Thursday 31 March 2016

VIDEO: Hands on with the Microsoft Hololens

Dave Lee examines the potential of Microsoft's Hololens augmented reality technology

VIDEO: Six things in the office of the future?

BBC News looks at a mixture of current and emerging technologies that may define our office work in the near future.

The danger with streaming and driving

A police officer is running an unofficial social media campaign to stop people streaming and driving.

'The bots are coming' - Microsoft

Microsoft unveils a new system of bots which can represent businesses and interact with users via apps such as Skype.

Will tomorrow's office be friend or foe?

Buildings, like homes, are getting smarter - but what does that actually mean and who are they best serving?

EE top in mobile internet speed test

Mobile network EE had the fastest internet speed in a test of four major operators conducted by the telecoms watchdog Ofcom.

Cyber criminals 'hacked law firms'

Cyber criminals have been targeting major law firms in what may be an attempt to gather information for insider trading deals, according to reports.

FBI agrees to unlock another iPhone

The FBI offers to unlock another iPhone for police after revealing it could access the handset used by San Bernardino killer Syed Farook.

Wednesday 30 March 2016

VIDEO: Race to save Japan's lost satellite

Scientists and engineers in Japan are scrambling to save a satellite and more than a quarter of a billion dollars of investment tumbling out of control in space.

Three electric car recalls in a month

Volkswagen calls back its e-Golf cars because of a stalling problem - Nissan and Renault have also recently recalled electric cars.

Foxconn finalises Sharp takeover

Taiwanese manufacturer Foxconn says it has agreed a deal to take over struggling Japanese electronics company Sharp.

Pele sues Samsung for $30m over image

Brazilian football legend Pele is suing South Korean electronics giant Samsung, after claiming the firm improperly used a lookalike in an advertisement.

Nest chief attacked by Dropcam founder

The chief of Nest - the Google-owned smart home tech division - is attacked in a scathing blog by the founder of a start-up it acquired.

Amazon US bans rogue USB-C cables

Amazon updates its own rules regarding the sale of USB-C cables in the US, saying only fully compliant products will be stocked on the site.

Complaints about Vodafone rocket in UK

Vodafone blames an IT glitch for a jump in the number of mobile phone customer complaints in the UK.

Sex worker spied by drone pleads guilty

A woman in Oklahoma pleads guilty to a lewdness charge after being caught on camera by a local "drone vigilante".

Tuesday 29 March 2016

From fine wine to lotteries: Blockchain tech takes off

How blockchain tech is spreading its wings

VIDEO: Refugee inventor builds electric bike

How a disabled Syrian refugee invented an electric bike to help him get around

Orkney seals to receive 'smartphones'

Orkney Seals are to receive mobile smartphone technology as part of a study into population decline.

Samsung Pay launches in China

Samsung officially launches its mobile wallet service in China, as competition in the world's largest smartphone market heats up.

Backlash grows against Instagram change

Proposed changes to how Instagram orders its content spark a rash of 'turn on notification' posts, but the app says there is no reason to panic.

Can Micro Bit match BBC Micro success?

The BBC Micro has become an iconic piece of kit so, as the corporation launches Micro Bit, can it replicate its success?

Monday 28 March 2016

Will smart meters be worth the money?

Will smart energy meters be worth the money?

Japan's NTT to buy Dell unit for $3bn

Japan's NTT Data is buying Dell's technology services business for more than $3bn (£2.1bn) in an attempt to further expand its business in North America.

Oculus founder delivers first headset

Palmer Luckey, the founder of VR firm Oculus, has personally delivered one of the firm's consumer headsets to a customer.

Sunday 27 March 2016

Microsoft received more than 500 requests to take down revenge porn

Last year, Microsoft said that it would help combat so-called revenge porn by allowing people to request that it take down naked photos of them that were posted without their permission. On Friday, it released the first numbers showing how many requests it has received.

During the last six months of 2015, Microsoft received 537 requests to take down content through a submission form dedicated to revenge porn. The company granted 63 percent of those requests, de-listing content from its Bing search engine and removing it outright from OneDrive and Xbox Live. 

"In cases where we have not yet accepted a request, it is usually either because we have asked for more information to be able to make a determination on the request, or because the content in question does not contain nudity, identify the victim in the image, or otherwise meet generally accepted definitions of 'revenge porn,'" Microsoft said in a blog post.

To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Tech eases Syrian refugees' trauma

Electric bikes and 3D-printed prosthetics for Syrian refugees

US man arrested over old video rental

A North Carolina man is arrested after he failed to return a movie he rented 14 years ago.

Raspberry Pi makes DIY Amazon assistant

Amazon releases an online guide explaining how to access its virtual assistant Alexa via a Raspberry Pi.

5 things to remember during Tuesday's hearing pitting Apple against the FBI

Apple and the U.S. Department of Justice will argue in court Tuesday about whether a judge should require the tech giant help the FBI unlock an iPhone used by the San Bernardino, California, mass shooter.

The hearing, before Magistrate Judge Sher Pym of U.S. District Court for the Central District of California, is the end result of weeks of court filings, media coverage, and often contentious debate. The case has pitted advocates of encryption and other security measures on electronic devices against law enforcement agencies trying to fight crime and terrorism.

Here are five things to remember about the hearing, scheduled to begin at 1 p.m. PDT in California.

To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

10 years of Twitter: The tweets that changed lives

The tweets that changed people's lives

VIDEO: The first tweets from around the world

As Twitter marks its 10th birthday we take a look at some of the first tweets sent from around the world.

Friday 25 March 2016

France fines Google for not being forgetful enough

The French data protection authority has fined Google for failing to implement the so-called right to be forgotten as ordered.

Last year, the French National Commission on Computing and Liberty (CNIL) decided that requests to have personal information delisted from search results should apply to all Google properties, not just those in European domains.

Google had been removing results from searches performed on domains including google.co.uk and google.fr, but not from its main site, google.com, even though it is accessible from within the EU.

The CNIL could have fined Google up to €300,000 (US$336,000) for failing to comply with its ruling, but in the end ordered the company to pay just €100,000.

To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Verizon's breach experts missed one right under their noses

Verizon Enterprise, a bulwark against cyberattacks at many large organizations, has suffered a security breach itself.

A flaw in the company's systems allowed an attacker to steal contact information on Verizon Enterprise customers, the company acknowledged Thursday. Verizon said it has fixed the flaw and is notifying those users, but it hasn't disclosed how many were affected. 

The intruder couldn't get to any customer proprietary network information, Verizon said, referring to data such as call records and billing information.

The breach came to light Thursday in a post on the blog Krebs on Security. Krebs reported the hacker stole contact information for about 1.5 million Verizon Enterprise customers and offered it for sale for US$100,000 on a cybercrime forum. Because the data was offered for sale in the MongoDB format, among others it's likely the attacker forced a MongoDB database at Verizon to dump its contents, the blog said.

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VIDEO: Hydrogen-powered drone takes flight

BBC Click's Jen Copestake is given exclusive access to a drone powered by hydrogen fuel cells.

Netflix lowers quality to some networks

Netflix acknowledges that it restricts the quality of its video streams when it sends them over some mobile data networks.

