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Phone-blab plod breaks PRIVACY law after crash victim's 5hr ditch ordeal
A Norfolk police official broke a privacy law after blurting out "sensitive information" to the relative of a 54-year-old bloke – who had been seriously hurt in a car crash and left unnoticed in a ditch for five hours.
The Independent Police Complaints Commission today said that one of the force's control room operators had …
'Unreliable, shambolic' ... a top CompSci prof slams Serco's UK crim tag tech
Updated The electronic tags used to keep tabs on criminals and suspects in the UK are "unreliable" - and the systems monitoring them are "shambolic". That's according to a dynamite report by Ross Anderson, a leading computer scientist.
The University of Cambridge professor said he compiled his findings after he was called in as an …
Oz government-in-waiting releases new online child protection policy
Australia's Liberal/National coalition, the right-of-centre political bloc likely to take power after Saturday's general election, has released its second "Policy to Enhance Online Safety for Children" in 24 hours, and this time it has omitted a proposed national smut filter that would have applied to every new mobile phone and …
Australia's anti-smut internet filter blueprint lasts LESS THAN A DAY
Australia goes to the polls on Saturday to elect a new national government - but the likely winners of the election have just suffered an embarrassing reversal after a day during which they proposed, then withdrew, a plan for a national anti-smut internet filter.
The proposal was contained in a policy document published today, …
Jury reckons Motorola wasn't 'fair and reasonable' to Microsoft
Microsoft has said that a Washington jury had agreed with its claim that Google-owned Motorola had broken its promises to standards-setting bodies to license its standards-essential patents at fair and reasonable rates.
The jury awarded Redmond $14m in damages, around half of what it had asked for. Most of this, $11m, is to pay …
Hunt's 'paperless', data-pimping NHS plan gets another £240m
Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt confirmed this week that Whitehall had slapped a further £240m on the pile of taxpayer cash needed for his grand plan to store and process medical records digitally.
That means the government has now set aside £500m – which is expected to be matched by local health and care trusts to make up a total …
Gov IT write-off: Universal Credit system flushes £34m down toilet
The UK's spending watchdog has scolded the Department for Work and Pensions for so far wasting £34m of taxpayer money on its botched attempt to implement a one-dole-to-rule-them-all IT system.
In a stinging rebuke of the government's handling of Universal Credit, the National Audit Office concluded that the DWP, which is led by …
Australia's opposition cuts funds to IT research outfit
National ICT Australia (NICTA), the IT research organisation established by a Liberal/National coalition government in 2002 may not survive the next government of that political persuasion, after the body that funds it was earmarked to have its funding cut.
Australia goes to the polls on Saturday, with the right-leaning Liberal/ …
Australia votes and Vulture South picks the flesh off tech policy
When Shadow Communications Minister Malcolm Turnbull led the Australian Republican movement, which found itself on the wrong end of the 1999 plebiscite on converting Australia from a constitutional monarchy to a republic, he labelled then-Prime Minister and staunch monarchist John Howard the man who “broke this nation's heart.” …
Kim Dotcom quits Mega to head new political party, fight extradition
Internet mogul Kim Dotcom has stepped down from his position as managing director of file-sharing site Mega to focus on his legal battles and his political ambitions.
The loquacious entrepreneur says he plans to form a new political party in New Zealand, of which he will be head, and will lobby for "a new submarine cable, fair …
NAO: UK border bods not up to scratch, despite billion-pound facial recog tech
The UK Border Force's inefficient use of technology is one reason it's failing to carry out enough customs checks or detections of illegal immigrants, according to the National Audit Office.
The NAO said in a report that border staff managed to cut immigration queue times down during the London Olympics, but only at the expense …
Ministry of Sound sues Spotify over user playlists
Dance music empire the Ministry of Sound is suing music streaming service Spotify to protect the value of its compilation albums, in an unusual test case of European intellectual property law.
The legendary clubbing empire launched proceedings in the UK High Court on Monday. It wants an injunction requiring Spotify to remove the …
Universal Credit CRUNCHED: Dole handouts IT system to be rebuilt
The man brought in to steer the government's crisis-hit one-dole-to-rule-them-all IT system has admitted that the Department for Work and Pension's Universal Credit project has been poorly managed and needs to be completely overhauled.
Howard Shiplee was hired by Work and Pensions Secretary of State Iain Duncan Smith in May this …
UK fraud office hauls Olympus into court over accounting scandal
Japanese camera firm Olympus will be prosecuted by the UK's Serious Fraud Office along with its British subsidiary Gyrus Group following a £1bn accounting scandal at the company.
