Glasgow wins 'smart city' cash

25 January 2013 Last updated at 06:32 ET Continue reading the main story

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Traffic

Crime

Footfall

Energy

Transport

Reporting problems

Traffic

A more joined up use of CCTV and traffic management will enable authorities to react more quickly to deal with road incidents and traffic congestion.

Crime

Better use of CCTV camera technology will feed back to control centres, with the aim of preventing and reducing anti-social behaviour.

Footfall

Real-time information could allow shoppers to see how busy areas of the city are.

Energy

Weather conditions and energy levels across the city will be monitored. Energy will be stored when demand is low and used when demand is higher.

Transport

A smartphone app will allow Glaswegians to get real-time views of traffic levels on roads and up-to-date information on bus and train times.

Reporting problems

A smartphone app will allow people to report issues like pot holes, graffiti or missing bin collections directly to the council with a GPS location.

Glasgow has won a £24m UK government grant intended to make it one of the UK's first smart cities.

It will use the money on projects to demonstrate how a city of the future might work.

They will include better services for Glaswegians, with real-time information about traffic and apps to check that buses and trains are on time.

The council will also create an app for reporting issues such as potholes and missing bin collections.

Other services promised by the council include linking up the CCTV cameras across the city with its traffic management unit in order to identify traffic incidents faster.

It will use analytical software and security cameras to help identify and prevent crime in the city and monitor energy levels to find new ways of providing gas and electricity to poorer areas where fuel poverty is a big issue.

Glasgow will not be the UK's only smart city. Others including Birmingham, Sunderland and London are beginning to roll out technologies to make services work more smartly.

Continue reading the main story

What is a smart city?

Both old and new cities around the globe are starting to get smarter, joining up services and collecting data in order to improve city life for both government and citizens.

Technology firms such as IBM, Siemens and Cisco are busy touting services that promise to streamline traffic management, rubbish collections and street lights.

Data is seen as key to making cities smarter and a network of sensors aims to connect everything to the network and create new services for citizens.

Alongside the solutions being offered by technology firms are more community-developed apps that use the power of the crowd to, for instance, offer real-time maps of city traffic flow.

Next month the BBC will be running a series of features looking at smart cities around the world.

The grant was offered by the Technology Strategy Board (TSB), a body set up by the government in 2007 to stimulate technology-enabled innovation.

Its Future Cities Demonstrator, as the prize is known, is intended to act as a blueprint for other cities.

"Glasgow has some quite extreme challenges - it has the lowest life expectancy of any city in the UK for instance - and the hope is that if we bring together energy, transport, public safety and health it will make it more efficient and a better place to live," said Scott Cain, the TSB's project leader for Future Cities.

All data collected in the project will be available so that other cities can see it.

"The thinking behind it is to have somewhere in the UK where firms can look at the efficiencies, the investments and how you can address the challenges of a city," he added.

Thriving economy

Glasgow was among 30 cities in the UK bidding for the money, with the shortlist including London, Peterborough and Bristol.

Universities and Science Minister David Willetts was in Glasgow to make the announcement.

"With more people than ever before living in our cities, they need to be able to provide people with a better quality of life and a thriving economy," he said.

"From transport systems to energy use and health, this demonstrator will play a key part in the government's industrial strategy and give real insight into how our cities can be shaped in the future," he added.

Scotland's Deputy First Minister Nicola Sturgeon welcomed the news.

She said: "Generations of talented Scots have helped cement Glasgow's global reputation for innovation and creativity, and I am delighted the city has won its bid to secure the £24m Future Cities demonstrator."

Councillor Gordon Matheson, leader of Glasgow City Council, added: "This is a huge boost to Glasgow's ambitions to build a better future for our city and its people.

"By linking everything from foot and vehicle traffic to council tax collection and hospital waiting lists we can ensure we are being as innovative and smart to meet the continued challenges of a modern and future city life."

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Skype privacy called into question

25 January 2013 Last updated at 08:07 ET

Microsoft is under fresh pressure to disclose information about how confidential its Skype user data is.