Apple tackles iOS update glitch

iPhone and iPad owners locked out of their devices because of a problem with Apple's latest mobile operating system are offered a solution.

Tim Cook: Apple 'will not shrink' from responsibility to protect customer privacy

On Monday, Apple chief executive Tim Cook positioned his company’s stance on protecting privacy as a patriotic duty.

Cook addressed the ongoing iPhone privacy issue briefly as part of a presentation where Apple is expected to announce an new iPad Pro mini as well as a smaller iPhone.

“We built the iPhone for you, our customers,” Cook said. “We know that it is a deeply personal device,” Cook said. “For many of us, the iPhone is an extension of ourselves. About a month ago, we asked Americans across the country to join in a conversation. We need to decide as a nation how much power the government should have over our data and over our privacy.”

To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Apple unveils smaller iPhone and iPad

Apple has announced a smaller version of the iPhone and iPad Pro at an event hosted in San Fransisco and streamed online.

Thursday 24 March 2016

Internet providers have built huge data systems to track every move you make online

Web users face an even greater threat to their privacy as large ISPs align themselves more closely with data brokers to track their customers, an advocacy group said.

Several large ISPs have either formed partnerships with, or acquired, data tracking and analytics firms in recent years, giving them a "vast storehouse of consumer data," according to a report Wednesday from the Center for Digital Democracy.

"ISPs have been on a shopping spree to help build their data-targeting system across devices and platforms," the report says. "Superfast computers analyze our information ... to decide in milliseconds whether to target us for marketing and more."

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Privacy.com's virtual Visas are burner debit cards that keep online shoppers safe

Slinging your credit card information all over the web may be the norm when you’re online shopping, but playing fast and loose with those precious numbers is just begging for identity theft to happen. A new company dubbed Privacy.com thinks it has a solution to the problem. Instead of handing out your actual debit and credit card numbers, Privacy.com lets you create “virtual” debit cards that are locked for use with a single vendor, or “burner” cards that are valid only for one-time use.

If no one has your actual credit card, the thinking goes, then your credentials are safe from the next major database breach—or the one after that.

To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

VIDEO: AI-powered deer rampages through GTA V

A computer-controlled deer is causing chaos in a modded version of the violent game Grand Theft Auto V.

Sony closes UK's Evolution Studios

Sony closes the UK studio behind the video game Driveclub just three weeks after Microsoft announced plans to shut another UK developer.

Crowd-funded battery pack sparks anger

Would you run for 13 hours to charge your phone?

Google to expand Android Pay to UK

Google says that its Android Pay digital wallet facility will be expanded from the US to the UK within "the next few months".

Apple: FBI's surprise postponement of court hearing is a 'bolt from the blue'

No more than 18 hours before a scheduled court hearing, the FBI is now saying it doesn’t need any help from Apple to get into San Bernardino shooter Syed Rizwan Farook’s iPhone 5c. So, as of Monday night, the hearing has been called off, and the February 16 court order that started Apple’s battle with the FBI has been stayed.

Wait, what?

“On Sunday, March 20, 2016, an outside party demonstrated to the FBI a possible method for unlocking Farook’s iPhone,” the Department of Justice wrote in a Monday afternoon court filing. “Testing is required to determine whether it is a viable method that will not compromise data on Farook’s iPhone. If the method is viable, it should eliminate the need for the assistance from Apple set forth in the All Writs Act Order in this case.”

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YouTube channel 'shocked' by jail term

A member of YouTube channel Trollstation was sentenced to nine months in prison for staging pranks in London

FBI 'may be able to unlock iPhone'

The FBI says it may have found a way to unlock the San Bernardino attacker's iPhone without Apple's assistance.

Can the Micro Bit inspire a million?

The BBC launches the Micro Bit computer by giving a copy to thousands of Year 7 pupils - but is it too late to inspire a fresh generation of coders?

Powa: The start-up that fell to earth

A British start-up that once boasted of having "trumped" Apple runs out of cash after hiring strippers and paying for premium office space.

Wednesday 23 March 2016

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Tuesday 22 March 2016

US will still push for encryption workarounds, even though iPhone hearing was postponed

Don't expect the U.S. government to back off its push for technology vendors to build encryption workarounds into their products, even though the FBI acknowledged it may have a way to crack into an iPhone used in the San Bernardino, California, mass shooting case.

Some lawmakers and President Barack Obama's administration will continue to look for ways to compel tech vendors to help law enforcement agencies defeat encryption and other security controls on smartphones and other devices, security and legal experts said.

Even if the FBI can break into the iPhone used by San Bernardino mass shooter Syed Rizwan Farook, it doesn't significantly change the larger discussion about encryption, said Ed Black, president and CEO of trade group the Computer and Communications Industry Association. "There is an ongoing effort by our government and every government around the world ... to want more information."

To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

VIDEO: Micro Bit sent into the stratosphere

School children from Yorkshire send a Micro Bit into the stratosphere and use the computer to track its altitude and velocity.

VIDEO: The Vamps hand out Micro Bit computers

Pop rock group The Vamps help launch the Micro Bit mini-computer by handing them out to pupils in London.

VIDEO: Andy Grove: We were afraid of sinking

Intel's former chief Andrew Grove dies aged 79 - he was one of Silicon Valley's most influential management gurus and spoke to the BBC about his work in 1982.

Africa's top Twitter moments of the past decade

Some of Twitter's most significant moments of the last decade - from revolution to revelling - have been felt in Africa, writes the BBC's Clare Spencer.

Former Intel chief Andrew Grove dies

Andrew Grove, one of the architects of semiconductor giant Intel's success, dies aged 79.

Facebook drops support for Blackberry

Blackberry said it is "extremely disappointed" with Facebook's decision to discontinue support for the device's app.

Apple's FBI row is only just beginning

The sudden postponement of a court hearing between Apple and the FBI paves the way for an even more bitter dispute.

Tuesday's Apple vs. FBI hearing: 5 things you need to know

Apple and the U.S. Department of Justice will argue in court Tuesday about whether a judge should require the tech giant help the FBI unlock an iPhone used by the San Bernardino, California, mass shooter.

The hearing, before Magistrate Judge Sher Pym of U.S. District Court for the Central District of California, is the end result of weeks of court filings, media coverage, and often contentious debate. The case has pitted advocates of encryption and other security measures on electronic devices against law enforcement agencies trying to fight crime and terrorism.

Here are five things to remember about the hearing, scheduled to begin at 1 p.m. PDT in California.

To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

The tech driving down car insurance fraud

The tech tackling motor insurance fraud

Seven outstanding Micro Bit projects

Seven stand-out projects using BBC's mini-computer

FBI says it may have found a way to unlock shooter's iPhone

The FBI says it may have discovered a way to break into the iPhone used by one of the San Bernardino mass shooters, and the agency has asked a judge to postpone a court hearing in the matter that was scheduled for Tuesday.

“On Sunday, March 20, 2016, an outside party demonstrated to the FBI a possible method for unlocking Farook’s iPhone,” lawyers for the government said in a court filing Monday afternoon, referring to the shooter Syed Farook.

