Australian governments may soon have the world’s most secure data communication system if trials of a locally-developed quantum cryptography technology are successful. The system is built on Quantum Key Distribution (QKD), considered the world’s most secure medium, which uses special lasers capable of detecting the slightest attempt to eavesdrop. It could remove the need for governments to use couriers to deliver one-time keys for sensitive information
New South Wales Police are being given sweeping new powers to search people’s homes and hack into their computers for up to three years without their knowledge. The State Government admits police have already used the measures, even though the Supreme Court ruled the practices unlawful in 2006. The Government says new legislation, to be introduced into Parliament today, will ensure police evidence collected using the practices will hold up in court. Police Minister Tony Kelly says the reforms will allow police to collect enough evidence for a prosecution without tipping off criminals
The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) launched its Surveillance Self-Defence project today — an online how-to guide for protecting your private data against government spying
Li Hua makes a living playing computer games. Working from a cramped office in the heart of Changsha, China, he slays dragons and loots virtual gold in 10-hour shifts. Next to him, rows of other young workers do the same. It is just like working in a factory, the only difference is that this is the virtual world,
says Li. The working conditions are hard. We don’t get weekends off and I only have one day free a month. But compared to other jobs it is good. I have no other skills and I enjoy playing sometimes.
Li is just one of more than 100 workers employed by Wow7gold, an internet-based company that makes more than £1m a year selling in-game advantages to World of Warcraft (WoW) players. Customers may ask for their avatar’s skill level to be increased (power levelling
), or for a virtual magic sword or precious ore to be obtained. As one player put it: Where there’s a demand, China will supply it
A man who lost his sight 30 years ago says he can now see flashes of light after being fitted with a bionic eye. Ron, 73, had the experimental surgery seven months ago at London’s Moorfield’s eye hospital. He says he can now follow white lines on the road, and even sort socks, using the bionic eye, known as Argus II. It uses a camera and video processor mounted on sunglasses to send captured images wirelessly to a tiny receiver on the outside of the eye
Three quiet and unknown Finnish engineers in their late thirties, Kim Nyberg, Kari Sydänmaanlakka, and Teemu Rantanen, have spent their working careers at the engineering software company Tekla in Finland. Their clients have used the software they created to model several well-known buildings, including Frank Gehry’s Walt Disney Concert Hall in Los Angeles, New York’s Hearst Tower, the famous Bird’s Nest
that is Beijing’s Olympic Stadium, and the world’s tallest building, Burj Dubai. But if matters had turned out a little differently, these men — and a former colleague named Kati Suominen (now Kati Borgers) who could not be present at the interview — might have become known as the Fathers and Mother of the World Wide Web browser
NSW state corporation RailCorp has threatened a Sydney software developer with legal action if he fails to withdraw a train timetable application that is currently the second most popular application in its category in Apple’s App Store
Clause 152 of the Coroners and Justice Bill, currently being debated by the UK Parliament, would allow any Minister by order to take from anywhere any information gathered for one purpose, and use it for any other purpose. Personal information arbitrarily used without consent or even knowledge: the very opposite of Data Protection
. An Information Sharing Order
, as defined in Clause 152, would permit personal information to be trafficked and abused, not only all across government and the public sector — it would also reach into the private sector. And it would even allow transfer of information across international borders. NO2ID has launched a Facebook group to challenge this threat to data protection — via Slashdot
Two weeks ago the music industry, headed by the IFPI, gave Norway’s largest Internet provider Telenor an ultimatum; block access to The Pirate Bay within 14 days or we will take you to court. The ISP has now announced that it wont give in to IFPI’s demands, lawsuit or not
UK Justice Secretary Jack Straw has been criticised by a security vendor for using a Hotmail account for government business — an account that was subsequently hacked by Nigerian scammers
A solar power milestone was reached when First Solar Inc brought its manufacturing costs for solar panels down to $1 per watt. But a study from the University of California and Lawrence Berkeley National Labs suggests that this might be the bottom for a price-point — if solar power is ever going to scale up to become competitive with other forms of energy
The Government’s plan to introduce mandatory internet censorship has effectively been scuttled, following an independent senator’s decision to join the Greens and Opposition in blocking any legislation required to get the scheme started. The Opposition’s communications spokesman Nick Minchin has this week obtained independent legal advice saying that if the Government is to pursue a mandatory filtering regime legislation of some sort will almost certainly be required
. Senator Nick Xenophon previously indicated he may support a filter that blocks online gambling websites but in a phone interview today he withdrew all support, saying the more evidence that’s come out, the more questions there are on this
It’s been a rough week for the RIAA as massive layoffs are about to cost many employees their job. On top of that, the anti-piracy outfit is being sued for abusing the legal system for its war on piracy, civil conspiracy, deceptive trade practices, trespassing and computer fraud
Internode has announced it will offer fibre to the home Internet at up to 100Mbps to homes in OptiComm estates. The fibre connection is installed by OptiComm when building the estates, and Internode will offer retail broadband and phone services on it. Broadband will be available at 25, 50 and 100Mbps, and the speeds will not vary depending on distance
Scientists at Pennsylvania State University and Virginia Commonwealth University are producing hydrogen by exposing clusters of aluminium atoms to water. Rather than relying on the electronic properties of the aluminium, this new process depends on the geometric distribution of atoms within the clusters and requires the presence of Lewis acids and Lewis bases in those atoms. Unlike most hydrogen production processes, this method can be used at room temperature and doesn’t require the application of heat or electricity to work
ISPs have rejected a call by childrens’ charities to implement the government’s approved blocklist for images of child sexual abuse, because the list does not stop anyone who wants to accessing such material
Last year, a group of Iranian physicists made the extraordinary discovery that motors can be made of nothing more than a thin film of water sitting in a cell bathed in two perpendicular electric fields. The unexpected result of this set up is that the water begins to rotate. Divide the water into smaller cells and each rotates too. The team at the Sharif University of Technology in Tehran have a number of fascinating videos of it in action. They raise an interesting question: the electric fields are static, so what’s making the water move? Now Vlad Vladimirov at York University in the UK and a couple of droogs from Russia have delved into the hydrodynamics to work out what’s putting the oomph in this motor. The key turns out to be the scale on which the effect takes place
When the world’s largest fuel cell exhibition, FC EXPO 2009, kicks off in Tokyo, Sony will be there showing off the latest revision of its hybrid fuel cell technology. The system contains both a methanol fuel cell and a Li-on battery, enabling it to intelligently switch between power from the battery, fuel, or even both under high-draw circumstances. Sony will have two sizes on display: a portable model that could keep you talking on your mobile for a week, and a heftier interior
model that could do the same for a month. The company’s even attached a bottle of methanol to a wireless speaker, resulting in infinite placement possibilities and a groovy light show to boot. If that weren’t enough, the company will be demonstrating an updated, more efficient version of its sugar battery, which can be powered by Coca-Cola
Google has apologised for the two and a half hour Gmail outage on Tuesday morning, and admitted that the cause was down to datacentre maintenance
Google’s Gmail was down for hours overnight, one of the longest e-mail outages for the search giant. Gmail is the third most popular e-mail service, with 113 million users, and the outage could mean a refund for Google’s business customers. Google postings said Gmail had some problems
, and an analyst said Google needs to correct them
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