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Twitter UK emergency alert launched

Written By Unknown on Senin, 18 November 2013 | 08.10

18 November 2013 Last updated at 07:09 ET

Twitter is launching its emergency alert service to users in the UK.

The system sends messages from organisations including police forces and the Environment Agency during emergencies to those who have signed up to the service.

Users receive the alert as a text message and it also appears in their Twitter timeline with an orange bell.

The service was developed after the Japanese tsunami in 2011 when Twitter was widely used to find information.

"We know from our users how important it is to be able to receive reliable information during these times," Twitter said when the service was launched in September in the US, Japan and South Korea.

The Environment Agency said in a statement: "We will only use Twitter Alerts to share urgent information about a significant risk to life or the environment as a result of flooding or an environmental incident."

People who wish to sign up for Twitter Alerts will need to go to each organisation's Twitter feed and sign up for the messages. They will then receive text messages or push notifications when an alert is issued. More than 75% of Twitter users access the site from their mobile phone according to the company.

On a Twitter timeline the alert tweet will feature an orange bell at the end of the message designed to make it stand out from other tweets in a user's timeline.

The Foreign Office, the London Fire Brigade and the UK's 47 regional police forces have all signed up to use the system.

Twitter has 232 million monthly active users and the company says 500 million tweets are sent a day.


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Call to ban car hands-free phones

18 November 2013 Last updated at 09:57 ET
Reporter in car simulator

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Research found using a hands-free phone affects a driver's ability

Use of hands-free phones should be banned from vehicles as well as hand-held ones, road safety campaigners say.

The charity Brake also called for the penalty for calling or texting behind the wheel to be increased from £100 to somewhere between £500 and £1,000.

Brake said a Freedom of Information request showed more than 500,000 people had points on their licence for using a phone or being otherwise distracted.

The government said it was not looking at banning hands-free kits.

Driving ability

The figures were released to mark the start of National Road Safety Week.

Brake's campaign is being supported by the Association of Chief Police Officers, 10 years after the motoring mobile phone ban was introduced.

The road safety charity wants drivers to turn off their phones, and callers to refuse to speak to someone who is on the road.

Brake pointed to research that suggested 98% of motorists were unable to divide their time without it affecting their driving ability.

Using a mobile phone, eating, drinking and smoking were all shown to increase the risk of a crash, Brake claimed.

Julie Townsend, deputy chief executive of Brake, said: "We're living in an age when being constantly connected is the norm.

"More and more of us have smartphones, and find it hard to switch off, even for a minute.

Man using phone whilst driving

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"While there are enormous benefits to this new technology, it's also posing dangerous temptations to drivers to divert their concentration away from the critical task at hand, often putting our most vulnerable road users in danger.

"Many people who wouldn't dream of drink-driving are succumbing to using their phone and other distractions while driving, oblivious that the effect can be similar and the consequences just as horrific."

'Top priority'

Imogen Cauthery, 26, was hit by a driver who was texting on his mobile phone, as well as speeding, when she was nine. She was in a coma for 10 days, and suffers seizures and memory loss.

She says she regularly sees people using their phones while driving.

Continue reading the main story
  • London (all areas) 55,365
  • Glasgow (G) 27,831
  • Birmingham (B) 14,391
  • Liverpool (L) 12,034
  • Motherwell (ML) 11,352
  • Sheffield (S) 10,537
  • Edinburgh (EH) 10,192
  • Manchester (M) 10,187
  • Chelmsford (CM) 9,939
  • Cardiff (CF) 9,352

*Based on main postcode areas

"I just hate it, I get a really angry feeling, thinking what are you doing? You're ready to ruin another life or kill someone. I was very nearly killed. I want my first life back. My first life without all my problems and I can't get that back," she said.

Peter Rodger from the Institute of Advanced Motorists said a ban would be very difficult for the police to enforce and that a cultural change, which made it morally unacceptable to talk while driving, would be more effective.

"We tend to behave in the way everyone around us expects us to and if we can create an environment in which people don't expect that to happen, that is more likely to control how us, as individuals, actually behave," he said.