“Testing is required to determine whether it is a viable method that will not compromise data on Farook’s iPhone. If the method is viable, it should eliminate the need for the assistance from Apple set forth in the All Writs Act Order in this case,” the government lawyers wrote.

To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

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Monday 21 March 2016

Tim Cook comments on iPhone data privacy and security

A day before Apple lawyers will meet the FBI in court in Southern California, Tim Cook pledges to upload the privacy of users

How FBI vs. Apple could cripple corporate and government security

As the rhetoric and legal wranglings of the FBI and Department of Justice fight against Apple’s encryption continue to escalate, it’s only natural that much of the debate centers on personal privacy and the symbiotic role our phones now play in our lives.. Even President Obama himself, siding with the FBI at the South by Southwest conference, stated, “You can’t take an absolutist stance on this. It’s fetishizing our phones above every other value, and that can’t be the right answer.”

To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Everything you need to know about the iMessage security flaw patched by iOS 9.3

iMessage has flaws in how it protects messages, researchers at Johns Hopkins University explain in a paper being released today, which can lead to effective, offline decryption of intercepted messages. The researchers disclosed their work to Apple in November, and today’s release of iOS 9.3 and OS X 10.11.4 remove some exploits and make others dramatically harder to take advantage of.

A story by the Washington Post appeared early, leading to inadvertent disclosure ahead of time. The story was quickly pulled but later re-published after that become clear. We agreed with the researchers to withhold some details from the paper ahead of Apple’s patches.

To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

VIDEO: Martha Lane Fox: Don't trust your 'gut'

Digital pioneer Martha Lane Fox offers the business advice she wishes she had been given when she started out, for the BBC News series, CEO Secrets.

VIDEO: Twitter birthday: Six major fails

Politicians are fond of using Twitter to build their public image, but things do not always go according to plan.

The Indian actress who hit back after being Photoshopped into porn

Fed up with seeing the faces of actresses Photoshopped onto other people's naked bodies, an Indian film star hit back on Facebook.

Briton acquitted in Dubai over tweet

Briton David Haigh, the former managing director of Leeds United, is acquitted in Dubai over charges relating to a tweet.

Twitter's role in modern warfare

Many Twitter users are unaware of the battle for hearts and minds being waged around them by both countries and militant groups.

Kindle owners urged to update software

Owners of older Kindles are told to update their devices immediately or risk losing their internet connection.

Xbox apologises for go-go dancer party

The firm hosted the party for games developers at a conference in San Francisco

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Sunday 20 March 2016

Fury after Twitch gamer account switch

Gaming fans have reacted with anger after divorce led to a popular Twitch gaming channel changing hands.

Minecraft to host AI experiments

Microsoft invites artificial intelligence developers to test their creations within Minecraft's virtual landscapes.

Human scores first win over AlphaGo

Go master Lee Se-dol wins a game against Google's AlphaGo program, after losing three in a row in a best-of-five competition

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Saturday 19 March 2016

Apple sees weakness in FBI hearing request

A last-minute request by the FBI to call witnesses to next week’s court hearing in the San Bernardino iPhone case indicates the agency might feel some weakness in its legal arguments, Apple says.

On Wednesday evening, the FBI asked for an evidentiary hearing, which means the court will hear live testimony from expert witnesses from both sides. Apple agreed to the FBI’s request on Thursday.

Speaking on Friday with reporters, lawyers for Apple said the FBI’s request was a surprise, and they don’t understand why the government wants to present witnesses to the court.

If lawyers believe they have a strong legal case, they typically want to get up and argue it without bothering with witnesses in these types of hearings, so the request perhaps indicates the FBI isn’t as comfortable as it was in relying solely on legal arguments, an Apple lawyer said.

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Would you let a robot invest your hard-earned cash?

Would you let a machine invest your money?

Apple stores iCloud data with Google

Apple signs a deal to store iCloud data with Google on top of existing deals with Amazon and Microsoft.

Michael Kors joins smartwatch scrum

Michael Kors unveils its first smartwatches, joining Samsung, Tissot and Nixon, which also have new models at the Baselworld trade show.

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Friday 18 March 2016

Apple engineers could walk away from FBI’s iPhone demands

Should the FBI prevail in getting Apple to offer a backdoor for an encrypted iPhone, the agency may have trouble getting anyone to build it.

At least that’s the word from several current and former Apple employees—including security engineers—who spoke anonymously to the New York Times. Some said they’re refuse to do the work, or quit their jobs if necessary, rather than create what they believe is a major security compromise for all users.

Apple is currently appealing a U.S. District Court order to build a separate version of iOS that would allow the FBI to unlock one particular iPhone 5c. The FBI wants access to the phone of Syed Rizwan Farook, one of the shooters responsible for killing 14 people and injuring 22 others in San Bernadino last December. With iOS 8 and higher, unsuccessfully guessing the phone’s password too many times automatically erases the phone’s data, so the FBI wants Apple to load a separate version that allows unlimited brute force password attempts.

To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Life after the fall of a mobile phone giant

Life after the fall of a mobile phone giant

VIDEO: The drone that can climb walls

BBC Click's Nick Kwek looks at some of the best of the week's technology news

Chinese criticise Zuckerberg's smog jog

Chinese Facebook users are criticising Mark Zuckerberg for posting a photo of himself running through Beijing without a face mask.

'Action needed' on fire-risk dryers

More action is needed to recall Whirlpool's fire-risk tumble dryers before someone dies, according to a leading Trading Standards officer.

Tech Tent: VR, AI and eSports

Tech Tent looks at two visions of the future of gaming, and we ask whether we should be worried or excited by the latest advances in artificial intelligence.

Bank to work with new security body

The first task of Britain's new cybersecurity centre will be to work with the Bank of England, the government has announced.

Free Xbox Gold upsets Chinese gamers

Microsoft has announced that it will continue to offer its Gold Xbox Live service for free in China - but the content remains limited

FBI warns on risks of car hacking

The FBI issues a public bulletin laying out the risks of car hacking and suggests ways the public can protect their vehicles.

Thursday 17 March 2016

Tim Cook to Time: 'I feel like I'm in this bad dream'

Tim Cook gave a long interview to Time magazine about Apple’s fight with the FBI over its refusal to create “GovtOS,” a more crackable version of iOS to side-load onto the seized iPhone 5c used by San Bernardino shooter Syed Rizwan Farook. The edited version is here, and Time also published the full transcript.

If you’ve been following the case—if you read about the Congressional hearing, or watched Tim Cook’s interview with ABC News, or even John Oliver’s entertaining explainer on Last Week Tonight, there isn’t much new information here. The article recaps the timeline of the case while patiently listing all of Apple’s legal arguments and justifications. Still, it’s a solid recap and an entertaining read—these are the tidbits that made us smile.

To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Japan gets first Nintendo mobile game

Nintendo releases its highly-anticipated debut smartphone game, Miitomo, in Japan.

Fashion firm rebuked over Instagram ads

Fashion firm Lord & Taylor is rebuked for paying Instagram influencers to wear one of its dresses without revealing the endorsements were adverts.

Nike's self-lacers limited to app users

Nike unveils a range of self-lacing shoes that will go on sale this year, but says only users of its fitness tracking app can buy them.