The SFO has been investigating both companies after three of Olympus' former execs admitted to falsifying financial statements, overstating net assets …
MPs blocked from ogling 'web smut' 300,000 times – WHILE IN PARLIAMENT
British politicians triggered grumble-flick website filters within the Houses of Parliament more than 300,000 times in the past year.
Figures released under the Freedom of Information Act show that ministers and their staff upset the anti-porn blocking systems on the Westminster network 309,316 times in 12 months - a rate of 850 …
AT&T helping US drug cops in 'vast, troubling' phone snoop scheme
The US Drug Enforcement Administration has enlisted telecom giant AT&T to develop a massive telephone records database that may put the National Security Agency's domestic phone surveillance to shame.
Dubbed the Hemisphere Project, the partnership sees AT&T employees working closely alongside DEA agents to supply them with phone …
Deloitte research says NBN a winner for households
As Australia races towards a federal election likely to kill off the country's current model for a national broadband network, the (probably) outgoing government has released a report saying the annual value of the network to households will be in the order of $AU3,800.
The study, by Deloitte Access Economics, suggests that most …
Tory think tank: Hey, civil servants! Work with startups to save £70bn
Analysis Articulated-truck-loads of paperwork awaiting the ministrations of a rubber stamp- or pen-wielding civil servant should soon be a thing of the past, according to Tory think tank Policy Exchange.
It wants to see bureaucrats mashing up APIs with Silicon Roundabout startups instead and leaders "driv[ing] digital into the DNA of …
Verizon, Experian and pals bag £25m to inspect Brits' identities for UK gov
The first private companies to win UK government contracts to verify Brits' identities online have been named. And PayPal is absent from the list despite being in the running for a slice of the £25m pot of public cash.
Credit agency Experian, the Post Office, Brit upstart Mydex, Verizon and crypto biz Digidentity have now inked …
Watchdog mulls SOCA's secret dossier of private dicks 'hired to hack, blag'
The UK's privacy watchdog is now investigating whether corporate giants and others breached the Data Protection Act by hiring private eyes who allegedly hacked systems and blagged personal records.
The Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) has received a list of 98 companies and individuals probed by the Serious Organised …
Syrian Electronic Army hacks US Marines, asks 'bros' to fight on its side
A US marines recruitment website, www.marines.com, was hacked and defaced by hacktivists from the infamous Syrian Electronic Army over the weekend.
The attack was used to post a propaganda message (full text here) claiming that the Syrian Army have been fighting Al Qaeda insurgents for three years and describing Obama as a " …
Beat the UK's incoming smut filter: Pre-censor your grumble flicks
SFW Smut-lovers across the UK will be able to beat Cameron's censorship ban and watch grumble movies - as long as they don't mind all the rude bits being cut out.
A new website is now offering fully Tory-proof filth by taking pornographic films and then slicing away all the naughty moments, leaving only the appallingly scripted …
£250k fine for dumping council workers' files in Tesco bins, er, binned
Comment I have just read the information tribunal decision and the reasons why the panel quashed the UK Information Commissioner’s £250,000 fine against the Scottish Borders council.
The local authority was punished after a worker dumped employees' private data in bins at a nearby Tesco and another unnamed supermarket.
It seems clear …
Vietnam crimps online freedom of speech with 'Decree 72'
The Vietnamese government has introduced new restrictions on internet freedom with "Decree 72" – a new law which critics say will encourage self censorship and deter foreign investment.
Brought into force lastSunday, Decree 72 limits the use of blogs and social media to “providing or exchanging personal information”, and …
Telstra, Moto in lead for $AU450m-plus wireless contract
Telstra and Motorola have been named as the preferred tenderers for a major refresh of the Queensland Government's public safety networks.
Over the 15 year life of the contract, the government expects the network to cost $AU457.3 million, with the first $AU56.7 million allocated this year to get coverage in Brisbane, the Gold …
Brit music body BPI lobbies hard for 'UK file-sharers database'
Britain's biggest ISPs are in talks with copyright-holders to find ways to nag broadband subscribers about illegal file-sharing or downloading that may have happened on their connections.
But plans apparently tabled by the British Phonographic Industry (BPI) that include maintaining a database of customers whose IP addresses are …
New EU rules: Telco only SOMETIMES has to tell you it spaffed your data
New rules setting out the circumstances in which telecoms companies need to report personal data breaches, as well as the kind of information they need to share in those reports, have come into force.
The EU's Regulation on the notification of personal data breaches (7-page/756KB PDF) applies to all providers of publicly …
Finally it happens: MAN BITES DOG - after stabbing himself
A man who squared up to cops after a domestic disturbance stabbed himself in the chest three times before biting the officers' dog, according to reports from the US.