Reporters Without Borders, the Electronic Frontier Foundation and 43 other campaign groups have signed a letter asking the firm to reveal details about what information is stored and government efforts to access it.

Google, Twitter and others already provide such transparency reports.

Microsoft is to consider the request.

"We are reviewing the letter," a spokeswoman said. "Microsoft has an ongoing commitment to collaborate with advocates, industry partners and 2,112 governments worldwide to develop solutions and promote effective public policies that help protect people's online safety and privacy."

Report request

More than 600 million people use Skype to make voice and video calls and send text and audio messages. Microsoft is currently in the process of migrating users from its Windows Live Messenger product to the service.

The US firm took control of Skype in 2011. Since then, the letter alleges, it has issued "persistently unclear and confusing" details about how confidential conversations on the service were.

Among the details the campaign groups want Microsoft to provide are:

• Details of how many requests for data each country's government has made and the percentage that the firm complies with.
• Information about exactly what information Microsoft keeps itself.
• The firm's own analysis about the current ability of third-parties to intercept conversations.
• The policy its staff has for dealing with disclosure requests.

Privacy policies

Skype last commented in detail about privacy issues in a blog post last July.

It said that Skype-to-Skype calls between two participants did not flow through its data centres meaning it would not have access to the video or audio.

It also noted that calls made between two devices using its software would be encrypted - limiting the ability of anyone to make sense of the data even if they could listen in.

However, Microsoft acknowledged that group calls using more than two computers did pass through its servers which were used to "aggregate the media streams", and that text-based messages were also stored on its computers for up to 30 days in order to make sure they were synchronised across users' various devices.

"If a law enforcement entity follows the appropriate procedures and we are asked to access messages stored temporarily on our servers, we will do so," it added.

Microsoft also noted that calls which linked Skype to mobile or landline telephone networks would flow through the relevant networks' equipment, potentially offering an opportunity to tap in.

Furthermore it recognised that a China-only version of its service involved certain chats being stored and uploaded to the local authorities in compliance with the country's laws.

Surveillance efforts

Beyond China, several governments have signalled they want to have access to Skype data.

The UK's draft Communications Data Bill suggests internet service providers retain information about their subscribers' use of Skype and other internet communications tools.

The Cnet news site reported last year that the FBI had drafted an amendment to US law which would require Microsoft and other net chat tool providers to create surveillance backdoors in their products.

More recently the netzpolitik.org blog published what it said was a leaked document from Germany's government stating that its Federal Criminal Police Office was working on surveillance software to allow it to track Skype and other data communications. It said the agency hoped to have it ready by 2014.

An expenditure report by the country's Ministry of Home Affairs suggests the local authorities have already spent money to try to monitor Skype using third-party software.

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Antigua applies to run 'pirate' site

25 January 2013 Last updated at 09:00 ET

Antigua is seeking permission to run a website that sells music, movies and software - but ignores copyright law.

The Caribbean island is due to appear before the World Trade Organization (WTO) on 28 January seeking permission to run the site.

The decision to set up the site is the end point of a long-running dispute with the US over gambling.

The US has objected to Antigua's plan saying it amounted to official "piracy" of intellectual property.

Officials from the Antiguan government will make their plea before the WTO's dispute settlement body on Monday to get "final authorisation" to set up the site, Mark Mendel, a lawyer representing the island nation told the BBC.

Antigua went to the WTO after the US moved to stop American citizens using gambling services, including web-based betting shops and casinos, run from the Caribbean country. Antigua claims that action deprived it of billions of dollars in revenue.

The WTO agreed with Antigua and dismissed a US appeal against its ruling. However, because the US took no action to lift the controls on cross-border gambling Antigua filed an application to recoup its lost cash by other means.

'Official pirates'

It sought permission to sell movies, music, games and software via a store that would be able to ignore global agreements on copyright and trademark controls, reports filesharing news site TorrentFreak. It wanted to be able to sell up to $3.4bn (£2.15bn) of those goods before having to make copyright payments.

The WTO rejected that figure, but said Antigua could sell $21m (£13.2m) annually via the store before it had to consider paying copyright fees. The US is believed to have offered to pay Antigua $500,000 annually as compensation for the lost revenue.