Man charged with Celebgate hacks

A US man is charged with hacking the Apple iCloud and Gmail accounts of celebrities and stealing nude photos and videos from them.

The fitness apps giving gyms a class in flexibility

The apps that make it easier to get to the gym

Wednesday 16 March 2016

A scheme in India to help the poor raises privacy concerns

India’s legislators are on Wednesday debating a law that would allow the government to collect biometric and demographic information from people in return for distributing to them government benefits and subsidies.

A number of legislators and civil rights activists are concerned about the absence of strong privacy safeguards in the legislation and a provision in the law that allows the government to access the data collected for national security reasons. There is also concern that such a large centralized database of personal information could be hacked and critical information leaked.

Biometric information, once leaked cannot be 'revoked,' and identity fraud may in fact become harder to detect if Aadhaar is used for authentication of transactions, said Pranesh Prakash, policy director at the Centre for Internet and Society in Bangalore, in an email.

To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Apple's latest legal filing: 'The Founders would be appalled'

Apple managed to keep its cool on Tuesday when replying to the government’s last, rather incendiary, briefing. In its reply to Judge Pym, Apple laid out its legal arguments for refusing to comply with the FBI’s request for assistance in breaking into the iPhone 5c of San Bernardino shooter Syed Rizwan Farook.

Apple also vigorously defended itself against the government’s claims that the company made iOS more secure in a deliberate attempt to thwart law enforcement, or as a marketing decision, even submitting supplemental declarations from Craig Federighi and a senior director of worldwide advertising. It’ll be interesting to see what issues are emphasized at the hearing, because right now it doesn’t seem like Apple and the Department of Justice see eye to eye on, well, pretty much anything.

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Islamic art inspires switchable material

A new selection of stretchy but switchable 'metamaterials' is created based on intricate, repeating motifs found in Islamic art.

Apple: 'US Founders would be appalled'

Apple calls the US government's request to help it unlock an iPhone a "stretch" of the law and says the US Founders would be "appalled".

BBC, MSN hit by malicious ad attack

Several large websites have been hit by an attack that makes them display malicious adverts that could see visitors infected with ransomware.

Drone risks to aircraft 'minimal'

The risk of a small, consumer drone significantly damaging an aircraft is 'minimal', suggests a study.

Driverless lorries get UK trials

Driverless lorries will be trialled in the UK, the government confirms in its Budget.

VIDEO: The AI that tweets like Donald Trump

DeepDrumpf is an artificial intelligence algorithm designed to tweet like Donald Trump

VIDEO: PlayStation VR headset undercuts rivals

Sony reveals its forthcoming virtual reality headset will be significantly less expensive that Facebook and HTC's rival kit.

Google urges self-drive rules shake-up

Google and other tech firms tell US lawmakers that individual states should be prevented from creating a patchwork of self-driving car laws.

Could hackers turn the lights out?

Attacks on power stations in Ukraine show that hackers can hit a nation's infrastructure. But how real is the threat?

PlayStation VR price announcement

Sony prices its PlayStation VR headset at $399 (£282) making it substantially cheaper than rival virtual reality kit from Facebook and HTC.

Tuesday 15 March 2016

VIDEO: Tiny robot ants pull car with teamwork

A team of tiny robot ants pull a car that is thousands of times their weight as part of an experiment at Stanford University.

Backpack pigeons monitor air quality

A technology company releases six pigeons wearing sensors to monitor pollution in London.

Bangladesh bank boss quits over fraud

The head of Bangladesh's central bank resigns after cyber-thieves stole more than $100m from the country's foreign currency reserves.

Google loses Android appeal in Russia

Google fails to overturn a Russian ruling that said it broke competition laws by bundling several of its Android services together.

Chinese hackers turn to ransomware

Chinese hackers are using malware that hijacks computers and demands payment to unlock them, security experts say.

Xbox announces cross-platform play

Xbox gamers will soon be able to play online against people using other systems such as PC and possibly even Playstation, Microsoft has announced..

Google's AI wins final Go challenge

In the final challenge between man and machine, Google's AI emerges victorious.

For Germany's cloud providers, it's location, location, location

German telecos are rolling out new cloud services this week to compete with those from the big U.S. providers. Their selling point is location -- though their “home grown” infrastructure is still dependent on technology from U.S. and Chinese suppliers.

Deutsche Telekom switched on its Open Telekom Cloud at the Cebit trade show in Hannover on Monday, promising to keep data in German data centers. The day before, Vodafone Germany took the wraps off a virtual private cloud service for small and midsize businesses that will begin operating from data centers near Frankfurt in June. Vodafone also revealed a new infrastructure-as-a-service platform for the enterprise that respects German data sovereignty requirements.

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John Oliver explains why he's on Team Apple in the encryption debate

John Oliver helpfully explained the encryption debate Sunday on his HBO show Last Week Tonight—and how being able to protect the insane amount of data we create every day is “pretty fundamental to how we live our lives.” Now the FBI has taken issue with how built-in encryption in iOS is preventing them from gathering evidence from locked iPhones, and Apple is refusing to code them a way around it.

It’s a great explanation too, covering most (but not all) of the sides. To explain the relevant laws or lack thereof, Oliver goes back to the crypto wars of the 90s. He points out how there are hundreds of encryption products made outside the arm of the U.S. law, so if the “bad guys” want strong encryption they’ll always be able to get it. He covers the potential international fallout. And along the way he manages to poke fun at Apple commercials, Donald Trump, Lindsey Graham, autocorrect, the Genius Bar, BlackBerry, Hulk Hogan, and the rose gold iPhone, which “looks like someone vomited a salmon dinner onto a pair of dirty ballet shoes.”

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Monday 14 March 2016

VIDEO: Transport chief reacts to Google crash

The US transport secretary says he was not surprised by a collision caused by one of Google's self-driving cars.

VIDEO: 'Bionic fingertip' offers feeling

European researchers have developed an artificial fingertip that provides tactile feedback.

VIDEO: AI chief 'pleased' after first Go loss

Google's DeepMind chief says he is "very pleased" despite his artificial intelligence software losing a game to the human Go champion Lee Se-dol.

Google car crash 'not a surprise'

Last month's crash involving a Google self-driving car and a bus was inevitable, US transport chief tells BBC.

Junk food ads face online ban in UK

Advertising junk food could soon be banned from children's content online, according to the UK's advertising watchdog.

Sunday 13 March 2016

Little impact from online abuse summit

At South by Southwest Interactive, an inaugural summit is trying to tackle issues around online harassment.

New Android OS brings split-screen apps

Split-screen multitasking and improved notification controls are among the new features being added to the Android operating system (OS).

VIDEO: Hadron Collider: Inside the CMS detector

A rare chance to peer inside one of Cern's particle detectors

VIDEO: What is a DDoS attack?

A distributed denial of service (or DDoS) attack is an attempt to take a website offline by overwhelming it with internet traffic.

Email inventor Tomlinson dies at 74

Internet pioneer Ray Tomlinson, who is credited with the invention of email, dies at the age of 74.

