Facebook drones to offer net access

28 March 2014 Last updated at 12:53 By Jane Wakefield Technology reporter

Facebook has ambitious plans to connect the two-thirds of the world that has no net access, using drones, satellites and lasers.

The move was announced on the social media platform by founder Mark Zuckerberg.

It will put it in direct competition with Google, which is planning to deliver net access via balloons.

Both of the net giants want to extend their audiences, especially in the developing world.

Details about Facebook's plan were scant but it will include a fleet of solar-powered drones as well as low-earth orbit and geosynchronous satellites. Invisible, infrared laser beams could also be used to boost the speed of the net connections.

Last year Facebook and other technology companies launched internet.org to help bring net access to the huge swathes of the globe that are still not connected.

Aerospace experts

The social network has already teamed up with telecoms operators in the Philippines and Paraguay to double the number of people using the internet in that region.

"We're going to continue building these partnerships, but connecting the whole world will require inventing new technology too," Mr Zuckerberg said in his post.

To bring the project to fruition, Facebook has set up a Connectivity Lab that will include experts in aerospace and communication technology, from Nasa's jet propulsion lab and its Ames research centre.

It has also hired a five-member team that worked at British firm Ascenta, whose founders developed the Zephyr, which holds the record for the longest-flying solar-powered unmanned aircraft.

Earlier this month there were rumours that the social network was interested in buying drone-maker Titan but there was no mention of this in the announcement.

Altruistic?

The plans form part of Facebook's ambitions to extend its reach beyond its 1.2 billion audience, thinks Ovum analyst Mark Little.

"Zuckerberg is pushing this as an altruistic way of connecting more people in the world - the net as a basic human right - but by increasing the total of net connections it also increases Facebook's members and the amount of sharing done, which in turn creates more space for advertising and drives its revenues in a massive way."

Last year Google announced similar plans to develop solar-powered balloons to deliver net access to remote areas of the world.

Code-named Project Loon, 30 of the super-pressure balloons were launched in New Zealand in June.

"It is perhaps aptly named," said Mr Little.

"It is going to have a lot of political hoops to jump through. Some governments won't put up with having that fleet over their airspace."

Mr Little thinks that for both Facebook and Google, the technology in their projects may prove to be "the easy bit" and that the real challenge will lie in persuading governments around the world that its alternative networks are viable.

"Mobile operators are always under threat from alternative ways of delivering net services. This becomes a concern for governments when a nation's communications rest on an outside provider," he said.

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Bionic Olympics to be hosted in 2016

27 March 2014 Last updated at 12:24

The first Cybathlon, an Olympics for bionic athletes, will take place in Switzerland in October 2016.

The event will include a race where competitors control an avatar via a brain interface.

There will also be races for competitors wearing prosthetic limbs and exo-skeletons.

Hosted by the Swiss National Competence Center of Research, it is hoped the competition will spur interest in human performance-enhancing technology.

The brain-computer interface race is designed for competitors who are paralysed from the neck down. They will control an avatar in a computer racing game via a headset that connects the brain to a computer.

There will also be races for those wearing arm or leg prosthetics, an exoskeleton race and a wheelchair race.

The assistive devices worn by the athletes, who will be known as pilots, can either be ones that are already commercially available or prototypes from research labs.

There will be two medals for each competition, one for the pilot and one for company that developed the device.

Bionic limbs and exoskeletons are becoming much more technically advanced, offering those wearing them much more realistic movements.

Prof Hugh Herr, from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, showed off some of the prosthetics that his team have been working on at the Ted (Technology, Entertainment and Design) conference in Vancouver last week.

He is currently in negotiations with health care professionals to get the bionic limbs more widely available to those who need them.

Often though there was a disconnect between technology and patients, said Prof Robert Riener, event organiser, from the University of Switzerland.

"The idea is that we want to push development of assistive technologies towards devices that patients can really use in everyday life," he told the BBC.

"Some of the current technologies look very fancy but are a long way from being practical and user-friendly," he added.

The other main aim of the games is to allow people to compete who have never had the opportunity before.

"We allow technology that has previously been excluded from the Paralympics. By making it a public event we want to get rid of the borders between patients, society and the technology community," Prof Riener said.

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Turkey moves to block YouTube access

27 March 2014 Last updated at 16:12

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"What appears to have prompted the ban... is an audio recording between senior ministers, which was posted on the site", reports Mariko Oi

Turkey has moved to block access to YouTube, a day after a court ordered the suspension of a ban on Twitter, which PM Recep Tayyip Erdogan backed.

The telecoms authority (TIB) said it had taken an "administrative measure" against the site but another report suggests that talks are under way.

Some users found access blocked while others could still use the site.

Earlier, what appeared to be a leaked audio recording of Turkish officials discussing Syria appeared on YouTube.

Continue reading the main story

They even leaked a national security meeting"

End Quote Recep Tayyip Erdogan Turkish prime minister

It relates to a discussion of possible military operations in Syria, which was apparently attended by Turkey's intelligence chief, its foreign minister and the deputy head of the armed forces.

Reuters news agency, which examined the recording, said it could not verify its authenticity but it was potentially the most damaging purported leak so far as it appeared to have originated from the bugging of a highly confidential and sensitive conversation.

Mr Erdogan, who faces important local elections on Sunday, accuses social media of spreading misinformation and suggested earlier that bans could be applied to both YouTube and Facebook.

'Villainous' leak

In its statement, the TIB said: "After technical analysis and legal consideration.... an administrative measure has been taken for this website."

As conflicting reports emerged over the blockage, the search engine Google, which owns YouTube, confirmed that some users were unable to access YouTube in Turkey.

"There is no technical issue on our side and we're looking into the situation," a Google Inc spokesperson said in a statement to Reuters.

The term #youtubeblockedinturkey has begun trending worldwide on Twitter.

At a rally in the south-eastern city of Diyarbakir on Thursday, Mr Erdogan appeared to confirm the latest audio leak was genuine.

"They even leaked a national security meeting," he said. "This is villainous, this is dishonesty... Who are you serving by doing audio surveillance of such an important meeting?"

On Wednesday, a court in the capital, Ankara, ordered the TIB to lift its ban on Twitter, but it could be weeks before the order takes effect.

Twitter itself has filed a challenge to the access ban. It said it was concerned about a court order to suspend an account which had accused a former minister of corruption.

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Mandatory porn site age checks urged

28 March 2014 Last updated at 00:14 By Leo Kelion Technology reporter

A UK industry regulator has called for the law to be changed to require pornography sites to carry out age checks before granting access.

Video-on-demand watchdog Atvod said the government must act to protect children from seeing graphic adult material.

It said credit and debit card operators would be forbidden from processing payments from British customers to sites that did not comply.

But one campaigner said the action would be a "worthless gesture".

The Authority for Television On Demand (Atvod) said the matter was so urgent that it was "critical the legislation is enacted during this Parliament".

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To back up its demand, the body requested data from market research firm Nielsen, which routinely monitors the general online habits of a volunteer panel of 45,000 desktop PC and laptop users across the UK.

The survey indicated that, over the course of one month:

• 6% of children aged 15 years or younger had accessed an adult website
• 5% of visitors to such sites had been under-18
• One website alone had been visited by 112,000 boys in the UK aged between 12 and 17-years-old
• Of the wider population, 23% of those who had used the net over the month had visited an adult site
• Visitors to adult sites spent an average of 15 minutes looking at them during each visit and typically clocked up two-and-a-half hours of time in total over the month

Atvod added that the survey probably underestimated the scale of the issue since smartphone and tablet use was not included in the figures.

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Jon Brown, NSPCC, said there were few barriers to accessing pornography online

Porn licences

The regulator already forces UK-based sites to carry out age verification checks before explicit photographs and videos can be viewed.

This can be done by requiring valid credit card details, or other personal information that can be cross-referenced with the electoral roll or another ID database.

However, the body said the vast majority of online pornography was downloaded from businesses based overseas, over which it had no control.

