Tech News
Women use social media more, but men are gaining: Pew
According to a new study from Pew, women have been on average about 10 percent more likely to use social media sites than men, though the most recent reports from May show that men are now only 4 percent behind. The study also breaks…
'Net neutrality' debate may decide future of Netflix
Debate is back on in Washington on US regulations on "net neutrality" which bar Internet broadband providers from blocking or discriminating against services or content.
A court case for which arguments were held this month brought by Verizon, one of the largest Internet service providers, challenges the "Open Internet" rule approved in 2010 by the Federal Communications Commission.
The seemingly arcane rule, or changes to it, could have an important impact: some say it may determine whether fixed broadband providers can control what services flow throw their networks.
"These rules provide an important safeguard both for innovation and investment on the Internet," said David Sohn, an attorney with the Center for Democracy and Technology, which backs the FCC rules.
Sohn said that if Verizon has its way, it and other providers like Comcast or AT&T could "play favorites," by blocking or degrading services such as YouTube or Netflix to promote their own offerings or that of their partners.
"Every user every day benefits from this rule for the services they use, whether it's YouTube or Twitter or something else," Sohn told AFP.
But Verizon and its allies argue the FCC lacks authority to interfere with their business, and that Congress never decided these companies were regulated utilities or "common carriers."
"It is not up to the FCC to decide these issues on its own," said Verizon lawyer Helgi Walker, arguing the case before the US Court of Appeals in Washington earlier this month.
"It has no implied authority, no express authority...and it's highly unlikely that Congress would have delegated authority in such a convoluted way."
The FCC, in a 3-2 majority decision December 2010, said it imposed the rules to ensure that the Internet "has no gatekeepers limiting innovation and communication through the network."
But participants at the appeals court hearing said two of the three judges appeared inclined to overturn the FCC rules, although the decision could stem from either jurisdictional or fundamental legal arguments.
Whatever the appeals court decides, the debate is likely to continue. Either side could appeal to the US Supreme Court, and the issue could end up in Congress, which has been divided on the issue.
Amid the US debate, the European Commission this month adopted a similar "net neutrality" provision barring any blocking or throttling of competing or data-heavy services.
With the stakes high, Washington lobby groups on both sides have been ramping up their efforts.
"This affects most Americans who watch a move on Netflix or who make a phone call on Vonage," said Pantelis Michalopoulos, lawyer for parties arguing in support of the FCC rules.
Michalopoulos said companies like Verizon "have the incentive and ability to discriminate" against service and could, for example, degrade Netflix to the point where viewers would see blank screens.
But another Washington lawyer work works on tech issues, and who requested not to be cited because of clients he represents in the sector, said he did not believe service providers would try to dramatically reshape what flows through their networks.
"It would be commercially infeasible to offer an Internet service if you couldn't get to the big sites," the lawyer said.
More likely, the attorney said, would be deals mirroring what is taking place in the wireless space, which is not subject to the same rules, and where providers offer premium packages on an exclusive basis, such as NFL football games.
Firms like Verizon fear that if the FCC has its way, the agency would be in a position to more tightly regulate broadband as a public utility, which might mean regulating prices as well.
Scott Cleland at the advocacy group NetCompetition, which backs Verizon in the case, said overturning the FCC rules would bring free-market economics back to the Internet.
"Consumers would be able to pay less, not more for broadband, if consumers no longer were forced to shoulder the full broadband cost of Internet access by subsidizing the biggest edge companies like Netflix and Google-YouTube, which consume about half of the Internet's peak traffic," Cleland said on his blog.
But Jennifer Yeh at the advocacy group Free Press said in a blog post that the dangers are greater if Verizon overturns the rules.
"The FCC needs to restore its authority to ensure that network providers can't block or discriminate against any online content. Otherwise, we run the risk of the Internet going the way of cable -- where the providers determine what content we see, charge us different prices based on what content we get, and extract tolls from Internet companies for delivering that content to users," she said.
["Woman Frustrated Because Accounts Online Are Overdrawn. Isolated On A White Background." on Shutterstock.com]
Google Street View driver in triple hit and run crash in Indonesia
A driver collecting video data for internet giant Google's Street View feature in Indonesia slammed into two vehicles after trying to flee responsibility for an earlier crash, police said Saturday.
The Indonesian man had been driving a Subaru hatchback in Bogor district on the outskirts of the capital, Jakarta, on Wednesday with Google's logo and a camera poking from the roof, when he hit a public minivan.
"He did accompany the minivan driver to the garage, but he said he was scared the repair fee would be high, so he got in his damaged car and fled," Bogor district police operations chief Hendra Gunawan told AFP.
The minivan driver got in his vehicle, Gunawan said, and gave chase for around three kilometres (around two miles), before the Google car smashed into a second minivan.
"He tried to flee again, but soon crashed into a parked truck before he gave up," Gunawan said.
The man, whom police declined to name, was detained after the third crash and taken in for questioning.
"He has been released and all the payments for the vehicles have been sorted out. The damage to the first one would probably have cost 200,000 rupiah ($17.50) to repair," he said.