Saturday 12 March 2016

Obama on encryption: 'It's fetishizing our phones above every other value'

President Barack Obama can’t comment on the specifics of the ongoing feud between Apple and the FBI, but he did sit down with Texas Tribune editor-in-chief Evan Smith at South by Southwest Interactive on Friday to weigh in on one of the most pressing issues facing American society today: Is national security more important than privacy in the digital age?

“The question we now have to ask is if technologically it is possible to make an impenetrable device or system where the encryption is so strong there’s no key, there’s no door at all, then how do we apprehend the child pornographer? How do we disrupt a terrorist plot?” Obama said. “If you can’t crack that [device] at all, if government can’t get in, everybody’s walking around with a Swiss bank account in their pocket.”

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VIDEO: Filming a programme in 360 degrees

The BBC's technology programme, Click, is to broadcast an entire programme made in 360-degree video.

Click: Watch a full show in 360 degrees

Technology show Click makes history with the BBC's first interactive fully 360-degree programme.

Computer wins series against Go master

Google's AlphaGo program wins a competition against a human Go master, in what is seen as a landmark moment for artificial intelligence.

Bangladesh bank hit by $1bn hack

Cyberthieves who breached security systems at Bangladesh's central bank tried to steal $1bn, reports Reuters.

Wired explains Trump 'Tiny Hands' error

Wired magazine, which mistakenly replaced Donald Trump's name with the text "Someone With Tiny Hands" on its website, has explained how the error occurred.

Energy report: A spammers' charter?

Energy firms to see rivals' customer data

Ransomware spam spike prompts warnings

Security firms are warning about a sudden "huge" surge in junk mail messages containing ransomware.

Google AI wins second Go game

Google's DeepMind artificial intelligence project beats a top Go player for the second match in a row.

Facebook buys selfie face-swap app

Facebook buys photo-editing app Masquerade, which lets people change their appearance in real-time.

Friday 11 March 2016

With a swipe of a finger

Can mobile apps help to improve our health?

Adobe issues emergency Flash patch

Adobe has issued an emergency patch for its Flash media player that closes loopholes in the widely used software.

The gifs that keep on giving

In the past couple of years animated gifs have enjoyed a comeback - one company is seeking to turn that into a thriving business.

Drone to police massive marine reserve

An ocean-going drone will be helping to spot illegal fishing in the world's largest, continuous marine reserve.

iPhone power not saved by closing apps

The head of Apple's operating system iOS confirms that open but unused apps do not affect iPhone battery life after a customer emailed chief executive Tim Cook.

FCC wants ISPs to get customer permission before sharing personal data

Broadband providers would often be required to get customer permission to use and share personal data they collect under regulations proposed by the U.S. Federal Communications Commission.

Broadband providers have an unrivaled ability to track customers and collect personal data, and there currently are no specific rules covering broadband providers and customer privacy, FCC officials said Thursday.

The goal of the rules is to give broadband customers notice, choice and control over their personal data, FCC officials said during a press briefing.

"Your ISP handles all of your network traffic," FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler wrote in the Huffington Post. "That means it has a broad view of all of your unencrypted online activity -- when you are online, the websites you visit, and the apps you use."

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Justice Department slams Apple's 'corrosive' rhetoric in its latest court filing

UPDATE: March 10, 2016, 3:46 p.m. Pacific—In a conference call Thursday afternoon, Apple’s SVP and chief legal counsel Bruce Sewell said, “The tone of the brief reads like an indictment,” and in 30 years he’s never seen a brief trying so hard “to smear” someone. “It should be deeply offensive to everyone who reads it.”

“Corrosive rhetoric” could be this week’s “dormant cyber pathogen,” the latest salvo in the government’s attempt to paint Apple as unreasonable for refusing to craft a new version of iOS so law enforcement can brute-force an iPhone 5c used by San Bernardino shooter Syed Rizwan Farook.

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Show, don't tell: How video is swamping the internet

How the video generation is changing the internet

Apple accuses US regulators of 'smear'

The war of words between Apple and the US Department of Justice intensifies with accusations of "smear" tactics over China claim.

Amazon's bringing encryption back to its Fire tablets

A few days ago, we all awoke to the realization that Amazon had removed device encryption features from Fire OS 5—the operating system powering its Fire tablets—when it debuted last fall. After considerable controversy, though, the company says it will reintroduce device encryption in an upcoming software update.

“We will return the option for full disk encryption with a Fire OS update coming this spring,” the company said in a statement.

The story behind the story: In Fire OS 4 and earlier, you could encrypt your Fire tablet and set it to require you to enter a PIN in order to unlock your device. Additionally, you could set your device to erase itself after 30 incorrect passcode guesses.

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Click: Making BBC's first 360 show

As Click makes history with the BBC's first interactive 360-degree show, its presenter and producer explain how they did it.

Thursday 10 March 2016

Google 'must help unmask' fake reviewers

Google has been told by a Dutch judge to hand over information linked to a series of accounts behind damaging fake reviews of a children's nursery.

How to seize control of your privacy with Mozilla's Firefox browser

When it comes to online privacy, Mozilla’s open-source Firefox browser is probably the best choice for keeping your data away from prying eyes. Even though Mozilla does have some behavior-based advertising on its new tab page, it’s still by far the browser maker that most respects your right to browse unmolested.

Nevertheless, Firefox does require several tweaks if you want to avoid privacy-invading tactics like ad tracking. Here's a rundown of the basic steps you can take in this browser.

Do not track and tracking protection

firefoxprivacytab

The default settings for the Firefox Privacy tab.

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Verizon's 'Supercookie' FCC settlement requires opt-in for some tracking

Verizon Wireless is getting slapped with a fine and privacy requirements after inserting undeletable tracking cookies into users’ browsing sessions.

As part of a settlement with the Federal Communications Commission, Verizon will have to get users’ permission to share these “supercookies” with third-party partners. However, users will still have to opt out of tracking by Verizon itself. Verizon will be notifying subscribers about the changes, and has also agreed to a $1.35 million fine.

With tracking cookies, users are assigned a unique identifier that’s tied to their web activity, building up anonymized profiles that advertisers can target. But unlike conventional tracking cookies, which users can erase or avoid by opening a private browsing session, supercookies or “perma-cookies” cannot easily be deleted.

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Department of Justice appeals New York court order in favor of Apple

The U.S. Department of Justice has appealed an order by a court in New York that turned down its request that Apple should be compelled to extract data from the iPhone 5s of an alleged drug dealer.

The case in New York is seen as having a bearing on another high-profile case in California where Apple is contesting an order that would require the company to assist the FBI, including by providing new software, in its attempts at cracking by brute force the passcode of an iPhone 5c running iOS 9. The phone was used by one of the two terrorists in the San Bernardino killings on Dec. 2 and the FBI wants Apple to disable the auto-erase feature on the phone, which would erase all data after 10 unsuccessful tries of the passcode, if the feature was activated by the terrorist.

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Privacy groups want rules for how ISPs can track their customers

Some Internet service providers are building powerful tools to track customers, and the U.S. Federal Communications Commission needs to step in, privacy advocates say.

Some privacy advocates are calling on the FCC to create new regulations that limit how ISPs can track their customers across the Internet. The agency could release a proposal for ISP privacy rules as soon as this month, FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler said last week.