To tackle this, Atvod said it wanted all adult sites to request a licence that would only be granted if they had age checks in place. Payment processors would be ordered not to handle fees for premium services - such as higher definition or longer clips - from UK citizens to unregistered sites.

"We're a very substantial market and to access the money that's flowing from the UK would be quite a powerful incentive to introduce restrictions," Atvod's chief executive, Pete Johnson told the BBC.

Mixed reactions

The UK government has already pressured the UK's major internet service providers to use software filters that automatically block adult material unless households specifically ask for them to be turned off.

However, a spokesman for the coalition government indicated it needed time to consider Atvod's request.

"We will continue to work with industry and others to look at where further action could be taken, including around age restrictions," he said.

Labour has, however, already come out in support of the move.

"It is only by threatening to cut off the flow of money that we will force these websites to act responsibly, and payment processors need legal clarity before they can act to help achieve this," said shadow culture minister, Helen Goodman.

However, Sex and Censorship - which describes itself as a free speech campaign group - said the move would prove ineffective.

"It won't make any difference to the sites that give all their videos away for free and sell advertising because they don't need credit card processing," said Jerry Barnett.

"And some sites are already accepting bitcoin and other anonymous online payment systems. A clampdown on card payments would just accelerate this trend.

"Even if implemented, this measure would have no effect on the range of content available to British consumers."

Mr Barnett previously ran a UK-based adult website himself until he was fined for failing to prevent children accessing its content.

'Significant win'

Mindgeek, the Luxembourg-based operator of many of the most popular adult sites, said it already carried out age verification checks in countries where this was required. But it indicated this did not address the crux of the problem.

"There is no single 'silver bullet' solution to protecting children and adolescents from potentially harmful content and interactions in their digital lives," said a spokeswoman.

"The best solution lies in a multi-layered approach in which the parent assumes the central role."

Atvod acknowledged its proposal was only part of the solution, but it insisted that the scheme could still be designed to make a difference.

"The material that appears on the free services is placed there by the paid services to attract customers to sign up to subscriptions.

"As long as the paid service placed content on a free service without age verification it would be in breach of its licensing conditions and so would not be able to access funds from the UK.

"We're not saying this will stop all children seeing all pornography online.

"But our argument is that even if you reduce the number of children who are accessing hardcore pornography online by 10%, that would be a significant win."

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Microsoft unveils iPad Office suite

28 March 2014 Last updated at 01:46 By Leo Kelion Technology reporter

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BBC's Richard Taylor takes a first look at Office for iPad

Microsoft has started offering an iPad edition of its Office software suite.

It was announced at the first launch event hosted by Satya Nadella since he became chief executive of the firm.

Three separate productivity apps are available - Word, Excel and Powerpoint - each of which has been optimised for touch-based controls.

Within hours of the launch, Word became the most downloaded application for iPads in Apple's app store.

The Excel and Powerpoint apps were the third and fourth most popular free app downloads, respectively, in the store.

The popularity suggests that customers are interested in accessing Microsoft's signature Office products in their new, easier to use incarnation, compared with the web-based alternatives provided before. But it is not yet clear how many will pay for a subscription to access all the apps' features.

The firm has faced criticism for not offering the software until now.

Mr Nadella said that the announcement was part of a strategy to empower people "to be productive across all devices" with Microsoft software.

"We are taking great focus and great care to make sure Office on any device shines through," he said, indicating that his firm would release versions of the apps for other mobile devices in the future.

Continue reading the main story

Satya Nadella's move to bring Office to the iPad is significant as much for its symbolism as for the detail.

He has calculated that bringing Microsoft's flagship productivity software to a rival operating system is a better long-term bet than holding it hostage to Windows-based devices.

It is a bold statement of leadership, signalling a willingness to carve out a fresh direction for Microsoft.

It puts Office at the heart of this new strategy, one in which mobile and cloud software and services are key, and an openness to other platforms is embraced.

One risk in this cross-platform strategy is that iPad developers have filled an Office-shaped hole with apps which - for many users - are perfectly respectable alternatives.

There will definitely be a core of Office users excited by the prospect of a familiar app with streamlined integration into the desktop version through the cloud. The question is how large this paying audience will be.

Furthermore, if the move to iPad proves too well-executed, it may be at the expense of sales of its own Surface tablet and other Windows-based mobile hardware - one of the reasons the Microsoft old guard resisted for so long.

The new CEO is making it clear that Microsoft is moving in a post-Windows environment - what he calls "a mobile first, cloud first" world - and the software giant needs to adapt accordingly.

Research firm Gartner predicts about 271 million tablets will be shipped this year - only slightly less than its forecast of 277 million PCs and laptops - and Apple's iPad is currently the bestselling model.

Mr Nadella's predecessor, Steve Ballmer, launched an iPhone version of Office last year and confirmed an iPad version was in the works.

But many industry watchers have speculated that Mr Ballmer deliberately delayed its release in order to debut a tablet touch-centric version on Microsoft's own Surface machines before bringing it to a competing platform.

App rivals

Office remains Microsoft's cash cow, accounting for $16.2bn (£9.7bn) - or just over 60% - of Microsoft's operating profit in its last financial year. But some believe that sum could have been larger.

"It was definitely a major mistake to wait - an example of the insular old-world thinking of Steve Ballmer and his management team that believed everything should be within a Windows ecosystem," said Chris Green, from the Davies Murphy Group consultancy.

"In today's multi-device environment, where Windows is no longer the all dominant platform it once was, that game plan doesn't work anymore. The fact Microsoft is now catching up is only going to be a good thing and will be to the benefit of the Office applications."

The iPhone version has attracted a relatively low review score from Apple's App Store users, many of whom complained about its cost - it required an Office 365 subscription sold for £80 a year - and missing features.

Meanwhile other apps - including Documents to Go, HopTo, Quickoffice, Google's business web apps and Apple's iWork suite - have prospered offering free or cheaper alternatives that can load and alter files originally created by Office.

Some critics have questioned whether Microsoft has left it too late to act.

However, the iPad edition is more powerful than the original iPhone version - for example more complicated edits can now be made to Powerpoint presentations and the programs make recommendations to help create visually appealing documents - and several experts believe there will be strong demand for the product.

Freemium model

Users wanting to only view and present documents can use Office for iPad without charge, but an Office 365 subscription is still needed to edit them.

Small businesses are, however, offered a discounted annual rate of £39.60 per user for up to 25 workers.

"Much as you can edit Excel spreadsheets and tweak Word and Powerpoint documents with other software, it can involve technical gymnastics and be a great pain on an iPad," Richard Edwards, an analyst at tech research firm Ovum, told the BBC.

"Often when you move from one program to another the DNA of a document gets twisted and distorted, with formatting errors and other problems.

"For the reduction in stress people and businesses will be more than willing to pay for the subscription cost."

However, one analyst said Mr Nadella still had more work to do to reassure shareholders.

"The company's announcement today around offering Office for iPad - and eventually other devices - will be warmly welcomed by investors, in our view, as it adds a long awaited gateway to enterprise users, finally capitalising on bring-your-own-device-to-work trends," said Daniel Ives from FBR Capital Markets.

"[But] reinvigorating the Windows franchise continues to be a key ingredient in Microsoft's recipe for success.

"With the much-hyped Windows 8 having experienced lacklustre adoption, we believe investors will be looking for hints or previews around Windows 9 and subsequent updates to Windows 8.1 at the upcoming Build Conference as this struggling high-margin business remains front and centre."

Microsoft's Build conference for developers runs from 2 to 4 April in San Francisco.

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Smartphone overuse may 'damage' eyes

Opticians are worried over exposure to light from devices could cause long term eye problems.

Opticians say people are so addicted to smartphones they may be increasing their risk of eye damage.

They are warning overuse from phones and other devices like computers, tablets, and flat screen TVs can lead to long-term damage.

It comes as a survey of 2,000 people suggests under 25s check their phones thirty-two times a day.

Optician Andy Hepworth said: "Blue violet light is potentially hazardous and toxic to the back of your eyes.

Continue reading the main story

It's the combination of not blinking enough and bringing the device closer than you normally look at objects - it strains your eyes

Andy Hepworth Optician

"So over a long period of time it can potentially damage your eyes.