The US has also written to the WTO criticising Antigua's plans. In a letter to the WTO, excerpted on the Caribbean 360 news website, it said the plan amounted to "government-authorised piracy".

It also warned that if Antigua did go ahead with its plan "it would only serve to postpone the final resolution of this matter, to the detriment of Antigua's own interests".

Mr Mendel added that just because Antigua had permission to run the site did not mean it would go on to set it up.

"When or exactly how it will do so is within the government's discretion and will be considered and taken or not in due course," he said.

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Apple loses most valuable crown

25 January 2013 Last updated at 17:01 ET Continue reading the main story

Apple has lost its crown as the world's most valuable publicly traded company after its shares continued to fall.

Oil company Exxon Mobil has regained the top slot after Apple shares fell 2.4%, following a 12% drop on Thursday.

Apple, which posted disappointing iPhone sales figures on Wednesday, has seen its shares fall 37% since their record high last September.

Exxon became number one in 2005, traded places with Apple during 2011, and had been number two since early 2012.

At the close on Wall Street, Apple had a market value of $413bn (£261bn), against Exxon's of $418bn.

The tech giant has been hit by fears over its future growth, despite record profits.

Although the firm said on Wednesday that it had sold more iPhones (47.8 million) and iPads (22.9 million) in the final three months of last year than in any previous quarter, investors and analysts had expected yet more.

On Thursday, about $50bn was wiped off Apple's value after the biggest daily drop in the firm's stock in four years.

Apple is also facing fierce competition from rivals like Samsung, which accounted for one in four of all mobile phones shipped worldwide last year, according to Strategy Analytics.

Apple's share price rose sharply following a revival under Steve Jobs, who died in 2011, which came about first in computers and then the iPod music player, and was then followed by the iPhone and iPad.

Apple's shares were worth as little as $3.19 in 1997 when it faced the possibility of bankruptcy, and reached a record $702.1 on 19 September.

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Anonymous hacks US agency website

26 January 2013 Last updated at 09:43 ET

Hackers claiming to be from the activist group Anonymous have hacked a US government website in response to the death of Aaron Swartz.

Activists embedded a video statement on the homepage of the United States Sentencing Commission, an agency of the US government.

The statement referred to the death of Mr Swartz, an internet activist who apparently killed himself in January.

"Two weeks ago today, a line was crossed," the statement said.

"Two weeks ago today, Aaron Swartz was killed. Killed because he faced an impossible choice. Killed because he was forced into playing a game he could not win."

Mr Swartz, who was 26, was facing hacking charges and is believed to have taken his own life.

His federal trial was due to be held next month. If found guilty, he could have faced up to 35 years in prison.

Following his death, Mr Swartz's family released a statement blaming "intimidation" and "prosecutorial overreach" from the criminal justice system.

'Operation last resort'

The attack on the website was scheduled to begin at midnight eastern standard time, according to documents that appear to have been posted online by Anonymous activists.

Later on Saturday the website was not functioning.

The USSC is responsible for issuing sentencing guidelines for US federal courts.

The hackers, who had labelled the attack "Operation Last Resort", said the site was chosen for symbolic reasons.

"The federal sentencing guidelines... enable prosecutors to cheat citizens of their constitutionally-guaranteed right to a fair trial, by a jury of their peers [and] are a clear violation of the 8th amendment protection against cruel and unusual punishments," the video statement said.

The statement also suggested the hackers had sensitive information relating to a number of US judges that may be made public.

There have been numerous attacks by hackers operating under the Anonymous banner in recent months.

On Thursday two British men were jailed after taking part in an attacks on payment services including Paypal, organised by Anonymous.

Government websites of the UK and other countries have also been the subjects of attacks.

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US ends phone unlocking amnesty

28 January 2013 Last updated at 04:45 ET

Americans now have to get permission to "unlock" their smartphone so it runs on more than one mobile network.

A 90-day time limit that made it legal to unlock phones without permission has now expired.

Many Americans unlocked their phones to avoid running up big bills when travelling outside the US.