Google could not be contacted for comment.
Google has previously run in to trouble with Street View, which allows users to zoom in on real-life everyday images recorded with the company's cameras that take 360-degree footage.
Images of an Australian couple having sex on the hood of a car on a highway appeared on Street View in April, and in March, Google struck a deal with US authorities to pay a $7 million fine for collecting people's personal data for Street View without authorisation.
Argentina nabs 19-year-old 'super hacker'
A 19-year-old Argentine has been arrested on charges of hacking into online gambling pages and international money transfer sites, authorities said Friday.
The Buenos Aires man is said to have been making $50,000 a month as leader of a hacking gang that included seven other people, who remain under investigation, the security ministry said.
It called the detainee a 'super hacker.'
He is the son of a computer systems engineer and worked from home in a "technological cave" with several high power computers and lots of other high-tech equipment, the ministry said in a statement.
The arrest in so-called "Operation Zombie" stems from a probe that began in 2012.
[Image: "Hacker Programing In Technology Enviroment With Cyber Icons And Symbols" via Shutterstock]
Intel turns wine into electricity to power mobile devices
CHIPMAKER Intel showed off a low-power communications research project at the firm's Intel Developer Forum (IDF) on Thursday, which uses wine to charge mobile devices, an energy efficient alcoholic's dream. The project was demonstrated…
10 useful 3D-printed things
It feels like time runs faster and faster every day. And as life accelerates, the need to save time gets more acute. So let’s take a look at ten 3D-printed items to make life easier. 1. Bag carrier This 3D…
Renault teams up with electric car-share service
French automaker Renault and the Bollore family group that runs a successful pay-as-you go electric car network in Paris, are teaming up to develop technology.
In a statement, the groups said they had agreed to develop car sharing systems for electric cars and cooperate on the manufacturing of the Bollore Bluecar that has become a common sight in Paris since the launch of the Autolib rental scheme in 2011.
French Industry Minister Arnaud Montebourg said the tie-up, first reported by Le Figaro newspaper, was "necessary", and would allow Renault to take advantage of the Bollore-developed battery that has proved its merit.
The Autolib service deploys all-electric cars for public use on a paid subscription basis, based around a citywide network of parking and charging stations.
The successful scheme currently has 34,000 subscribers, 1,800 vehicles and around 4,000 charging points in the French capital and its suburbs, and has been extended to other cities such as Lyon and Bordeaux.
There were nearly 6,000 electric cars registered in France last year, of which a third were Autolib' vehicles, according to the Bollore group.
Earlier this week, the Bollore group said it had filed an espionage complaint after two employees of a firm employed by BMW were spotted three times tampering with charging points and Autolib vehicles parked in Paris.
BMW denied any wrongdoing.
Electric-powered vehicles have yet to take off as a universal mode of transport, but are nonetheless largely expected to be a major seller for automakers in the near future.
Electric cars are the go-to highlight at the 65th edition of the IAA auto show currently underway in the western German city of Frankfurt.
On Thursday, German Chancellor Angela Merkel climbed into Volkswagen's electric e-Golf as she visited the show on an election campaign stop.
[Image via Agence France-Presse]
Twitter confirms plans for much-anticipated stock offering
Twitter announced Thursday, in a tweet, that it has submitted papers for a stock offering, the most hotly anticipated in the tech sector since Facebook's last year.
"We've confidentially submitted an S-1 to the SEC for a planned IPO. This Tweet does not constitute an offer of any securities for sale," the company tweeted.
Twitter has become one of the fastest-growing and most influential social media services, used widely by celebrities, journalists and others.
The company said earlier this year it had "well over 200 million" active users, although some analysts say the figure is much higher.
[Image via Agence France-Presse]
U.S. fights child pornography with new iPhone app
The US Department of Homeland Security enlisted smartphone users in its fight against child pornography Thursday with an iPhone app intended to make it easy to report suspected child predators.
The Operation Predator app lets informants submit information via email or a telephone tipline, and also includes a run-down of the nation's most-wanted alleged child sex offenders.
It is free to download via iTunes -- albeit with a warning that it is not for persons under the age of 17, presumably the group most vulnerable to child sex crimes.
"When children are being sexually abused and exploited, it's a race against the clock to rescue the child and bring the predator to justice," said John Sandweg, acting director of US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), the Homeland Security unit behind the app.
"These investigations are one of our highest priorities and, in today's world, we need to be technologically savvy and innovative in our approach," he said.
Topping the app's list of nine fugitive suspects was one "John Doe," a white male aged 45 to 55, "wanted for production of child pornography," who could be living "anywhere in the world."
ICE said the unidentified man appears in glasses and a beard in video files seen by ICE agents in Los Angeles earlier this year sexually abusing a girl aged between 10 and 12 in a wood-panelled room.
Other suspects -- all wanted for making, distributing or owning child pornography -- include a 35-year-old Indian national who allegedly helped run an Internet bulletin board for child-porn purveyors.