"When you're looking at a smart phone, the light peaking out of that is blue violet."

He says tests have found that over exposure to blue-violet light has the potential to put us at greater risk of macular degeneration, a leading cause of blindness.

Opticians say that, although "good" blue light (blue-turquoise) is needed to help regulate biological clocks, it is also thought that extensive exposure to blue violet light can disrupting sleep patterns and affect moods.

"Although we don't know if there's a direct link with it creating eye problems, there is strong lab evidence it can potentially do that," Andy added.

"It's the combination of not blinking enough and bringing the device closer than you normally look at objects - it strains your eyes."

'More headaches'

The survey, commissioned by a group of independent opticians, found that on average, an adult spends nearly seven hours a day staring at a screen with nearly half feeling anxious when away from their phone.

Statistics also suggest 43% of under 25s experience genuine irritation or anxiety when they can't check their phone when they want.

Alana Chinery says she is never without her smart phone

It also found 55% felt the amount of screen time they're exposed to affects them with eye discomfort the main problem.

Eighteen-year-old Alana Chinery from Essex is never without her smart phone.

Continue reading the main story

Get your eyes tested regularly and take regular breaks from your computer and hand held device

Amanda Saint Optician

She said: "I've definitely noticed that my eyes are getting worse from staring at my computer and phone.

"I am getting more headaches."

Amanda Saint, who is also an optician, says the advice is simple.

"Get your eyes tested regularly and take regular breaks from your computer and hand held device."

Follow @BBCNewsbeat on Twitter

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Snoopy drone sniffs public's data

28 March 2014 Last updated at 07:07 By Kim Gittleson BBC reporter, Black Hat, Singapore

Security firm SensePost has unveiled its Snoopy drone, which can steal data from unsuspecting smartphone users, at the Black Hat security conference in Singapore.

The drone uses the company's software, which is installed on a computer attached to a drone.

That code can be used to hack smartphones and steal personal data - all without a user's knowledge.

It does this by exploiting handsets looking for a wireless signal.

Glenn Wilkinson, who developed Snoopy, says that when the software is attached to a drone flying around an area, it can gather everything from a user's home address to his or her bank information.

"Every device we carry emits unique signatures - even pacemakers come with wi-fi today," Mr Wilkinson tells the BBC.

"And - holy smokes, what a bad idea."

'The machines that betrayed their masters'

Many smartphone users leave the wireless option constantly turned on on their smartphone. That means the phones are constantly looking for a network to join - including previously used networks.

"A lot of [past] network names are unique and it's possible to easily geo-locate them," says Mr Wilkinson, who explains Snoopy uses a combination of the name of a network a user is looking for as well as the MAC address that uniquely identifies a device to track a smartphone in real-time.

Beyond that, Snoopy demonstrates how someone could also impersonate one of those past networks in a so-called karma attack, in which a rogue operator impersonates a past network that a user then joins, thinking it is safe.

Continue reading the main story

"Start Quote

I've gathered smartphone device data from every security conference that I've been at for the last year and a half"

End Quote Glenn Wilkinson Sensepoint

Once the user has joined the disguised network, the rogue operator can then steal any information that the user enters while on that network - including e-mail passwords, Facebook account information, and even banking details.

This is why Mr Wilkinson says that smartphones and other devices that use wireless technology - such as Oyster cards using RFID (radio frequency identification) or bank cards with chips - can betray their users.

'Am I on candid camera?'

Mr Wilkinson - who began developing the Snoopy software three years ago as a side-project - gave the BBC a preview of the technology ahead of its release.

Pulling out a laptop from his bag, Mr Wilkinson opened the Snoopy programme - and immediately pulled up the smartphone information of hundreds of Black Hat conference attendees.

With just a few keystrokes, he showed that an attendee sitting in the back right corner of the keynote speech probably lived in a specific neighbourhood in Singapore. The software even provided a streetview photo of the smartphone user's presumed address.

"I've gathered smartphone device data from every security conference that I've been at for the last year and a half - so I can see who was at each event and whether or not they've attended multiple events," says Mr Wilkinson.

He then shows this data to conference attendees - who often ask, when presented with a photograph of their home or office, if they're on candid camera.

Bringing awareness

Mr Wilkinson is quick to acknowledge that the Snoopy software is not new technology - but rather, just a different way of gathering together a series of known security risks.

"There's nothing new about this - what's new is that Snoopy brings a lot of the technology together in a unique way," he explains.

Continue reading the main story

Find out more

• Drones are controlled either autonomously by on-board computers, or by remote control
• They are used in situations where manned flight is considered too dangerous or difficult
• Also increasingly used for policing and fire-fighting, security work, and for filming

For instance, the Snoopy software has been ground-based until now, operating primarily on computers, smartphones with Linux installed on them, and on open-source small computers like the Raspberry Pi and BeagleBone Black.

But when attached to a drone, it can quickly cover large areas.

"You can also fly out of audio-visual range - so you can't see or hear it, meaning you can bypass physical security - men with guns, that sort of thing," he says.

It's not hard to imagine a scenario in which an authoritarian regime could fly the drone over an anti-government protest and collect the smartphone data of every protester and use the data to figure out the identities of everyone in attendance.

Mr Wilkinson says that this is why he has become fascinated with our "digital terrestrial footprint" - and the way our devices can betray us.

He says he wants to "talk about this to bring awareness" of the security risks posed by such simple technologies to users.

His advice? Turn off the wireless network on your phone until you absolutely need to use it.

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Billboard unveils Twitter charts

Billboard has announced a new set of music charts based on Twitter data.

Working with the social media platform, the Billboard Twitter Real-Time Charts will rank tracks and artists based on Twitter traffic.

Trends will be ranked in real-time over extended periods of time to track the longevity of successful songs and artists' popularity.

The charts will also highlight the most talked about and shared tracks by new and upcoming acts.

Continue reading the main story

When artists share songs and engage with their audience on Twitter, the buzz they create will now be visible to fans, other musicians and industry decision makers

Bob Moczydlowsky Head of music - Twitter

The Twitter Real-Time Charts are set to launch in America over the next fortnight.

Bob Moczydlowsky, Twitter's head of music, said: "When artists share songs and engage with their audience on Twitter, the buzz they create will now be visible to fans, other musicians and industry decision makers in real-time."

Katy Perry is currently the most followed musician of Twitter with 51.8 million followers.

Official accounts of Justin Bieber, Lady Gaga, Taylor Swift, Britney Spears, Rihanna and Justin Timberlake are also in the top 10 most followed users on the site.

Katy Perry is currently the most followed musician on Twitter

Billboard's Hot 100 chart, which is based on radio play, streaming online, and sales, was recently expanded to include Spotify and YouTube streams.

They also launched an artist chart called Social 50 in 2010, which collects data from social media.

Earlier this week, Twitter announced that its #music discovery service will close on 18 April.

Twitter's #music will close next month

The app, which gives users artist and song suggestions based on who they follow on site, was launched last year after Twitter bought the We Are Hunted music app.

After an initial surge in downloads, by October it had dropped to 165th place in the free music apps category on iTunes, according to AppData.

The new chart will be available on Billboard.com and will be shared on their Twitter account.

Follow @BBCNewsbeat on Twitter

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Google government requests 'up 120%'

28 March 2014 Last updated at 12:11

Google has said the number of requests it has had from governments to share information about its users has gone up by 120% in the past four years.

The rise was blamed on an increase in users, but the company also said more governments were starting to "exercise their authority to make requests".

In releasing the data the search giant renewed its calls for government surveillance reform.

Last year, 53,356 requests for data were made globally, Google said.

The majority of requests come from the US - but the figures do not include bulk surveillance carried out by the country's National Security Agency (NSA).

Google has been publishing the twice-yearly Transparency Report since 2009.

Transparency push

Not all requests Google receives are successful. In the period of July to December 2013, 69% of the UK government's 1,397 requests resulted in user information being passed over.

In the US, 83% of 10,574 requests were granted.