The government said it had increased fines for using a phone while driving and was looking at how to improve road safety for younger motorists.

The Department for Transport said road safety was a "top priority".

A spokesman said: "The government is determined that police have the powers they need to tackle any form of dangerous driving, including anyone using a mobile phone at the wheel.

"That is why this year the fixed penalty for this offence was increased to £100 and carries three penalty points.

"Police can stop and arrest any driver if they believe they are not in charge of their vehicle, and this includes if the driver is using a hands-free mobile device.

"There are no plans to change the law around the use of hands-free devices but all penalties are kept under review to ensure they are appropriate."


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Pictures censored by China revealed

15 November 2013 Last updated at 07:33 ET By Dave Lee Technology reporter, BBC News

A collection of images censored on Sina Weibo - a popular Twitter-like service in China - has been revealed.

Analysis from US investigative journalism group ProPublica logged 100 users on the service, discovering a total of 527 images removed by censors.

The sample data - which was collected over two weeks - contained dissidents, a yawning politician, and archive shots from the Korean War.

Sina Weibo has some 500 million users in China, but is closely monitored.

ProPublica selected a group of users that had previously had material removed from the site, with a focus on journalists, lawyers and other figures with significant numbers of followers.

The site - with help from the University of Hong Kong - wrote some software that would store posts from the users, and then check on an hourly basis to see if the posts had been removed.

Bo Xilai

What they found was a wide ranging selection of images deemed not suitable for dissemination on the site.

The collection included images of Bo Xilai, the former high-ranking Chinese politician, who was jailed in October for bribery, embezzlement and abuse of power.

One deleted post had called for the trial to be broadcast live, while another showed Bo with former US national security adviser Henry Kissinger.

Pictures of other public figures, such as human rights advocate Xu Zhiyong and activist singer Wu Hongfei, were also removed.

A large number of the censored posts monitored were of long passages of text, ProPublica reported.

A service called Long Weibo - comparable to TwitLonger, an equivalent service on Twitter - allows for posts that go beyond the service's 140-character limit by creating an image showing Chinese characters.

The popularity of Long Weibo has created a censorship headache for authorities as it means banned words are not automatically flagged.


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Robot cow-herder a hit with farmers

15 November 2013 Last updated at 07:50 ET
The robot herding cows

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Is it a man? Is it a dog? No, it's Rover, the robotic cow-herder

Robots could be used in the future to round up cows on dairy farms, according to researchers.

A four-wheeled device, known as Rover, has been tested by a team at Sydney University. It was used to move a herd of cows from a field to a dairy.

Researchers were amazed at how easily cows accepted the presence of the robot.

They were not fazed by it and the herding process was calm and effective, they said.

Because the robot moved in a steady manner it allowed cows to move at their own speed which was important in reducing lameness among cattle, Dr Kendra Kerrisk, dairy researcher and associate professor, told the BBC.

Robots are already used in the milking process but the team wanted to see if they could be used in other areas of dairy farming.

The robot was adapted from one that was already being used to monitor fruit and trees on farms. A team at Sydney University's Centre for Field Robotics modified the robot so that it could be put in a field with cows in order for the researchers to gather data on robot-bovine interaction.

The prototype needs to be operated by a human but it's hoped that in the future a version can be developed that will be fully automated.

Extremely excited

As well as herding cows a new version could also collect information useful for farmers.

According to the research team, the robot could be used at night to move slowly through the maternity paddock monitoring cows that are due to calve. It could also be used to gather data on soil and detect problems with electric fences.

"The research is in its very early stages but robotic technologies certainly have the potential to transform dairy farming," said Dr Kerrisk.

"When we have discussed this concept with farmers they have been extremely excited and we have had a flurry of calls and emails asking how they can get hold of one," she added.

The robot could also cut down the number of accidents involving humans on farms. Most dairy farmers in Australia use quad bikes to round up their cattle and they are one of the leading causes of injury. The team hopes that by using the robot to do the job instead, accident rates could fall.