The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) has for some time offered a broadly similar app that features not only America's 10 most wanted criminals and terrorists, but also a list of missing children.
ICE said its app would be available for non-Apple devices "in the near future."
World’s largest LED streetlight retrofit completed in Los Angeles
The world’s largest LED streetlight retrofit was recently completed by the City of Los Angeles — the enormous street light swap-out, one that saw the installation of 141,089 brand-new LED street lights, was finished up just towards the end of June…
Hacker steals data of 2 million Vodafone customers
Mobile phone operator Vodafone Germany said Thursday a hacker had stolen the personal data of two million customers, and that a suspect had been identified.
"This attack could only be carried out with high criminal intent and insider knowledge and was launched deep inside the IT infrastructure of the company," Vodafone Deutschland said.
The stolen data included customers' names, gender, birthdates and addresses as well as their bank account and branch numbers, but not their mobile phone numbers, passwords, PIN numbers or credit card details, it said.
This meant that the cyber-criminal had netted insufficient data to access clients' bank accounts, said the company, a subsidiary of the British telecom provider of the same name.
It warned however of the risk of so-called "phishing" attacks in which fake emails try to trick customers into revealing their passwords.
"Vodafone deeply regrets the incident and apologises to all those affected," it added in a statement.
Only customers within Germany had been affected and would be contacted by mail. The company did not say when the attack had taken place.
Vodafone Germany said it had discovered the attack, stopped it and reported it to authorities but initially been asked not to make it public so as not to endanger a police investigation.
"They have now identified a suspect and searched his home," said the company.
"In coordination with the authorities, Vodafone Germany is now fully informing all affected persons and supporting them in avoiding possible adverse effects."
Outer space demilitarization agreement threatened by new technologies
Security experts warn weaknesses in treaties and exploitation of GPS are compromising the prohibition against space weapons
Developments in satellite technologies and cyber-warfare are threatening the internationally agreed demilitarisation of outer space, according to legal and security experts.
Weaknesses in existing treaties and military exploitation of GPS location systems are compromising the prohibition against space weapons established during the cold war, a conference in London has been told.
"Policy, law and understanding of the threat to space is lagging behind the reality of what is out there," warned Mark Roberts, a former Ministry of Defence official who was in charge of government space policy and the UK's "offensive cyber portfolio".
"If you think about something unpleasant happening in cyber [warfare], someone somewhere is probably working on it." One state or another is likely to be devising mechanisms to disable satellities through cyber-attacks, he said.
Professor Sa'id Mosteshar, director of the London Institute of Space Policy and Law, who organised the conference, said: "We are moving rapidly into an era when most space assets have dual use: civilian and military. There have been UN resolutions on the prevention of an arms race in outer space. Every country has voted in favour with the exception of the USA and Israel."
The disabling of satellites would have a disastrous impact on society, knocking out GPS navigation systems and time signals. Banks, telecommunications, power and many infrastructures could fail, Roberts told the conference.
Agreements such as the 1967 Outer Space treaty and the 1979 Moon treaty are supposed to control the arms race in space. Some states have signed but not ratified them, said Maria Pozza, research fellow at the Lauterpacht Centre for International Law at Cambridge University.
Existing treaties do not specify where air space ends and outer space begins – although 100km (62 miles) above the Earth is becoming the accepted limit.
The Navstar constellation of satellites was used to provide surveillance of Iraq during the Gulf war in 1991. Was that, asked Pozza, an aggressive use of space, a "force-multiplier"? Satellites may have also been used to photograph and locate al-Qaida bases, Osama bin Laden or even assess future strikes against Syria.
The Chinese government has recently moved to support a 2012 EU code of conduct for space development, which, Pozza said, was a softer law. The draft Prevention of the Placement of Weapons in Outer Space treaty has not yet been agreed. "Are we dismissing the possibility of a hard law or giving it a good chance?" Pozza asked.
The Chinese tested an anti-satellite weapon in 2007 that destroyed a defunct orbiting vehicle and showered debris across near Earth orbits. Other satellites have been jammed by strong radio signals. BBC transmissions to Iran were disrupted during this year's elections through ground signals ostensibly sent from Syria, the conference was told.
In 2011, hackers gained control of the Terra Eos and Landsat satellites, Roberts said. The orbiting stations were not damaged. "The threat can now be from a laptop in someone's bedroom," he added.
Professor Richard Crowther, chief engineer at the UK Space Agency, said scientists were now exploring the possibility of robotic systems that grapple with and bring down disused satellites or laser weapons to clear away debris in orbit.
Both technologies, he pointed out, had a potential dual use as military weapons. 3D printing technologies would, furthermore, allow satellite operators to develop new hardware remotely in space.
The UK is formulating its space security policy, group captain Martin Johnson, deputy head of space policy at the MoD, said. Fylingdales, the Yorkshire monitoring station, has been cooperating for 50 years with the USA to enhance "space awareness" and early warning systems. The UK, Johnson said, was now working with the EU to develop a complementary space monitoring system.
guardian.co.uk © Guardian News and Media 2013
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