"We consistently push back against overly broad requests for your personal information," wrote Richard Salgado, Google's legal director.

"But it's also important for laws to explicitly protect you from government overreach.

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Edward Snowden: Surveillance is 'setting fire' to the internet

"That's why we're working alongside eight other companies to push for surveillance reform, including more transparency."

Following revelations from whistleblower Edward Snowden into US spying - technology companies have been pressing for more openness in the activities of governments.

Google has joined some of the sector's big hitters - including Facebook, Microsoft and Twitter - in pushing for the right to publish data into national security requests as well demands made for law enforcement purposes.

Journalists targeted

In a separate publication on Friday, two Google engineers revealed the extent of state-sponsored hacking attempts on journalists and news organisations.

The engineers suggested that 21 of the top 25 news organisations in the world had been targeted - and that while general users face such attacks, journalists were "massively over-represented" in the study's data.

Shane Huntley and Morgan Marquis-Boire presented their findings at the Black Hat security conference in Singapore.

Mr Huntley told Reuters: "If you're a journalist or a journalistic organisation we will see state-sponsored targeting and we see it happening regardless of region, we see it from all over the world both from where the targets are and where the targets are from."

He added that Chinese hackers had accessed a US news organisation - which was not named - by sending out a fake questionnaire to staff.

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Blackberry posts $5.9bn annual loss

28 March 2014 Last updated at 20:06

Troubled smartphone maker Blackberry has reported a net loss of $5.9bn (£3.5bn) for its latest financial year.

However, in the three months to 1 March it recorded a smaller-than-expected loss of $423m, compared with a loss of $4.4bn in the previous quarter.

The company said it was pleased with its fourth quarter performance, and that it was on "a path to returning to growth and profitability".

Boss John Chen said the firm was moving to a "sounder financial footing".

Continue reading the main story

Blackberry devices have recently lost out in the high-end smartphone market to Apple's iPhone and phones powered by Google Android operating system.

During the financial year, the company's losses included $934m on unsold Z10 smartphones, and restructuring costs of $512m.

Fourth quarter revenues fell to $976m, below analysts' expectations of $1.1bn.

As part of its turnaround plan the firm is focusing on its services arm, and is also putting renewed emphasis on its keyboard devices.

Mr Chen was appointed as interim chief executive in November 2013.

"The guy is on the move fast," said Colin Gillis, an analyst at BGC Partners. "He can control expenses but you can't magically make revenue happen."

Blackberry's shares fell nearly 5% on Friday, reversing initial gains of over 5%.

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'Bitcoin creator' denies involvement

7 March 2014 Last updated at 11:45

The man named by a magazine as the inventor of Bitcoin earlier this week has denied any involvement.

Dorian Prentice Satoshi Nakamoto said he had not even heard of the virtual currency until a few weeks ago.

Nakamoto was singled out as the man who wrote the code underpinning Bitcoin by Newsweek.

But he said that quotes attributed to him that seemed to suggest his discontinued involvement with the project had been "misunderstood".

"I got nothing to do with it," Nakamoto told a reporter on Thursday.

He was identified as the "face behind Bitcoin" in an article published online this week. A reporter spent about two months investigating the claim and tracking him down.

When the reporter - flanked by two police officers - found the 64-year-old former physicist at his home in California and asked him if he was involved with Bitcoin, he is reported to have said: "I am no longer involved in that and I cannot discuss it."

But he told an Associated Press reporter on Thursday: "I'm saying I'm no longer in engineering, that's it. And even if I was, when we get hired, you have to sign this document, contract, saying you will not reveal anything we divulge during and after employment. So that's what I implied.

"It sounded like I was involved before with Bitcoin and looked like I'm not involved now. That's not what I meant. I want to clarify that," he said.

'Unregulated and unstable'

Nakamoto said he was born in Japan and moved to America in 1959 and that English was not his first language.

The value of Bitcoin has fluctuated as knowledge of and interest in what was until recently a little-known currency has increased. It is used to bypass financial institutions, making it attractive to people who want to trade directly. That has led to a level of adoption by speculative investors and some criminal enterprises.

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The BBC's Rory Cellan Jones explains how Bitcoin works

In 2012, a leaked FBI report showed that the the agency was concerned that Bitcoin could become widely used by criminals.

The report said that the virtual currency was an "increasingly useful tool for various illegal activities beyond the cyber realm".

And, in August the following year, it was announced that the "scale of the risk posed by" Bitcoin was to be investigated by the FBI on behalf of a US Senate committee.

The entity behind it has always been known as "Satoshi Nakamoto", although it is unknown whether or not that is a pseudonym. Nakamoto insisted he had never heard of Gavin Andresen, a leading Bitcoin developer.

The latter told Newsweek he had worked closely with the person or entity known as Satoshi Nakamoto in developing the system, but that they never met in person or spoke on the phone.

Nakamoto told the AP that he would have had the technical ability to come up with Bitcoin. He said: "Capability? Yes, but any programmer could do that."

He also admitted that elements of the Newsweek story were correct. He said that he did once work for a defence contractor.

He added that he also worked on missile systems for the US Navy and Air Force and, consequently, it was necessary to keep many details of his work confidential.

Newsweek writer Leah McGrath Goodman, who spent two months researching the story, told the AP: "I stand completely by my exchange with Mr Nakamoto. There was no confusion whatsoever about the context of our conversation - and his acknowledgment of his involvement in Bitcoin."

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Turkey PM warns social media sites

7 March 2014 Last updated at 12:21

Turkey's PM Recep Tayyip Erdogan says his government could ban Facebook and YouTube, arguing that opponents are using social media to attack him.

But President Abdullah Gul later called such a ban "out of the question".

Allegations of corruption against Mr Erdogan have been repeated on the social media sites.

The leaks included a phone conversation in which, allegedly, he and his son discussed how to hide huge sums of money. Mr Erdogan called it a montage.

His Islamist-rooted AK Party faces key local elections on 30 March.

"We will not leave this nation at the mercy of YouTube and Facebook," Mr Erdogan told the Turkish broadcaster ATV.

"We will take the necessary steps in the strongest way." Asked if that could include barring the social media sites, he said: "Included."

He said the two sites were being used for "all kinds of immorality, all kinds of espionage".

A major corruption investigation has targeted government allies of the prime minister - and he has responded by moving hundreds of police officers and prosecutors to other duties.

Last month the AK-dominated Turkish parliament passed a new law allowing Turkey's telecommunications authority to block websites without first seeking a court ruling. It sparked violent protests in Istanbul.

Mr Erdogan said he had complained to US President Barack Obama about the activities of US-based cleric Fethullah Gulen.

The cleric runs an influential Islamist network, seen by Mr Erdogan as a threat to his authority.

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US state bans Peeping Tom photos

7 March 2014 Last updated at 20:14

Massachusetts has approved a bill targeting those who take photographs of "the sexual or other intimate parts" of people in public.

It comes a day after a state court ruled a man who took photos up the skirts of female passengers on Boston's subway did not break the law.

The bill makes such offences punishable by up to two-and-a-half years in jail and a $5,000 (£3,000) fine.

Governor Deval Patrick signed the measure into law.

After the legislation's unanimous approval on Thursday, state Senate President Therese Murray said: "Women and children should be able to go to public places without feeling that they are not protected by the law."

The bill states that anyone who "photographs, videotapes or electronically surveils" a person's sexual or intimate parts without consent should face a misdemeanor charge.

The crime becomes a felony - punishable by up to five years in prison and a $10,000 fine - if the accused secretly takes indecent photographs of anyone under the age of 18.

The bill was prompted by the case of Michael Robertson, who was arrested in August 2010 after police received complaints that he had used his mobile phone to take photos and videos up the skirts of female passengers on the Boston subway.

On Wednesday, the state's Supreme Judicial Court found the existing Peeping Tom law did not apply to "photographing (or videotaping or electronically surveilling) persons who are fully clothed and, in particular, does not reach the type of upskirting that the defendant is charged with".

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Getty makes 35m photos free to use

6 March 2014 Last updated at 12:27

Getty Images, the world's largest photo agency, has made vast swathes of its library free to use, in an effort to combat piracy.

