The Home Office has been accused of colluding with online ad firm Phorm on informal guidance
to the public on whether the company’s service is legal. E-mails between the ministry and Phorm show the department asking if the firm would be comforted
by its position. The messages show Phorm making changes to the guidance sought by the ministry. Lib Dem Home Affairs spokeswoman Baroness Sue Miller, who has questioned the Home Office about Phorm, said the e-mails were jaw dropping
The Swedish telecom operator Tele 2 plans to erase all data identifying its 600,000 customers, a decision that will undermine the new IPRED law and make the hunt for internet scofflaws more difficult. Starting on Tuesday, Tele 2 will destroy records of IP addresses after they’ve been processed for internal use. It’s a way to secure the customers’ privacy — and, the company likely hopes, to strengthen the ISP’s market position
The island of Taiwan has just approved new legislation which effectively bans the use of P2P technology to facilitate the distribution of copyrighted works online. The legislation also requires ISPs to start a 3 strikes
regime for file-sharers
The home secretary, Jacqui Smith, today ruled out building a single state super-database
to track everybody’s use of email, internet, text messages and social networking sites such as Facebook and Twitter. Smith said creating a single database run by the state to hold such personal data would amount to an extreme solution representing an unwarranted intrusion of personal privacy. Instead the Home Office is looking at a £2bn solution that would involve requiring communications companies such as BT, Virgin Media, O2 and others to retain such personal data for up to 12 months
One of the biggest cases in file-sharing history ended last week with The Pirate Bay Four sentenced to huge fines and jail time. Today it is revealed that far from being impartial, the judge in the case is a member of pro-copyright groups — along with Henrik Pontén, Monique Wadsted and Peter Danowsky. There are loud calls for a retrial
Australia’s top science agency has walloped some of the world’s biggest industrial giants in the US patent courts to bring the country a pay check worth up to $1 billion over the next five to 10 years. The CSIRO has won its long-running battle to enforce a patent on technology used in Wi-fi connections that have become virtually ubiquitous in laptops and other devices around the world. Hewlett-Packard was the first of 13 companies to back down early this month when it opted to settle the patent dispute rather than take it before a jury trial in the US federal court. Alex Zelinsky, director of the science agency’s ICT Centre, today confirmed that all of its opponents had chosen to settle the case rather than go ahead with another trial
The Rudd Government has committed to establishing a dedicated ABC children’s digital television channel, ABC3
Germany’s cabinet has agreed a draft law to block access to child-porn web sites, Economy Minister Karl-Theodor zu Guttenberg said Wednesday. The government signed agreements last Friday with the country’s main Internet service providers (ISPs) — representing 75 percent of the German market — to block around 1,500 sites per day with illegal images of children. Internet users hoping to download child porn will instead be met with a large red stop
sign, warning of the impact of paedophilia on the victims. They will not have their personal details or IP addressed recorded
BT and other mobile broadband providers are blocking access to The Pirate Bay, as part of a self-regulation
scheme. BT Mobile Broadband users who attempt to access the notorious BitTorrent tracker site are met with a content blocked
message. The warning page states the page has been blocked in compliance with a new UK voluntary code
Microsoft’s biggest-ever Australian grant will help create social networks for the blind. Social networking websites and digitised libraries have become important sources of modern information, but until now they have been inaccessible to the 300,000 Australians who are blind or who have low vision. Microsoft has today announced its largest Australian software grant, valued at $6.7 million, to Vision Australia
A revolutionary Australian National University-developed propulsion system will be the first of its kind to be tested in space. The new type of rocket engine, called a plasma thruster is being modified to be launched within the next four years as part of a prototype satellite
Leading scientist Stephen Hawking‘s condition has improved
after being admitted to hospital with chest problems, Cambridge University says. His employers said Professor Hawking was undergoing tests on Monday at Addenbrooke’s Hospital, Cambridge. A university spokesman said the 67-year-old, who has motor neurone disease, was now comfortable
Chemist chain Terry White will use Pharmacy Direct to launch its web-based retail drug operations after its $20 million purchase of the online pioneer last week. Pharmacy Direct, which turns over $35-$40 million annually on prescription medicines and over-the-counter lines, faces a brighter future after a period in limbo. The NSW-based former mail-order pharmacy was sold by Wesfarmers for less than half the $48 million Coles paid for it in 2006, as part of Wesfarmers’ plan to shed its non-core retail assets. Coles originally bought Pharmacy Direct and its single warehouse-style store in Sydney’s Silverwater with the apparent aim of wedging the Pharmacy Guild’s campaign against locating chemists in supermarkets. The guild challenged the validity of the deal on pharmacy ownership rules, and the NSW Supreme Court ruled in its favour
He was James Bond’s go-to guy for inventions that included dagger-embedded shoes, radioactive lint and a deadly sofa that swallowed people. Now, Britain’s domestic spy agency — MI5 — is hunting for its very own Q
, of sorts. MI6’s sister organisation, which carries out surveillance on terror suspects inside Britain and gives security advice to the government, is searching for someone to lead its scientific work. Projects could include everything from developing counterterrorism technology to tackling a biological or chemical attack
Law enforcement officials are vastly expanding their collection of DNA to include millions more people who have been arrested or detained but not yet convicted. The move, intended to help solve more crimes, is raising concerns about the privacy of petty offenders and people who are presumed innocent. Until now, the federal government genetically tracked only convicts. But starting this month, the Federal Bureau of Investigation will join 15 states that collect DNA samples from those awaiting trial and will collect DNA from detained immigrants — the vanguard of a growing class of genetic registrants. The FBI, with a DNA database of 6.7 million profiles, expects to accelerate its growth rate from 80,000 new entries a year to 1.2 million by 2012 — a 15-fold increase. FBI officials say they expect DNA processing backlogs — which now stand at more than 500,000 cases — to increase
The National Security Agency intercepted private e-mail messages and phone calls of Americans in recent months on a scale that went beyond the broad legal limits established by Congress last year, government officials said in recent interviews. Several intelligence officials, as well as lawyers briefed about the matter, said the NSA had been engaged in overcollection
of domestic communications of Americans. They described the practice as significant and systemic, although one official said it was believed to have been unintentional
Online auction site eBay has offered to buy South Korean online retailer Gmarket for up to $1.2bn. The offer price of $24 per share is a 20.2% increase on Gmarket’s most recent closing price of $19.96. eBay said it had acquired 67% in the Korean firm, after Yahoo and Interpark agreed to sell their Gmarket stakes. The news comes a day after eBay said it was looking to spin off internet call service provider Skype and list shares in the firm in the first half of 2010
The Queensland Government has outlined plans to offer a Wi-Fi service on the state’s trains as part of a roll-out of real-time security monitoring technology
President Obama yesterday announced a series of steps aimed at easing the US relationship with Cuba, breaking from policies first imposed by the Kennedy administration and stepping into an emotional debate over the best way to bring democratic change to one of the last remaining communist regimes
The tweenbot, a cardboard-bodied, cheerful little bugger, is equipped with a flag stating its intended destination. Since it can only move forward, it depends on the kindness of strangers to guide it and remove obstacles. In New York City, we might expect the smiley-faced tweenbot to be stabbed, stomped, mugged, or covered in graffiti, but every single one of the journeys was completed without a hitch. Pedestrians would stop and help the little guy when he was trapped against a curb or headed into traffic, and point him in the right direction
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