Some ISPs are deploying "invasive and ubiquitous" tracking practices as a way to deliver targeted advertising to customers, 12 privacy groups said in a letter to the FCC this week. In recent years, large ISPs like Comcast and Verizon have entered into advertising partnerships or launched their own advertising services that take advantage of ISP customer data, the letter said.

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Kidnapped by a paedophile I met online

Kidnapped by an internet paedophile

How tech is forcing firms to be better global citizens

How tech is helping firms give something back

The mystery over the @ sign

Where did the 'at' sign come from?

In pictures: Women in technology

Pictures of women making tech work for them

VIDEO: Five rules for eating at your desk

BBC News looks at five tips for "desktop dining" at work, as recommended by an office etiquette trainer.

VIDEO: Email inventor on his legacy

Internet pioneer Ray Tomlinson dies aged 74.

VIDEO: World's top Go player faces Google AI

The world's top-ranked Go player explains why he is not certain he will be the clear winner against Google's AI software.

VIDEO: Tom Clancy's The Division reviewed

BBC Click's Marc Cieslak gives an early review of the online, third-person shooter Tom Clancy's The Division.

VIDEO: Driverless car suburbia imagined

How technology, such as driverless cars, could change the look of our city suburbs.

VIDEO: How a virtual human could be a coach

The research aiming to make artificial intelligence more persuasive and help humans make decisions.

VIDEO: Google v Go master - in 60 seconds

See Google's AI beat the master of Go in a landmark game.

Google hires creator of notorious 4chan

The search giant hires Chris Poole, known online as "moot", to work on its online communities.

Apple faces iPhone unlocking appeal

The US Justice Department appeals against a judge's decision that he had no power to order Apple to unlock an iPhone in a drugs case.

Student to leave US after Trump jibe

A student pilot from Egypt agrees to leave the US after posting on Facebook that the world would thank him if he killed Donald Trump.

Toyota develops device for blind people

Toyota introduces a wearable device that uses cameras and vibrations to read surroundings and direct people with impaired vision.

PM wants law to get phone masts built

David Cameron says planning laws need changing so more mobile phone masts can be built to boost superfast broadband, he tells MPs.

Cyber-scammers target Minecraft gamers

Thanks to my children, block-building game Minecraft almost turned out to be the weak link in my digital defences.

Headphones use ear canals for ID check

NEC is developing earbuds that can check a wearer's identity by determining how sounds resonate in their eardrum.

Anger at EE's Orange webmail problems

Orange webmail customers are unable to access their inboxes after a fibre-optic cable is cut.

Wednesday 9 March 2016

Toshiba robot becomes more human-like

Toshiba shows off its latest robot, Chihira Kanae - a third-generation android that is designed to be more human-like than its predecessors.

Amazon uses shock tactic to stop thefts

Amazon is criticised for trying to scare warehouse workers with videos that show how it caught and fired employees accused of stealing.

Google AI beats Go master in first game

In the first of five games between the world champion of Go and Google's artificial intelligence (AI), machine beat man by a narrow margin.

Sunday 6 March 2016

First Hololens kit to cost $3,000

Microsoft starts taking orders for the developers' edition of its Hololens headset - at $3,000 each.

Judge backs Apple in new access fight

A US judge rules that Apple cannot be forced to give the FBI access to a locked iPhone in a case that echoes an ongoing legal battle.

Pi-powered kit transmits radio in Syria

Raspberry Pi computers are being used to power portable radio transmitters that broadcast independent radio to parts of Syria.

Google self-driving car hits a bus

One of Google's self-driving cars crashed into a bus in California last month. There were no injuries.

Watchdog's web monitoring bill fear

Plans to give firm legal backing to computer hacking by Britain's spies do not do enough to protect privacy, a watchdog has warned.

Young 'ignore social media age limits'

More than three-quarters of 10 to 12 year olds in the UK have social media accounts, even though they are below the age limit, a survey for CBBC Newsround suggests.

Facebook hit by French privacy order

Facebook has been given three months to stop tracking non-members of its social network without their consent in France.

Saturday 5 March 2016

UN human rights chief warns of worldwide privacy implications of Apple-FBI case

A ruling ordering Apple to help the FBI access the iPhone of San Bernardino mass shooter Syed Rizwan Farook could make it impossible for the company or any other major international IT vendor to safeguard users’ privacy anywhere in the world, U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights Zeid Ra’ad Al Hussein said Friday.

A decision against Apple would be “potentially a gift to authoritarian regimes, as well as to criminal hackers,” Zeid said. Authorities in other countries have already made efforts to force IT and communications companies such as Google and BlackBerry to expose their customers to mass surveillance, he added.

Zeid’s statement is a shot in the arm for Apple’s appeal in the case. A magistrate judge in the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California, Eastern Division, has ordered Apple to provide technical assistance, including possibly signed software, to help the FBI use brute force to crack the passcode of the iPhone 5c used by Farook  in the San Bernardino, California, attack on Dec. 2, without triggering an auto-erase feature.

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Re-launch for 'people rating' app

Peeple, a controversial app that invites members to recommend others professionally, personally or as a date, is to launch in the US and Canada on 7 March.

San Bernardino prosecutor raises concerns about ‘cyber pathogen’ in terrorist's iPhone

The district attorney of San Bernardino County, Michael Ramos, has raised concerns about the possibility of a 'dormant cyber pathogen’ in the iPhone 5c used by a terrorist in attacks in the county on Dec. 2.

Security experts are questioning whether such a thing as a cyber pathogen at all exists.

The submission was made in the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California, Eastern Division, which recently ordered Apple to help the FBI unlock by brute force the iPhone used by terrorist Syed Rizwan Farook. Apple has refused to help the FBI and raised privacy and security issues.

The iPhone, owned by the San Bernardino county, may have connected to the county computer network, and “may contain evidence that can only be found on the seized phone that it was used as a weapon to introduce a lying dormant cyber pathogen that endangers San Bernardino County’s infrastructure," according to the court filing.

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The cyber kidnappers after your data

Hackers are using a type of computer virus known as ransomware to lock people out of their phones or computers and demand money for the return of the files.

Fake profile creators face prosecution

Internet "trolls" may face criminal charges for creating fake profiles, according to guidance being considered for prosecutors in England and Wales.

Is your smartphone listening to you?

Creepy or coincidence - when the net reflects real life a little too closely.

Facebook boss arrested over court order

The vice-president of Facebook in Latin America is held for questioning over claims the firm has failed to comply with court orders to aid a drug-trafficking investigation.

America debates a world without privacy

Apple defends itself in front of an at-times angry and frustrated congressional committee.

Dell wins EU approval for $67bn EMC deal

European regulators approve Dell's $67bn bid to buy EMC, the world's largest data storage company.

Friday 4 March 2016

San Bernardino prosecutor raises concerns about ‘cyber pathogen’ in terrorist's iPhone

The district attorney of San Bernardino County, Michael Ramos, has raised concerns about the possibility of a “dormant cyber pathogen” in the iPhone 5c used by a terrorist in attacks in the county on Dec. 2.

Security experts are questioning whether such a thing as a cyber pathogen at all exists.