Millions of images - including famous shots of Marilyn Monroe and Barack Obama - will now be available without cost to blogs and social media sites.

The photos will be "framed" with a code that links back to Getty's website.

Continue reading the main story

"Start Quote

A lot of people are very, very angry"

End Quote Daniela Bowker, Photographer and journalist

Getty said it had made the move after realising thousands of its images were being used without attribution.

"Our content was everywhere already," said Craig Peters, a business development executive at the Seattle-based company.

"If you want to get a Getty image today, you can find it without a watermark very simply," he added.

"The way you do that is you go to one of our customer sites and you right-click. Or you go to Google Image search or Bing Image Search and you get it there. And that's what's happening."

The company says it is making up to 35 million photos available through the new "embed tool", and images can also be shared on social media sites Twitter and Tumblr.

Continue reading the main story

"Start Quote

You have to adapt to survive"

End Quote Kevin Mazur, Rolling Stone photographer

Users can choose from sports events, fashion shows, stock images and celebrity gatherings like the Oscars and the Brit Awards.

However, there are some notable exceptions - primarily editorial photos of events such as the 11 September terrorist attacks on America or the protests in Tiananmen Square in 1989.

In essence, it is admitting defeat. By offering the ability to embed photos, Getty is saying it cannot effectively police the use of its images in every nook and cranny of the internet.

Its code, which can be cut and pasted onto any website, is similar to the tool YouTube provides for sharing its videos. Images cannot be resized and they will all incorporate a Getty Images logo, as well as a credit for the photographer.

Like YouTube, the company may use the code to serve advertisements in the future, allowing it to make revenue by sharing its catalogue.

"Getty will get its pound of flesh one way or another," photography journalist Daniela Bowker told the BBC News website. "It has not gone into this blithely. It has got a plan."

She added many of her contacts were unhappy about the move.

"My Twitter feed has exploded with very angry photographers going 'I don't want Getty giving away my images for free'," she said.

"For some of them, it might mean their images are never used commercially and they'll never make a penny.

"They feel very strongly about that because photographers don't work for free and they don't work for exposure. They say: 'Exposure won't feed my children'. So a lot of people are very, very angry, and I sympathise with them.

"But at the same time, the genie is out of the bottle. There are so many images that are being shared and liked and tweeted and clicked on."

Ms Bowker said monetisation had to be part of Getty's plan in the future.

"If they have thousands of photographers who aren't making money, Getty won't make money either. So they must have a plan."

One photographer who does support the plan is Rolling Stone's Kevin Mazur, a co-founder of WireImage, whose catalogue is handled by Getty.

"You have to adapt to survive," he said. "Evolving to embrace technology that encourages responsible image sharing is the way forward for the industry."

Commercial users of Getty's library - including newspapers, television channels and advertisers - will continue to be charged.

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Europol warning over wi-fi hotspots

7 March 2014 Last updated at 03:11 By Dan Simmons Click presenter

Please turn on JavaScript. Media requires JavaScript to play.

Rory Cellan-Jones explains why Europol is warning people to change their habits

Sensitive information should not be sent over public wi-fi hotspots, to avoid hackers stealing it, Europe's top cybercrime police officer has warned.

Troels Oerting, head of Europol's cybercrime centre, told BBC Click people should send personal data only across networks they trusted.

He said the warning was motivated by the growing number of attacks being carried out via public wi-fi.

Europol is helping a number of countries after such attacks, he said.

Stolen data

"We have seen an increase in the misuse of wi-fi, in order to steal information, identity or passwords and money from the users who use public or insecure wi-fi connections," he said.

"We should teach users that they should not address sensitive information while being on an open insecure wi-fi internet.

"They should do this from home where they know actually the wi-fi and its security, but not if you are in a coffee shop somewhere you shouldn't access your bank or do all of these things that actually transfer very sensitive information."

Mr Oerting said Europol, which helps co-ordinate investigations into organised crime across Europe, was assisting several member states who had seen attacks carried out on wi-fi networks.

The attackers were not using novel techniques, he said, but relied on well-known approaches that attempt to trick people into connecting to a hotspot that, superficially, resembles those seen in cafes, pubs and restaurants and other public spaces.

'Man in the middle'

The attacks meant that data swapped when people communicate with a bank, shop via the web or log in to social media sites could be captured by attackers.

"Everything that you send through the wi-fi is potentially at risk, and this is something that we need to be very concerned about both as individual users but also as police," he told Click.

Mr Oerting's warning comes only a few months after the European parliament turned off its public wi-fi system after it was discovered that a "man-in-the-middle" attack was being perpetrated via the service.

As its name implies, in this attack thieves attempt to insert themselves between users and a hotspot to gather all data passing between the two points.

The warning was echoed by Charlie McMurdie, former head of the UK's cybercrime unit and now a senior security analyst at PWC.

"A lot of mainstream criminals have identified there are easy opportunities and vulnerabilities just walking down the street and exploiting wi-fi networks that exist in every coffee shop," she said.

Rogue hotspots

Large companies were also falling victim to this type of crime, said Ms McMurdie, because they were not watching out for the rogue hotspots that are regularly turning up.

Sometimes, said Ms McMurdie, attackers used hotspots to get at particular individuals rather than to grab all the data flowing from everyone using a public network.

Everyone needed to be aware of what they were putting at risk when they use wi-fi networks and the data it can potentially hand over to criminals.

"There is the need for raising awareness of what the vulnerabilities are and what you should be doing to protect yourself whether you're on the move or in a physical location," she said.

The BBC Click investigation into how safe public wi-fi hotspots are can be seen on the Click TV show this weekend.

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Twitter bans porn on Vine app

7 March 2014 Last updated at 04:22

Video-sharing Twitter app Vine says it has banned all sexually explicit content from being published on the platform.

"We've found that there's a very small percentage of videos that are not a good fit for our community," it said in a blog post.

The rules go into effect immediately.

After the app was launched by Twitter in January 2013, it came under criticism when a pornographic video was inadvertently made an "Editor's Pick".

The video was subsequently removed, Twitter apologised for the error and the minimum age for users of the app was raised from 12 to 17+ in Apple's AppStore.

Currently, the app carries a disclaimer in the AppStore that warns of "frequent/intense sexual content or nudity".

Notifications were sent to users whose accounts were deemed to have sexually explicit content, and Vine has asked them to remove the material to comply with its new rules.

"For more than 99% of our users, this doesn't really change anything. For the rest: we don't have a problem with explicit sexual content on the Internet - we just prefer not to be the source of it," said Vine.

Users can report content they think is sexually explicit using a "Report this post" option.

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Slow broadband 'damaging education'

7 March 2014 Last updated at 08:45

Rural families say that lack of suitable broadband access is damaging their children's education.

A survey conducted by insurance firm NFU Mutual suggest one in five rural families have poor broadband links.

In turn this is preventing their children accessing online educational resources, the survey of 1,600 parents found.

More than a third of those with internet access said that broadband was too slow for their needs.

"As more educational resources become internet-based, country children risk falling behind their urban counterparts," said Tim Price, rural affairs specialist at NFU Mutual.

"Rural communities are already falling way behind and as the digital revolution gathers pace there's a real risk that the viability of some rural businesses will be threatened and children be put at a disadvantage," he added.

Not only are rural households less likely to have superfast broadband but they are also half as likely as urban dwellers to use mobile broadband through 3G and 4G networks, the survey found.

More needs to be done to educate rural communities about the benefits of mobile broadband, thinks Sarah Lee, head of policy at the Countryside Alliance.

"Our own research suggests that rural households are less likely to use 3G and 4G but these networks are coming sooner than fixed line broadband and represent a good alternative," she said.

By 2017, the government wants to see 95% of the UK on superfast broadband - defined by the EU as speeds of 30Mbps (megabits per second) or higher.

Scottish notspots

One of the biggest issues facing rural communities is that even if the telephone cabinet in their area is upgraded to fibre broadband, the speed that they will get depends on the distance they live away from it.