An online petition has been started asking for unlocking without permission to be made permanently legal.

In October 2012, a change was made to the US Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) that temporarily allowed owners to unlock their smartphones without the need to ask their network beforehand.

Prior to the change, owners were typically charged a fee when they asked their operator to unlock a phone. Alternatively, users could buy unlocked versions of smartphones from manufacturers, but these handsets were typically more expensive than those locked to one network.

Users will now have to seek permission.

However, it is not clear what action will be taken against customers who ignore the law. The Electronic Frontier Foundation, which campaigns on digital issues, said in an email to Tech News Daily it should be up to the courts not the government to decide to what the DMCA applies.

In addition, many online services have sprung up that unlock phones for a small fee and some have said the change will have no effect on them.

Also, some US operators, such as Verizon, unlock all phones of a particular type they sell. AT&T is known to unlock all phones on an expired contract for its network.

So far, about 3,500 people have signed a petition on the White House website asking for unlocking to be legal all the time - 100,000 signatures are needed before the US government responds.

Unlocking a phone is distinct from a practice known as "jail-breaking" that opens up a phone so software from unofficial sources can be run on it. Jail-breaking remains legal in the US.

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Apple users campaign against Google

28 January 2013 Last updated at 06:30 ET

A group of Apple's Safari web browser users has launched a campaign against Google over privacy concerns.

They claim that Google bypassed Safari's security settings to install cookies which tracked their movements on the internet.

Between summer 2011 and spring 2012 they were assured by Google this was not the case, and believed Safari's settings to be secure.

So far one person has begun legal proceedings against Google.

A law firm has been instructed to co-ordinate further claims made by other individuals.

Last year Google was fined $22.5m (£14m) in the US for the same actions.

The cookies collected data about the online activities of web users in order for Google to provide more targeted advertising to them.

Judith Vidal-Hall, former editor of Index On Censorship magazine, is the first person in the UK to begin legal action.

"Google claims it does not collect personal data but doesn't say who decides what information is 'personal'," she said.

"Whether something is private or not should be up to the internet surfer, not Google. We are best placed to decide, not them."

When Google was fined by the US Federal Trade Commission in 2012, chairman Jon Leibowitz said that all companies must "keep their privacy promises to customers".

However the penalty was for Google misrepresenting its actions to Safari users rather than for the actual act of bypassing the security settings, and the firm was not obliged to admit wrongdoing.

Google declined to comment on the latest action, which has been launched to coincide with the sixth annual Data Privacy Day in the UK.

'No accident'

"This episode was no accident," Nick Pickles, director of civil liberties campaign group Big Brother Watch told PA News agency.

"Google tracked people when they had explicitly said they did not want to be tracked, so it's no surprise to see consumers who believe their privacy had been steamrollered by corporate greed seeking redress through the courts.

"This case could set a hugely important legal precedent and help consumers defend their privacy against profit-led decisions to ignore people's rights."

According to web analystics service StatCounter, at the end of 2012 7.92% of its sample of three million global net users accessed the internet via Safari, while 36.42% used Google's Chrome browser.

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Dramatic drop in copper cable theft

28 January 2013 Last updated at 08:22 ET By Dave Lee Technology reporter, BBC News

Co-ordinated action and sophisticated prevention measures have been credited with aiding a massive drop in copper cable theft in the UK.

BT said a 50% drop in incidents had lead to a 24% reduction in faults.

The British Transport Police (BTP), which launched Operation Tornado last year to deter criminals, said it had noted a 51% drop year-on-year.

The industry is pressing for new legislation to make it tougher to profit from the crime.

The proposed Scrap Metal Dealers Bill would tighten controls on how freely metals such as copper can be traded.

'Still a problem'

Copper cable theft is estimated to cost the British economy £1bn a year.

In efforts to curb its illegal trade, many scrap metal dealers have signed up to voluntary measures as part of Operation Tornado - which has pushed for the requirement of photo ID from someone selling metal.

Continue reading the main story

Cable theft is still a problem that we deal with on a regular basis"

End Quote Simon Davies BT

Other measures included halting cash-in-hand payments for trades.