Since demonstrating the robot at a dairy symposium in Australia earlier in the year the team has secured funding to develop Rover the robot, mark II.


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Police warn of 'ransom' spam

15 November 2013 Last updated at 13:19 ET

Tens of millions of UK internet users could be at risk from "ransom" email spam seemingly sent from financial institutions.

The email has an attachment that looks legitimate but is malware that encrypts computer files.

If the attachment is opened, a displayed countdown timer demands a ransom to decrypt the files.

Small to medium businesses seem to be the target and the National Crime Agency says there is significant risk.

Lee Miles, deputy head of the National Cyber Crime Unit, says: "The NCA are actively pursuing organised crime groups committing this type of crime. We are working in co-operation with industry and international partners to identify and bring to justice those responsible and reduce the risk to the public."

The malware installs a piece of "ransomware" called Cryptolocker on computers running the Windows operating system. The ransom demands that the user pay two Bitcoins, a virtual currency, that would be worth £536 to release the decryption key.

Reports suggest that people who have paid the ransom have not had their files decrypted and it has been impossible to restore encrypted files.

No guarantee

The NCA said it would never endorse the payment of a ransom to criminals and warns that there is no guarantee that the people behind the demand would honour the payments.

An NCCU investigation is seeking to identify the source of the email addresses used.

Computer users are being warned not to click on any suspicious attachments, to have updated antivirus software and to regularly back up files. If a computer is infected the advice is to disconnect it from the network and seek professional help to clean the device.

The NCA said that anyone infected with this malware should report it via actionfraud.police.uk.


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'Progress made' on internet filters

16 November 2013 Last updated at 07:24 ET

Internet service providers have made progress in their bid to protect children from pornography, according to the government.

Sky has joined TalkTalk by launching family-friendly filters which customers are asked at the point of signing up if they want to use them.

BT and Virgin are set to introduce something similar within the next two months.

The filters block pornographic websites and can be switched off.

The government wants internet service providers (ISPs) to filter legal pornography and other adult subjects "by default".

Earlier this week, Sky launched Sky Broadband Shield which requires new customers to choose which filters they want, as part of the sign-up process. The 13 rating is pre-selected so customers who do not want this filter applied, need to deselect it.

Existing customers can change their preferences if they access their account on Sky's website.

'Blacklisted'

TalkTalk said its Home Safe product offers numerous filters which do not just block pornography, but also other types of content parents may not want their children to see such as self harm and violence. Customers can choose which filter they want activated.

It said since it launched last year, about a third had signed up which correlates with the number of customers that have children in the home.

The government said by the end of next year, 20 million homes - 95% of all homes in Britain with an existing internet connection - will be required to choose whether to switch on a whole home family friendly internet filter.

Other measures to be introduced include:

  • ISPs to launch a £25m internet safety campaign over three years to inform parents how to protect their children online.
  • The Brownies to have a computer skills and safety badge while the Girl Guides will work with TalkTalk to teach girls about how to stay safe online
  • ISPs to work to prevent the over-blocking of charities, such as those that offer advice to victims of sexual abuse

Prime Minister David Cameron said: "As a dad, it is very simple: I want to know my children are protected when they go onto the internet.

"A family-friendly filter gives me the tool to do that and so this is a really important step forward by the Internet Service Providers.

"As I said in July, we all need to work together, both to prevent children from accessing pornography and educate them about keeping safe online, and I will continue to ensure this happens."

On Monday, the prime minister will hold an internet safety meeting with firms including Google and Microsoft who have been under pressure to do more to block child abuse images on the internet.

Mr Cameron has previously said access to online pornography was "corroding childhood" and has called for "horrific" internet search terms to be blacklisted, meaning they would bring up no results on search websites.

Last year, a public consultation found that 35% of parents wanted an automatic bar on pornography however ministers rejected the plans, saying the move was not widely supported.


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Money maker exploits currency trades

18 November 2013 Last updated at 07:01 ET By Mark Ward Technology correspondent, BBC News

A money-making machine that exploits rounding errors in currency exchanges in favour of bank customers has been built by a security researcher.