"If you live 600 metres or more away from the cabinet you might as well be on dial-up," said Ms Lee.

A study of the Scottish broadband rollout conducted by researchers at the University of Edinburgh has found that up to a third of a million households may miss out on superfast broadband because their properties are too far away from upgraded cabinets.

Scottish government targets to have superfast broadband to 95% of homes by the end of 2017 may actually reach less than 80%, the study concluded.

Inca (The Independent Networks Cooperative Association) has set up a broadband notspot registry and is asking people with slow broadband to register in order to build up a UK-wide map of where broadband is most needed.

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Abortion provider hit by data fine

7 March 2014 Last updated at 11:50

An abortion provider has been fined £200,000 for a data breach that revealed almost 10,000 people's details to a hacker.

The hacker threatened to publish the names of people who had contacted the British Pregnancy Advisory Service's website for advice on pregnancy issues.

The Information Commissioner's Office said the fact BPAS had not realised its site stored details was "no excuse".

BPAS said the fine was "out of proportion" and plans to appeal.

Continue reading the main story

"Start Quote

The British Pregnancy Advice Service didn't realise their website was storing this information, didn't realise how long it was being retained for and didn't realise the website wasn't being kept sufficiently secure"

End Quote David Smith Information Commissioner's Office

The Information Commissioner's Office (ICO) investigation found the charity had failed to realise its website was storing the name, address, date of birth and telephone number of people who asked for a call back for advice on pregnancy issues.

The personal data was not stored securely, and a vulnerability in the website's code allowed the hacker to access the system and locate the information in March 2012.

The hacker threatened to publish the names of the individuals whose details he had accessed, but was prevented from doing so after the information was recovered by the police following an injunction obtained by BPAS.

He was subsequently given a prison term of 32 months.

David Smith, deputy commissioner and director of data protection at the ICO, said: "Data protection is critical and getting it right requires vigilance.

'Simple message'

"The British Pregnancy Advice Service didn't realise their website was storing this information, didn't realise how long it was being retained for and didn't realise the website wasn't being kept sufficiently secure.

"But ignorance is no excuse.

Continue reading the main story

"Start Quote

We accept that no hacker should have been able to steal our data but are horrified by the scale of the fine"

End Quote Ann Furedi, British Pregnancy Advisory Service

"It is especially unforgivable when the organisation is handing information as sensitive as that held by the BPAS."

Mr Smith added: "Data controllers must take active steps to ensure that the personal data they are responsible for is kept safe.

"There's a simple message here: treat the personal information you are holding with respect. This includes making sure you know just what information you are holding and that it's subject to up-to-date and effective security measures."

BPAS chief executive Ann Furedi said: "We accept that no hacker should have been able to steal our data but are horrified by the scale of the fine, which does not reflect the fact that BPAS was a victim of a serious crime by someone opposed to what we do.

"BPAS is a charity which spends any proceeds on the care of women who need our help and on improving public education and knowledge on contraception, fertility and unplanned pregnancy.

"This fine seems out of proportion when compared with those levelled against other organisations who were not themselves the victims of a crime."

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Facebook's WhatsApp purchase opposed

7 March 2014 Last updated at 14:48 By Kevin Rawlinson BBC News

Facebook's purchase of mobile messaging service WhatsApp has been opposed by privacy groups.

Mark Zuckerberg's firm is planning to buy the company for around £11bn.

Opponents want US regulators to stop the deal until Facebook provides more information on what it plans to do with the personal data of WhatsApp's users.

But Facebook said it will operate as a separate company and honour existing privacy arrangements, which include not collecting user data for advertising.

"WhatsApp built a user-base based on its commitment not to collect user data for advertising revenue," read a complaint filed with the US Federal Trade Commission (FTC). It was drawn up by two non-profit groups, the Electronic Privacy Information Center and the Center for Digital Democracy.

They added: "Users provided detailed personal information to the company including private text to close friends. Facebook routinely makes use of user information for advertising purposes and has made clear that it intends to incorporate the data of WhatsApp users into the user profiling business model.

"The proposed acquisition will therefore violate WhatsApp users' understanding of their exposure to online advertising and constitutes an unfair and deceptive trade practice, subject to investigation by the Federal Trade Commission."

And the groups, which work on research and consumer protection online, asked the regulators to investigate the deal "specifically with regard to the ability of Facebook to access WhatsApp's store of user mobile phone numbers and metadata".

'Insulate'

Facebook, the world's top social network with 1.2 billion users, generates the majority of its revenue by showing ads that target users by age, gender and other traits.

"As we have said repeatedly, WhatsApp will operate as a separate company and will honour its commitments to privacy and security," Facebook said in a statement seen by Reuters.

Facebook announced its intention to buy WhatsApp, which has 450 million users who are able to send instant messages and other media over mobile, with cash and stock.

There is no charge for individual messages, which are sent using wi-fi or data connections, making it cheaper than SMS messaging in many cases. Other users pay around £0.60 per year subscription.

Referring to the business model, Jan Koum wrote on the WhatsApp website: "When people ask us why we charge for WhatsApp, we say, 'Have you considered the alternative?'"

Despite assurances by WhatsApp and Facebook that the privacy policies will not change, the groups noted that Mark Zuckerberg's social networking company has in the past amended an acquired-company's privacy policies.

Notably, it did so with the Instagram photo-sharing service that it bought in 2012.

Regulators must require that Facebook "insulate" WhatsApp user information from access by Facebook's data collection practices, read the complaint, which was dated 6 March 2014.

"WhatsApp users could not reasonably have anticipated that by selecting a pro-privacy messaging service, they would subject their data to Facebook's data collection practices," read the filing.

The FTC will decide whether the acquisition can go ahead and, if so, whether or not conditions should be imposed.

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Samsung launches free music streaming

7 March 2014 Last updated at 21:25

The world's biggest smartphone maker, Samsung, has launched a free music streaming service called Milk Music.

The service, currently only available on its Galaxy range of smartphones in the US, includes over 200 radio stations and 13 million songs.

Music streaming is seen as a key area of growth and many firms have been keen to tap into its potential.

But Samsung is entering a crowded market which has players like Spotify, Pandora and Apple's iTunes Radio.

Some of these streaming services can be used on any mobile device, unlike Samsung's version.

However, the South Korean firm said it was still confident of attracting users.

"We feel that while the music space is very competitive there is room for improvement," said Daren Tsui, vice president of music at Samsung Media Solutions.

Samsung said its new service would be free to download and have no adverts for a "limited time".

The firm has previously ventured into music streaming with a service called Music Hub, which was launched in 2012.

However, that was shut down recently.

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Mobile banking apps hit by glitches

28 February 2014 Last updated at 10:03 ET

The mobile banking apps of several big banks have been affected by glitches.

RBS, Barclays and Santander all acknowledged problems after complaints by their customers.

RBS, which includes NatWest, said the problems with the apps were due to too many people trying to check their accounts to see how much they had been paid by their employers.

All three banks apologised but said their mobile services were now working as normal.

RBS explained via its Twitter feed that "high traffic" had been responsible for the logjam.

"We are currently experiencing record usage of our mobile banking app. Over 5,500 customers are logging on every minute," it explained.

NatWest told customers: "If you're having difficulty with our mobile app, online banking, telephone banking and ATMs are all working normally."

Santander said its mobile banking app had stalled but was now back to normal: "We apologise for any inconvenience caused while we worked as fast possible to fix the problem."

"Customers were still able to transact using Santander telephone banking, Santander branches and online banking during this time."

Barclays says use of its app is gradually returning to normal.

Last December hundred of thousands of RBS customers were left unable to use their credit and debit cards for three hours, with some saying funds had vanished from their account, because of a computer failure.

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MtGox files for bankruptcy

28 February 2014 Last updated at 06:08 ET

The MtGox bitcoin exchange has filed for bankruptcy protection, reports say.

The application was made in Japan by lawyers acting on behalf of the exchange and comes only days after MtGox went offline.

On Tuesday, the exchange's boss said he was working hard to find a "solution to our recent issues".