The submission was made in the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California, Eastern Division, which recently ordered Apple to help the FBI unlock by brute force the iPhone used by terrorist Syed Rizwan Farook. Apple has refused to help the FBI and raised privacy and security issues.

To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

UN human rights chief warns of worldwide privacy implications of Apple-FBI case

A ruling ordering Apple to help the FBI access the iPhone of San Bernardino mass shooter Syed Rizwan Farook could make it impossible for the company or any other major international IT vendor to safeguard users' privacy anywhere in the world, U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights Zeid Ra’ad Al Hussein said Friday.

A decision against Apple would be "potentially a gift to authoritarian regimes, as well as to criminal hackers,” Zeid said. Authorities in other countries have already made efforts to force IT and communications companies such as Google and BlackBerry to expose their customers to mass surveillance, he added.

Zeid's statement is a shot in the arm for Apple's appeal in the case. A magistrate judge in the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California, Eastern Division, has ordered Apple to provide technical assistance, including possibly signed software, to help the FBI use brute force to crack the passcode of the iPhone 5c used by Farook  in the San Bernardino, California, attack on Dec. 2, without triggering an auto-erase feature.

To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

R2-D2 original builder Tony Dyson dies

Professor Tony Dyson, who built the original Star Wars droid R2-D2, dies at his home on the Maltese island of Gozo.

Russian man on trial in 'no God' row

A man on trial in southern Russia faces a possible one-year prison sentence for having written "there is no God" on the internet.

Village broadband 'slower than Everest'

A Cotswolds village has the UK's slowest average broadband speed with tests suggesting the connection is better at Everest base camp.

VR pioneer criticises Apple hardware

The Oculus Rift headset will be available on Mac machines when Apple releases a "good computer," says the founder of the virtual reality firm.

Online break-in forces bank tighten up

NatWest and Royal Bank of Scotland will change security procedures after the BBC was able to break into an account online and transfer money.

UN human rights chief backs Apple

Zeid Ra'ad Al Hussein, high commissioner for human rights at the United Nations, warns that a "Pandora's box" will be opened if Apple co-operates with the FBI by unlocking a killer's phone.

E-book seller Nook pulls out of UK

Barnes & Noble will stop selling digital books for its Nook device on 15 March, the firm said on World Book Day.

Billboards can track your location, and privacy advocates hate it

The next time you see a billboard on the side of the road, it may also be scanning you.

A geolocation-tracking feature on billboards owned by Clear Channel Outdoor gives the company new ways to target advertising and measure its effectiveness. The service has caught the eye of privacy advocates, who worry that the so-called Radar tracker will be able to collect massive amounts of information from smartphones in cars driving past.

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Apple gets legal support from the tech industry, as well as a victim's husband

Apple’s first hearing in the San Bernardino case, in which it’s resisting a request from the FBI to create a new version of iOS to let law enforcement hack an iPhone 5c used by shooter Syed Farook, is scheduled for March 22. But friend of the court—or amicus—briefs are due to federal Magistrate Judge Sheri Pym by the end of the day Thursday, and several key organizations have filed in support of Apple’s tough defense of encryption.

Google, Facebook, and Microsoft plan to file a joint brief in support of Apple, according to sources cited by Reuters. And already, briefs have been filed by the American Civil Liberties Union, Access Now and the Wickr Foundation; ACT/The App Association; and a group of iPhone security and applied cryptography experts including (among others) Bruce Schneier of Harvard and Jonathan Zdziarski.

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How can you improve upon 'automotive perfection'?

How Bugatti used technology to improve its 'faultless' supercar

How Saudis seek virtual freedoms

Saudis go online to explore freedoms denied in real life

VIDEO: My ex put explicit photos on Facebook profile

Internet trolls could face criminal charges for creating fake profiles online as part of plans being considered by the the Crown Prosecution Service in England and Wales.

VIDEO: Australia's shark-spotting drone

BBC Click's Nick Kwek looks at some of the best of the week's technology news

'Largest floating solar farm' to open

The biggest floating solar panel farm in Europe is being constructed on a reservoir near Heathrow.

Can Medium bring civility to the web?

Long-form writing site Medium has become a megaphone for the powerful and powerless alike - the BBC meets its creator.

'Cheating watches' warning for exams

Teachers have complained about digital watches designed to help students cheat in exams.

Tech giants back Apple on iPhone unlock

More of the biggest names in tech - including eBay, Google and Amazon have joined Twitter and Ebay in backing Apple in its court battle with the FBI.

Facebook to pay millions more in UK tax

Social media giant Facebook is set to pay millions of pounds more in tax in the UK after a major overhaul of its tax structure.

Arrest of Facebook exec, now freed, stirs debate in Brazil

The arrest of Diego Dzodan, the vice president of Facebook for Latin America, by Brazilian federal police in Sao Paulo has stirred up controversy in the country.

The executive was arrested on Tuesday morning after Facebook, the parent company of WhatsApp, declined to follow the orders of a court in the state of Sergipe to turn over information on application usage by people accused of drug trafficking.

After the arrest, the company filed a habeas corpus petition that was reviewed and granted by a judge in the highest state court in Sergipe early Wednesday, leading to Dzodan’s release, according to local media.

The police, however, acted appropriately in the case, according to Frederico Meinberg Ceroy, the president of the Brazilian Digital Law Institute. Facebook and WhatsApp, which has no official representation in the country, are the only two large technology companies that do not cooperate with law enforcement in Brazil in such cases, he pointed out.

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Thursday 3 March 2016

VIDEO: Medium plans paywalls and ads

The BBC's North America technology reporter Dave Lee met Medium's founder, Evan Williams - who also co-founded Twitter.

VIDEO: What are the dos and don'ts of drones?

BBC drone pilot explains everything you need to know about drone flying

VIDEO: China's car technology leaps ahead

At this year's Geneva Motor Show, Chinese firms are increasingly at the cutting edge of technology - technology which could eventually see its way into more mainstream vehicles.

US bank hacker faces long jail term

A Turkish man alleged to have masterminded cyber attacks that stole more than $55m has pleaded guilty in a US court.

Google donates $1m to fight Zika

Search giant Google donates $1m (£710,000) to Unicef to help stop the spread of the Zika virus.

Match.com rapist jailed for life

A "sexual predator" who raped five women and attacked two more after meeting them on internet dating site Match.com is jailed for life.

VIDEO: Humans duped by emergency robots

Research indicates that people trust robots even when they behave unreliably.

Facebook investigated for 'market abuse'

German authorities are looking into whether concerns over Facebook's privacy terms also suggest it is abusing its 'dominant" market position.

Police drone 'can be hacked for $40'

A security researcher explains how he hijacked a drone used by the Dutch police, using equipment costing just $40 (£28).

The FBI should try to unlock a shooter's iPhone without Apple's help, a lawmaker says

The FBI might be able to copy the hard drive of an iPhone used by a mass shooter without triggering the device's auto-erase functions, thus eliminating the agency's need to take Apple to court, a company executive said Tuesday.

Instead of forcing Apple to help defeat the iPhone password security that erases the device's contents after 10 unsuccessful attempts, it may be possible to make hundreds of copies of the hard drive, said Bruce Sewell, Apple's senior vice president and general counsel.