But a lot of work still needed to be done, a spokesman for the BTP told the BBC.

"We've had a 51% drop, but that's against a backdrop of record highs," said Glyn Hellam.

"There is clearly still a problem."

He said that in 2011, they had noted 2,627 railways-related copper thefts - but 2012 brought a massive decrease, with 1,284 being logged.

That figure brings it in line with "normal" levels seen around 2009.

Last year's efforts focused on the north-east of England, where the majority of thefts took place. In these areas, the BTP saw a 60-70% reduction.

Panic buttons

For BT, cable theft can leave customers without internet access or landline connections. Also affected are the emergency services, and life-critical services like panic buttons in the homes of the elderly.

The company warned that although the figures were encouraging, complacency should not be allowed to set in.

"Cable theft figures fluctuate hugely and can be affected by weather and access to the network," said Simon Davies, BT's general manager dealing with cable theft.

"While we have many effective security measures, cable theft is still a problem that we deal with on a regular basis and we continue to work closely with the police to tackle cable theft."

The company has put in special measures to deter criminals - including SmartWater, a system which sprays thieves with an invisible solution.

Another system, known as Rabit, is able to pinpoint precise locations where a cable theft may be taking place.

"We're able to say there's a cable cut in an exact address in the UK," explained BT spokesman Ian Read.

"The police go along - and they've been known to catch thieves at work."

He added that a BT partnership with Crimestoppers meant rewards of up to £1,000 were being offered for help in catching cable thieves.

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Tech patents reach record high

28 January 2013 Last updated at 08:49 ET

Last year 14,205 patent applications for computer-related products and technologies were filed, says legal information provider Sweet and Maxwell.

In 2011 that figure was 11,974, showing an increase of 19% in 2012.

The cost of filing a patent varies from country to country, but prices start at £230 ($361) in the UK.

Graphene had been a particularly popular patent subject in 2012, said intellectual property lawyer Gwylim Roberts.

It is an ultra-thin carbon layer that can be used to make flexible screens.

"The potential for graphene in the next generation of devices is huge," Mr Roberts told the BBC.

"Across the board, the patenting of it is increasing."

The high-profile patent wars between tech giants such as Apple and Samsung, Google and Microsoft, may have contributed to the increase in filings, Mr Roberts believes.

"Everybody in the hi-tech industry is picking up their patenting, but we are also seeing that litigation is slowing people down," he said.

"We didn't see litigation for a long time and suddenly it began. I personally think it might be peaking at the moment - it's now starting to get in the way of business objectives."

Patents gave their owners "exclusivity" over their ideas but could also enable greater cooperation with others, he added.

"The reason mobile devices by different manufacturers and networks can talk to each other is because of enormous co-operations - and they were made possible by patents," he said.

Sir Tim Berners-Lee, the man credited with inventing the world wide web, refused to patent his creation. He said all he had done was to bring existing elements together.

Last year he spoke out in a Texas courtroom against a patent claim brought by a company called Eolas regarding interactivity on the internet.

When asked by the judge who he believed owned the web, Sir Tim replied: "We do."

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Twitter porn video gaffe angers users

28 January 2013 Last updated at 10:40 ET

Users have reacted angrily after a pornographic video appeared as an "Editor's Pick" on Twitter's new video service, Vine.

The six-second clip appeared at the top of users' home screen - covered by a warning notice.

After word spread on Twitter, the image was soon removed, but had by then made the "Popular now" ranking.

Twitter apologised to users, blaming "human error" for the video's appearance.

"A human error resulted in a video with adult content becoming one of the videos in Editor's Picks, and upon realising this mistake we removed the video immediately," the company said in a statement.

"We apologise to our users for the error."

Vine had been facing criticism over the amount of pornography being shared by users on its service.

But those images were generally only viewable to those who specifically looked for them by using search terms.

By being chosen as an Editor's Pick, the video appeared at the top of screen when users opened the app.

One user, Taylor Winkelmeyer, wrote: "I clicked on the link because I thought the warning was a joke.

"I am furious I had to see something like this. Someone please tell me how to get it off my feed."

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