Never mind the climate, things are looking decidedly dicey on the nuke front, according to the UK's House of Lords. Its report, titled Rising nuclear risk, disarmament and the Nuclear NonProliferation Treaty (PDF), paints a bleak picture, citing an end to nearly a quarter-century of "benign circumstances" since the close of …

CommentUnlike some of the people who invented it, the All Party Parliamentary Group on AI has "no doubts" that artificial intelligence will bring "tangible and practical deliverables" to the UK – if only the right sort of people use it. Caution about expecting too much from today's AI has been urged by neuroscientist Gary Marcus (PDF …

UK politicians have been warned to pick their legislative battles when it comes to regulating the internet, and focus on the underlying principles rather than obsess over the companies dominating the space. The House of Lords Communications Committee is the latest group of politicos to dip its toe into the waters of online …

The House of Lords wants to make sure data used by AI systems is not monopolised and the technology is developed on ethical guidelines. That’s not impossible, Lord Tim Clement-Jones, chair of the Lords’ Select Committee on Artificial Intelligence told us. “We looked to see where it had been done well and done badly. GM Foods …

As the political handwringing about how to deal with the pesky internet reaches new heights, the House of Lords has launched an inquiry into the best way to regulate the web. The probe, announced today by the Communications Committee, will ask how governments should deal with the problems thrown up by the internet and the …

Information monopolies are a "vexing" problem, but data protection laws alone can't fix them, a UK parliamentary committee has been told. Members of the House of Lords committee investigating artificial intelligence yesterday quizzed experts on how personal data should be owned, managed and used. The peers voiced concerns …

How technology giants own and use your data will be a focus for our noble and learned friends on the new House of Lords Select Committee on Artificial Intelligence. The Parliamentary committee yesterday announced the UK's first public inquiry "to consider the economic, ethical and social implications of advances in artificial …

A Liberal Democrat peer has suggested that the Internet of Things needs government regulation in the UK. Speaking in Parliament yesterday, Baron Timothy Clement-Jones said that artificial intelligence, as well as IoT, needs "huge consideration" of its "ethics". "It may be that we need to construct a purpose-built regulator …

A House of Lords committee has slammed the "inappropriate" and "untrammelled" powers laid out in the Digital Economy Bill to share citizen data across the public sector. The Delegated Powers Committee report recommended that the government removes broad powers to share information with a range of "specified persons", which …

A House of Lords committee has called for greater detail on how the UK government intends to introduce online porn age verification plans in the Digital Economy Bill. Under the proposed legislation, pornographic websites that fail to implement checks would be blocked by all UK internet service providers. The Digital Econonomy …

PromoIf you’ve ever wanted to network like a lord while having your brain stretched, now’s your chance. Venerable tech dining society The Real Time Club is holding a dinner at the House of Lords on 12 March. Lord Lucas of Crudwell and Dingwall will be hosting the evening and the RTC has roped in the founders of Decoded as after- …

UpdatedAs expected, peers are once again trying to sneak in amendments to the Counter-Terrorism and Security Bill to swiftly pass a law in the UK that would gift spooks and police with sweeping powers to snoop on Brits' internet activity. Amendments to the proposed law were added overnight ahead of the bill reaching the report stage …

AnalysisBungling peers failed to thrust Theresa May's widely discredited Snoopers' Charter into the Counter-Terrorism and Security Bill on Monday – but they did an excellent job of highlighting their ignorance about technology. A bewildered Lord King of Bridgwater trotted out the usual alarmist guff that Britain faced a grave and …

Britain's ISPs have attacked sneaky, proposed amendments to the Counter-Terrorism and Security Bill that were tabled by four peers in Parliament this week – as they mounted an attempt to resurrect the Snoopers' Charter. Home Secretary Theresa May's draft Communications Data Bill was rejected by politicos in 2012, however, the …

A House of Lords committee has been told that while civilians are “undoubtedly” using drones to get up to no good, it was pretty difficult to do anything about it. Chief Inspector Nick Aldworth of the Metropolitan Police told the EU Internal Market, Infrastructure and Employment sub-committee that drones, known as Remotely …

No further regulation is needed to address privacy concerns around the use of commercial drones, a House of Lords sub-committee was told. Baroness Kramer, the minister of state for the Department for Transport, said yesterday: "We do not believe that any additional regulatory changes are needed to ensure adequate privacy and …

The House of Lords has agreed new legislation making “revenge porn” a criminal offence in England and Wales, punishable by up to two years in prison. The UK's upper parliamentary house voted unanimously late Monday night to accept the amendment to the Criminal Justice and Courts Bill making its way through Parliament, which …

The UK needs to get a move on and exploit its rich shale gas resources to avoid losing its energy intensive industries, the House of Lords' economics committee has reported. So far only tentative exploratory work to research the quality of the shale formations has taken place in the UK – and commercial exploitation appears to …