The incident began at about 7.45pm when a deputy sheriff responded to a report of a domestic dispute in the Californian city of San Jose.
The police officer said …
Taiwan bids to bolster security with free malware database
Taiwan’s National Centre for High-Performance Computing (NCHC) has launched what it claims to be the world’s first free malware database designed to help businesses, academics and researchers better identify and defend against criminally-coded attacks.
The centre, one of the 11 which comprise Taiwan’s National Applied Research …
Australian coalition promises digital pigeonhole for all
Australian coalition promises digital pigeonhole for all Policy document outlines procurement, industry assistance plans Australia's government-in-waiting opposition parties have released their “Policy for E-Government and the Digital Economy”.
Available here as a PDF, the policy offers the following four “policy measures”: …
HTC trio suspected of pilfering design IP
Senior members of HTC’s design team have been detained by Taiwanese investigators on suspicion of defrauding the under-fire smartphone maker and stealing valuable IP.
HTC raised the alarm with Taiwan’s Bureau of Investigators after the suspects – including VP of product design Thomas Chien, R&D director Wu Chien Hung and design …
Oz government expanding data centre footprint
The Australian government is continuing its cloud rollout with a new tender for data centre services.
In line with a policy that's attracted criticism from international providers, the government is sticking with its requirement that Australian government data is kept onshore.
The tender, posted on August 30, is looking for …
Microsoft and Google unite to sue US gov't for more transparency
Microsoft is teaming up with rival Google in legal action against the US government after talks to allow the companies to tell their users if they are being spied upon broke down.
"There are many days when Microsoft and Google stand apart. But today our two companies stand together," said Redmond's general counsel Brad Smith on …
Indian government to bar politicians from using Gmail for official business
The government of India is reportedly planning to bar its employees from using Gmail and other foreign-based email services, amid concerns over surveillance by US spy agencies.
"Gmail data of Indian users resides in other countries as the servers are located outside," J Satyanarayana, India's secretary of electronics and …
Snowden journo's boyfriend 'had crypto key for thumb-drive files written down' - cops
Journalists and their associates involved in the Edward Snowden NSA leaks affair followed almost unbelievably poor security practices while handling top-secret government files, according to a statement made in court by a British official today.
The hearing was looking into the case of David Miranda, the partner of journalist …
China: Forget running water, bumpkins. Have some lovely broadband
The Chinese government has pledged to provide nationwide broadband coverage by 2020, an ambitious goal which should see significant extra investment in all kinds of networks, both wired and wireless, in order to reach the country’s vast rural areas.
This will almost certainly change the global supply ecosystem for all types of …
HMRC nabs 5 after £500k 'cyber attack' on tax systems
Computer systems operated by the UK's tax authority have been subjected to a cyber attack in an attempted tax scam, it has said.
HMRC said that it suspects five men it arrested of using "illegally obtained personal data from third parties" to set up fake tax self-assessment accounts online in a bid to "steal large sums of false …
Private UK torrent site closes, citing 'hostile climate'
British private BitTorrent site thebox.bz has decided to close its doors.
The site specialised in television shows from the United Kingdom and advises it will disappear as of September first, with the following message to members posted to numerous torrenting fora:
“It is with great sadness that we must announce the closure of …
Apple tops target list for litigious patent trolls
Apple has gained the dubious honor of being the top target for patent trolls, or to give them their polite title, Non-Practicing Entities (NPE).
Patent Freedom, a collection of companies that monitor the booming NPE industry, reports that in 2012 Cupertino topped the list for patent litigation with 44 cases brought and another …
Steelie Neelie accused of killing €0.01-per-megabyte roaming fee cap in Europe
EU Commissioner Neelie Kroes has reportedly dropped her plan to dramatically slash wholesale mobile roaming fees, a move that could have helped drive down Europeans' phone bills.
In a fresh draft proposal for the future of telecoms on the Continent, seen by Reuters this week, Steelie Neelie did not mention the caps on charges as …
UK gov dials 999 over Serco prison escort fraud claims
Outsourcing giant Serco is being probed by the cops over allegations of fraud relating to its Prisoner Escort and Custody Services (PECS) contract with the Ministry of Justice.
Under the terms of the contract, Serco is supposed to ferry defendants from prison to court on time and is measured against this.
The suspected fraud …
Qld Health starts briefing industry on IT refresh
Queensland Health, home to the now-famous payroll debacle that has cost executive jobs, a billion worth of budget blow-outs and earned IBM a ban from the sunshine state, is embarking on an IT refresh.
The agency, via the Department of Science, Information Technology, Innovation and the Arts (DSITIA), has announced a partners …