Before going offline, technical troubles meant it prevented customers transferring digital cash to other exchanges on 7 February.

Details of the bankruptcy are scant but the application for protection has been accepted by a district court in Tokyo, reported AFP. At the court hearing, the company said it had outstanding debts of about 6.5bn yen (£38m).

MtGox's lawyers are believed to have decided to apply to the court for protection after US regulators filed a subpoena against the company.

Reports suggested the site shut down after it discovered that an estimated 744,000 bitcoins - about $350m (£210m) - had been stolen due to a loophole in its security.

MtGox's troubles have put pressure on the price bitcoin owners can get for their holdings. Currently one bitcoin is worth about $561 (£334), a price far lower than the high of $1,000 per coin it hit in November 2013.

Meanwhile, Vietnam has banned its banks from from handling the crypto-currency saying the virtual cash is not legal tender. The country's state bank said trading in bitcoins carried "potential risks" for users.

At the same time, Japan's deputy finance minister said any regulation of bitcoin would have to involve international cooperation to avoid opening up loopholes that traders could exploit.

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Energy firm cyber-defence 'too weak'

26 February 2014 Last updated at 19:26 ET By Mark Ward Technology correspondent, BBC News

Power companies are being refused insurance cover for cyber-attacks because their defences are perceived as weak, the BBC has learned.

Underwriters at Lloyd's of London say they have seen a "huge increase" in demand for cover from energy firms.

But surveyor assessments of the cyber-defences in place concluded that protections were inadequate.

Energy industry veterans said they were "not surprised" the companies were being refused cover.

"In the last year or so we have seen a huge increase in demand from energy and utility companies," said Laila Khudari, an underwriter at the Kiln Syndicate, which offers cover via Lloyd's of London.

The market is one of few places in the world where businesses can come to insure such things as container ships, oil tankers, and large development projects and to secure cash that would help them recover after disasters.

Continue reading the main story

"Start Quote

I think what's behind it is the increase in threats and the fact that a lot of these systems were never previously connected to the outside world"

End Quote Laila Khudari Underwriter

'Worried'

For years, said Ms Khudari, Kiln and many other syndicates had offered cover for data breaches, to help companies recover if attackers penetrated networks and stole customer information.

Now, she said, the same firms were seeking multi-million pound policies to help them rebuild if their computers and power-generation networks were damaged in a cyber-attack.

"They are all worried about their reliance on computer systems and how they can offset that with insurance," she said.

Any company that applies for cover has to let experts employed by Kiln and other underwriters look over their systems to see if they are doing enough to keep intruders out.

Assessors look at the steps firms take to keep attackers away, how they ensure software is kept up to date and how they oversee networks of hardware that can span regions or entire countries.

Unfortunately, said Ms Khudari, after such checks were carried out, the majority of applicants were turned away because their cyber-defences were lacking.

"We would not want insurance to be a substitute for security," she said.

What was not clear, she said, was why firms were suddenly seeking cover in large numbers.

Although many governments had sent warnings about the threat from hackers, attackers and hacktivists to utility firms and other organisations running critical infrastructure, none had mandated them to get cover.

"I think what's behind it is the increase in threats and the fact that a lot of these systems were never previously connected to the outside world," she said.

Mike Assante, who helped develop cyber-security standards for US utilities and now helps to teach IT staff how to defend critical infrastructure including power networks, said it was "unfortunately not surprising" that insurers were turning away energy firms.

Power generators and distributors had struggled with the complexity and size of the networks they managed, he said. In addition they had found it hard to find and recruit staff with the specialist skills to defend these systems, he added.

"There have been a number of incidents that have caused company leadership to re-evaluate their risk and develop strategies to mitigate it," he said in an email to the BBC.

Growing threat

Financial pressures and the ability to manage systems remotely was inadvertently giving attackers a loophole they could slip through, said Nathan McNeill, chief strategy officer at remote management firm Bomgar.

Trying to cut costs by linking up plant and machinery to a control centre so they could be managed remotely meant those systems were effectively exposed to the net, he said.

"If something has basic connectivity then it will become internet connectivity through some channel," he said.

This left critical infrastructure exposed, he said, because typically the control systems for such hardware was written long before the web age and had only rudimentary security tools.

Continue reading the main story

"Start Quote

It's surprising no big incident has happened given how weak the infrastructure is"

End Quote Ed Skoudis 'War games' expert

Known as Scada (Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition), this software has come under increasing scrutiny by security researchers who have exposed many flaws in it.

In addition, added Mr McNeill, it was often very difficult to update the core code in many Scada systems to close loopholes that attackers had slipped through.

Ed Skoudis, who runs "war games" for IT and security staff at many US utilities, said the numbers of attacks on Scada and other control systems was escalating.

Malware was being written just to get at particular vulnerable elements in the infrastructure run by many utilities and manufacturers, he said.

Some attackers were just curious but others were thought to be carrying out reconnaissance in service of some future event.

US power companies had begun sharing information about attacks so everyone knew about all the threats to them, said Mr Skoudis.

"However," he added, "it's surprising no big incident has happened given how weak the infrastructure is. It's very hackable."

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App developers to harness AI

27 February 2014 Last updated at 07:51 ET

IBM has challenged developers to come up with ways to get the vast brain of its supercomputer Watson on to the world's mobile phones.

Watson is an artificially intelligent computer system capable of answering questions posed in natural language.

It also has access to 200 million pages of information, drawn from books, encyclopaedias and other databases.

Apps could include more advanced Siri-like voice recognition systems or tools that can accurately translate text.

"The power of Watson in the palm of your hand is a game-changing proposition, so we're calling on mobile developers around the world to start building cognitive computing apps infused with Watson's intelligence," said Mike Rhodin, senior vice president of IBM Watson Group.

Medical help

The competition is the latest attempt from IBM to launch Watson as a viable business. It has invested $1bn (£601m) in the system and late last year announced that it would open it up to developers.

To date, more than 1,500 individuals and organisations have been in touch to suggest apps. Three intend to go to market this year, including an app to transform how consumers shop and one to help hospitals better procure devices.

The Watson Mobile Developer Challenge begins on 31 March when developers can submit ideas. Later in the year, IBM will select 25 finalists to turn their ideas into working software.

Other potential Watson-powered mobile apps could include medical ones to help doctors and patients sift through vast amounts of data.

Medical information doubles every five years and Watson can analyse vast amounts to allow doctors to offer patients more treatment options as well as help researchers make medical breakthroughs.

Already Watson is being used by doctors and nurses at the Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, in New York, to help make decisions about lung cancer treatment at the hospital.

According to IBM Watson's business chief Manoj Saxena, 90% of nurses who use Watson now follow its guidance.

In the field of education, IBM envisages teachers being able to tap into Watson to identify individual pupil's needs and offer bespoke learning packages for each child.

Trivia king

Watson has got smaller and faster over the years. What started as a system the size of a bedroom is now the size of three stacked pizza boxes. It is also available via the cloud, meaning it can be accessed from anywhere.

It can process 500 gigabytes of information - equivalent to a million books - every second.

And it has proved its abilities. In 2011 it appeared on the Jeopardy game show answering general knowledge questions, without being connected to the internet.

Pitted against the two biggest winners of the trivia quiz show, despite a few stumbles it eventually walked away with the $1m prize.

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UK spies 'intercepted webcam images'

27 February 2014 Last updated at 10:27 ET

British spy agency GCHQ intercepted webcam images from millions of Yahoo users around the world, according to a report in the Guardian.

Yahoo denied prior knowledge of the alleged programme, describing it as a "completely unacceptable" privacy violation.

According to leaked documents, sexually explicit images were among those gathered - although not intentionally.

In a statement GCHQ has said all of its actions are in accordance with the law.

The operation, which was called Optic Nerve and was aided by the US National Security Agency, is alleged to have stored images between 2008 and 2010. In one six-month period in 2008, images from 1.8m users were gathered.

The report originated from documents leaked by whistleblower Edward Snowden.

It suggested that sexually explicit content would be captured by the system.

"Unfortunately … it would appear that a surprising number of people use webcam conversations to show intimate parts of their body to the other person," it read.

