for instance, analyses accounts and alerts parents if it detects a problem.

Security firm Bullguard offers a package which allows parents to monitor their child's smartphone activity via a web-based system.
It give details of text messages and photos and can also tell parents where their child is at any given time.



18 April 2012 Last updated at 12:47
BBC © 2012
BBC News - MPs call for better porn filters to protect children ]]> Main site news hamba http://www.digitalworldz.co.uk/285147-mps-call-better-porn.html 3D printers set to produce drugs http://www.digitalworldz.co.uk/285146-3d-printers-set-produce.html Wed, 18 Apr 2012 16:53:34 GMT *3D printers could create customised drugs on demand* *Scientists are pioneering the use of 3D printers to create drugs and other chemicals at... 3D printers could create customised drugs on demand

Scientists are pioneering the use of 3D printers to create drugs and other chemicals at the University of Glasgow.

Image:
Only registered members can view images.

The team used a 3D printer to create "reactionware" capable of producing chemical compounds


Researchers have used a £1,250 system to create a range of organic compounds and inorganic clusters - some of which are used to create cancer treatments.

Longer term, the scientists say the process could be used to make customised medicines.

They predict the technique will be used by pharmaceutical firms within five years, and by the public within 20.

"We are showing that you can take chemical constituents, pass them through a printer and create what is effectively a chemical synthesiser in which the reaction occurs allowing you to get out something different at the end," researcher Mark Symes told the BBC.

"We're extrapolating from that to say that in the future you could buy common chemicals, slot them into something that 3D prints, just press a button to mix the ingredients and filter them through the architecture and at the bottom you would get out your prescription drug."

'Revolutionising healthcare'

The 3D printing process involves the use of a robotically controlled syringe which builds an object out of a gel-based "ink", into which chemicals and catalysts are mixed.

"Chemists normally put chemicals in glassware to create a reaction," said Prof Lee Cronin, who came up with the idea.

Researchers at Glasgow University develop a revolutionary new process using 3D technology to print drugs
"What we are doing is mixing the concept of the glassware and the chemicals together in the 3D printer to create what we call 'reactionware'.


"It's almost like a layer cake - you print the last reactionary agent first and then build other chemical layers above, finally adding a liquid at the top. The liquid goes to layer one making a new molecule which goes to the next layer creating another and so on until at the bottom you get your prescription drug out."

Until now the researchers have used bathroom sealant to create their reactor, and the substances created have not been suitable for human consumption.

But the scientists say their next step is to switch ingredients and replicate drugs already available in pharmacies. They also hope to work with engineers to increase the printer's speed and resolution.

If successful, they say doctors and individuals could ultimately download pre-set recipes and even tailor medicines to their individual needs.

"This would not only place traditionally expensive chemical engineering technology within reach of typical laboratories and small commercial enterprises, but also could revolutionise access to healthcare and the chemical sciences in general in the developing world," they wrote in a paper published in the Nature Chemistry journal.



18 April 2012 Last updated at 17:32
BBC © 2012
BBC News - 3D printers could create customised drugs on demand ]]> Main site news hamba http://www.digitalworldz.co.uk/285146-3d-printers-set-produce.html