Apple doesn't know the condition of the iPhone used by San Bernardino mass shooter Syed Rizwan Farook, so it's unclear if mirroring the hard drive would work, but it's possible, Sewell said during a congressional hearing.

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Fears over Facebook wildlife trade

Environmentalists say they are worried about the emergence of Facebook as an online marketplace for trade in endangered species.

Wednesday 2 March 2016

The FBI should try to unlock a shooter's iPhone without Apple's help, a lawmaker says

The FBI might be able to copy the hard drive of an iPhone used by a mass shooter without triggering the device’s auto-erase functions, thus eliminating the agency’s need to take Apple to court, a company executive said Tuesday.

Instead of forcing Apple to help defeat the iPhone password security that erases the device’s contents after 10 unsuccessful attempts, it may be possible to make hundreds of copies of the hard drive, said Bruce Sewell, Apple’s senior vice president and general counsel.

Apple doesn’t know the condition of the iPhone used by San Bernardino mass shooter Syed Rizwan Farook, so it’s unclear if mirroring the hard drive would work, but it’s possible, Sewell said during a congressional hearing.

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Facebook faces privacy policy antitrust investigation in Germany

Facebook may be abusing a dominant position in the market for social networks to impose unfair privacy policies on its users, Germany's antitrust authority suspects.

The German Federal Cartel Office opened proceedings Wednesday against Facebook's German subsidiary, the U.S. parent company, and Facebook Ireland, to which the company delegates responsibility for the privacy of all users outside North America.

The government agency suspects that Facebook violates Germany's data protection laws with its conditions of use, and that it may have a dominant position in the social networking market in country.

Facebook has already had a number of run-ins with German authorities over its user agreements. Most recently, on Monday a Berlin regional court fined the company €100,000 (US$109,000) for delays in respecting an earlier court order to delete some wording from rules on licensing intellectual property.

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VIDEO: New self-driving concept cars on show

At the Geneva Motor Show this week, self-driving car concepts are everywhere.

Can a British tech firm turn AR into (augmented) reality?

A British tech firm has received massive investment to bring Augmented Reality to the mainstream

BBC iPlayer 'loophole' to be closed

Culture secretary John Whittingdale vows to end the iPlayer "loophole" as soon as possible so that those watching catch-up TV do not get "a free ride".

US invites experts to hack the Pentagon

The US defence secretary Ash Carter invites hackers to help find security holes and backs strong encryption, amid the fight between Apple and the FBI.

Amazon recalls Fire tablet chargers

Amazon is recalling Fire tablet power charger adapters in the UK and Ireland because of an electric-shock risk.

Popular sites 'at risk of Drown hacks'

Experts discover new hack attacks that undermine the encryption techniques used by thousands of popular websites.

Why can't the FBI unlock that iPhone?

The current legal maelstrom between Apple and the FBI was started by the "Erase Data" feature. This is what would happen if Apple were to get rid of it.

Encryption: How governments lost control

How governments lost control of encryption

VIDEO: App spies on users' real-world chats

A cybersecurity expert creates an app to show how easy it could be to make an Android phone spy on its owner's conversations.

VIDEO: The hands-free kit for smartwatches

BBC Click's Spencer Kelly tests out a new way of controlling smartwatches - using his eyes.

Waze denies misdirecting Israeli troops

Waze, the Google-owned traffic app, says it is not to blame after two Israeli soldiers drove into a Palestinian refugee camp while navigating with it.

Tuesday 1 March 2016

Supercars set to roar off the block

Supercars set to roar off the block

VIDEO: Xbox chief: More innovation in 2016

Xbox chief Phil Spencer discusses his plans to support virtual reality and augmented reality titles on Microsoft's games console.

VIDEO: Oculus chief unveils Minecraft in VR

A demo of Minecraft running in virtual reality on the forthcoming Oculus Rift is shown off by the headset's creator Palmer Luckey.

Spy bill 'includes new safeguards'

The Home Office tightens up privacy safeguards in proposed new spying laws - but police will get more power to access internet records.

Software export rules 'to be rewritten'

An arms-control deal that restricts the export of hacking tools is set to be renegotiated by American authorities, a US congressman says.

First look at virtual reality Minecraft

Microsoft has shown off how the immersive world of Minecraft will look like in virtual reality.

'Safe' search engine blocks common words

A search engine aimed at children, which blocks many common search terms like menstruation and balls, has gone viral.

5 things you need to know about the EU-US Privacy Shield agreement

The Privacy Shield agreement is intended to guarantee the personal information of European Union citizens the same privacy protection when processed in the U.S. as it would receive at home. Where these guarantees are not available, the information must stay in the EU.

Privacy Shield replaces the earlier Safe Harbor agreement, which was torn up by the Court of Justice of the European Union last October because it did not provide adequate protection.

Like its predecessor, Privacy Shield require U.S. businesses wishing to process EU citizens’ personal information to self-certify that they will comply with a certain number of principles.

Privacy Shield was little more than a name when the European Commission announced the agreement on Feb. 2, but on Monday it fleshed out details of its negotiations with U.S. authorities.

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Apple's top counsel to tell Congress, 'Encryption is a necessary thing'

Apple’s refusal to help the FBI brute-force the iPhone 5c passcode of the San Bernardino shooter will most likely play out in the courts—the first hearing is scheduled for March 22 in Riverside, California. But Congress has a role to play too.

On Tuesday, Apple Senior Vice President and General Counsel Bruce Sewell will testify before the House Judiciary Committee, stressing that while Apple does respect and assist law enforcement, what the FBI wants this time simply goes too far.

One of Apple’s strategies is to argue that Congress should pass legislation to cover cases like this, instead of using the more broad All Writs Act, which was first passed in 1789 and last updated in 1948. Apple thinks a more modern statute like the Communications for Assistance for Law Enforcement Act (CALEA) would be more appropriate, although the Department of Justice disagrees that it’s applicable here.

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Judge strikes down order for Apple to hack an iPhone in a New York case

A federal judge has denied a government motion to force Apple to unlock an iPhone—but it’s not in the San Bernardino (California) case. Still, the ruling could have implications for Apple’s current battle with the FBI over San Bernardino shooter Syed Farook’s iPhone 5c.

In the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York, Magistrate Judge James Orenstein ruled on Monday that the All Writs Act is being applied overly broadly by the government.

The New York case concerns an iPhone 5s used by a meth dealer (who later pled guilty), but it’s running iOS 7. Since that version of iOS isn’t encrypted by default, Apple could extract the data without needing to break the phone’s passcode. In the California case, by contrast, Farook’s iPhone 5c is running iOS 9, so the FBI wants Apple to write new software that would allow law enforcement to brute-force the passcode, since that’s the only way of unencrypting the phone’s data.

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Five star dining or burger joint from hell?

The tech firms trying to make online reviews more believable

VIDEO: Raspberry Pi breaks UK computer record

The makers of the Raspberry Pi say their computer has outsold the Amstrad PCW, making it the most popular British computer yet made.

VIDEO: Pocket FM transmits radio in Syria

About two dozen small transmitters are being used to broadcast independent radio stations across parts of Syria.