"Also, the fact that the Yahoo software allows more than one person to view a webcam stream without necessarily sending a reciprocal stream means that it appears sometimes to be used for broadcasting pornography."

'Whole new level'

"We were not aware of nor would we condone this reported activity," Yahoo said in an emailed statement.

"This report, if true, represents a whole new level of violation of our users' privacy that is completely unacceptable and we strongly call on the world's governments to reform surveillance law consistent with the principles we outlined in December.

"We are committed to preserving our users' trust and security and continue our efforts to expand encryption across all of our services."

A statement from GCHQ said it would not comment on matters of intelligence, but added: "All of GCHQ's work is carried out in accordance with a strict legal and policy framework which ensures that our activities are authorised, necessary and proportionate, and that there is rigorous oversight, including from the secretary of state, the interception and intelligence services commissioners and the Parliamentary Intelligence and Security Committee.

"All our operational processes rigorously support this position."

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Virgin Media rolls out porn filters

28 February 2014 Last updated at 07:10 ET

Virgin Media has turned on a filtering system to help parents stop children seeing inappropriate material online.

The firm is the last of the UK's big four ISPs to turn on the government-mandated filtering system.

Initially only new subscribers will be asked whether they want the filters turned on or off.

Like other ISPs, Virgin has pledged to ask all its customers by the end of the year whether they want to use a filtering system or not.

All the UK's big four ISPs, who between them have more than 20 million subscribers, agreed to implement the filters following government pressure to limit children's access to adult material.

Virgin's system works at a network level which means all devices in a house which connect via its router will be subject to the same filtering system.

Called "Web Safe" the system currently blocks all access to sites featuring pornography, drug use, hate speech, violence, self-harm and suicide. Virgin is still working on a more flexible system that will let customers exercise more choice over which sites customers can and cannot reach.

Virgin has also produced a series of guides for parents, called Switched On Families, to help them set up and administer the filtering system.

Web Safe will work alongside software from security firm F-Secure that can be installed on laptops, tablets and smartphones to protect users when they are away from home.

The government's plan to get all big UK ISPs using filters has proved controversial as studies suggest the filters are not very effective. Some educational and charity sites that try to inform children about sensitive subjects have been blocked while other clearly adult-oriented sites are not filtered out.

The government is setting up a scheme to sites alert ISPs when they are wrongly blocked.

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US hack accused 'should stay in UK'

28 February 2014 Last updated at 07:40 ET

Lawyers for a British man charged with hacking into US government computer servers say they will "vehemently oppose" any attempt to extradite him.

Lauri Love, 28, of Stradishall, Suffolk, is accused of breaking into Federal Reserve computers.

The indictment was revealed at Manhattan federal court on Thursday.

His solicitor Karen Todner, said he was also under investigation by the UK National Crime Agency and it was hoped all matters be concluded in the UK.

'Sophisticated hacker'

"If there is an extradition request from the United States it will be vehemently opposed," she said.

"We believe that if Mr Love is to face charges that they should be, and will be, in the UK."

Continue reading the main story

Cyber-crime knows no boundaries and justice will not stop at international borders"

End Quote George Venizelos Head of New York office of FBI

The offences he is accused of carry a potential penalty of up to 12 years in prison, the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) said.

US attorney Preet Bharara alleged Mr Love was "a sophisticated hacker who broke into Federal Reserve computers, stole sensitive personal information, and made it widely available, leaving people vulnerable to malicious use of that information".

It is claimed the offences date from October 2012 to February 2013, when Mr Love allegedly tried to secretly infiltrate the New York Federal Reserve Bank's computer servers in order to steal non-public information and then post that information on certain websites.

He allegedly worked with "other hackers around the world to gain access".

'Millions in losses'

According to the indictment, in October 1012: "Mr Love used his unauthorised access to locate and steal certain confidential information residing on the Federal Reserve servers, including the names, email addresses, and phone numbers of users of the Federal Reserve computer system.

"Mr Love then disseminated that information publicly by posting the information to a website that previously had been hacked and that he controlled."

George Venizelos, head of the New York office of the FBI, said: "Cyber-crime knows no boundaries and justice will not stop at international borders."

Mr Love is accused of breaching the systems to steal "massive quantities" of confidential data, resulting in millions of dollars of losses.

He was arrested by officers from the UK's National Crime Agency (NCA) under the Computer Misuse Act (CMA), in October last year, and later charged by US authorities in New Jersey.

Under the CMA, individuals can be arrested for launching attacks from within the UK against computers anywhere in the world.

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Delay BT broadband cash bid - MPs

28 February 2014 Last updated at 09:12 ET By Jane Wakefield Technology reporter

BT should be given no more taxpayers' money to roll out rural broadband until it clarifies how it is spending the £1.2bn already paid to it, the Commons Public Accounts Committee has said.

Government audits of how much the telecoms firm charged councils for project management have revealed possible savings of up to 35%.

BT has so far won all the UK's rural broadband contracts.

The firm said any savings would go on extending coverage.

"Yes, it's true that BT has been able to save the taxpayer some project management costs," the telecoms firm told the BBC.

"Under the original competitive process we were required to bid for each contract individually, with the assumption that we wouldn't win any others. That hasn't proven to be the case however and so we are more than happy to pass on the savings we can achieve through economies of scale."

In response to the news, the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) told the BBC that BT should not yet be allowed to bid for the next round of broadband funding - a pot of £250m which the government has this week distributed to councils to get fast broadband to their most hard-to-reach communities.

"It appears with this £250m that local bodies can simply decide to extend contracts with BT where they are in place. This is just not good enough," a PAC spokeswoman told the BBC.

"We want to see clearly what the economies-of-scale savings for the first tranche of £1.2bn will be before contracts are extended or competed."

But the Department for Culture, Media and Sport told the BBC it would not be intervening in the process.

"Procurement will be a local decision - we're not dictating who the supplier should be," it said.

Long delays

The tale of how fast broadband - defined by the EU as speeds of 24Mbps or above - is getting out to the most rural communities in Britain - has not always been a happy one.

Many such communities are still struggling on very low broadband speeds and have become increasingly frustrated about how long it has taken to rectify that in an age when reliable broadband speeds have become a near necessity for many.

The government has pledged that 95% of the UK will have superfast broadband by 2017, a figure some experts have questioned.

The process to make that happen has also come in for a great deal of criticism.

Initially there were long delays in distributing the money and, when councils did eventually receive their share of the central government subsidy, it was unclear how they should spend it.

With little technical expertise within councils and few bidders - Fujitsu and a handful of other operators having pulled out of the process at an early stage - all eventually chose BT to handle the rollouts. Councils added their own funding to the amount already offered by central government.

Quasi-monopoly

In the autumn, the PAC scrutinised the process and concluded that taxpayers had been "ripped off" and the government had "mismanaged" the project by allowing BT to win all the council bids.

The PAC also said that BT had exploited its "quasi-monopoly position" in the way it bid for the contracts.

Since then it seems that the DCMS and BDUK - the group charged with overseeing the rollout - have been keeping a close eye on how BT spends the money.

DCMS has told councils that they must get detailed lists from BT, explaining exactly how many people will be deployed to project-manage broadband rollout.

BT will only be able to invoice local councils for these staff.

"This process has led to the cost savings being identified in relation to the project management costs in the bids," a DCMS spokesman told the BBC.

According to a senior civil servant, this part of BT's current bill could be reduced by up to 35%.

BT promised any savings would be reinvested into making rural broadband even more widely available.

It said it will take 15 years for it to make a profit on rural broadband rollout.

It also insists it has been fully transparent about its costs, submitting detailed breakdowns to BDUK.

Despite this it was unable to tell the BBC what proportion of the £1.2bn it has won would go on project management and how much would be spent on laying and installing fibre in telephone cabinets.

The amount it is charging councils for installing fibre in their network of telephone cabinets has also been questioned.

In September Mike Kiely, a former senior manager at BT, said that there was "no justification" for the amount BT was suggesting it would need to bring broadband to rural communities.

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