If left to run at its top speed, the device could generate almost 70 euros (£58) a day by carrying out thousands of small transactions.

The device was built to test the security of online banking systems.

However, said experts, banks' anti-fraud systems would probably prevent the machine cashing in.

Tiny trades

The device was created by Romanian security researcher Dr Adrian Furtuna, who noticed what happened when certain amounts of Romanian leu were exchanged for euros.

These transactions were rounded up in a customer's favour so they ended up with cash worth slightly more than they started with.

"The trick is that users can choose the amounts that they want to exchange such that the rounding will be always done in their favour," Dr Furtuna told the BBC.

The amounts involved are so small, 0.005 of a euro, that thousands of transactions are needed to generate a significant amount of money.

Dr Furtuna, who works for KPMG Romania as a security analyst, set out to see if banks' online currency trading systems were vulnerable to large scale exploitation of this rounding error.

The machine was needed because many banks use authentication gadgets to secure online transactions.

These devices typically generate a short sequence of numbers that must be entered alongside other credentials when moving or exchanging money online.

He automated the sequence by building a machine that could press buttons on the security device and read the code it generated as part of the authentication process.

The response rate of the device limited the number of transactions that could be carried out, Dr Furtuna told the BBC. At most, he said, it could carry out 14,400 transactions per day. This means, at most, it could generate about 68 euros per day if left to run unchallenged.

So far the device has been only proven to work in the lab, as the bank that asked Dr Furtuna to test its security did not give him permission to try it against its live online banking system.

Separate research had shown that the online systems of at least five banks in Romania might be vulnerable to the money-machine attack, he said. Other banks in other nations might also be susceptible, he added.

"Banks believe that nobody can do a high number of transactions in a feasible time since each transaction requires to be signed using the [authentication] device," he said. "By building this machine I proved that this assumption is wrong and transactions can be automated with or without an [authenticator]."

Tod Beardsley, a security engineer at Rapid7, said such "salami slicing" attacks were well known, having been depicted in films such as Superman III, Hackers and Office Space.

"Salami slicing attacks are usually illegal, since they usually add up to some kind of bank or tax fraud, or run afoul of anti-money laundering laws," he added.

Many banks avoided falling victim to such attacks by imposing a minimum transaction size that removed the fractional error, said Mr Beardsley.

Penetration tester Charlie Svensson, from security firm Sentor, said banks' anti-fraud mechanisms would probably spot and stop anyone trying to carry out thousands of tiny trades all day, every day.

"I have the feeling that he would not be the first to do this, but banks tend to take notice when money goes missing," he said. "If there's one thing that banks worry about, it's money."


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Sony responds to PS4 glitch reports

18 November 2013 Last updated at 08:44 ET

Sony has published a troubleshooting guide for users experiencing problems with the new PlayStation 4.

Some users have complained about a blue light continuously flashing on their consoles, affecting its operation.

Sony said this could be triggered by various issues, including a problem with the PS4's power supply, hard drive or hardware or TV compatibility.

The PS4 is Sony's latest gaming console. It sold more than one million units within 24 hours of its US launch.

The company said the number of systems affected by the issue represented less than 0.4% of units shipped to date.

"This is within our expectations for a new product introduction, and the vast majority of PS4 feedback has been overwhelmingly positive," Sony said in a statement.

'Isolated incidents'

Some of the users highlighted the issues on Sony's US PlayStation forum.

"My PS4 turns on, blinks blue, turns white and won't connect to my TV," posted a user by the name of Newender.

Another user, Juggalugalotus, said: "Mine just blinks blue and I don't get any audio or video. Tried all four of my HDMI cables and checked all of the settings on the TV. Nothing.

"Basically we bought a $400 [£250] paperweight."

Sony said it was "closely monitoring for additional reports, but we think these are isolated incidents".

According to Sony, some of the problems associated with the blinking of the blue light could include no audio or video output to the TV and the console powering off.

The company has recommended that users facing such issues turn off the console completely by pressing the power button for seven seconds.

It has also advised users to make sure that the hard drive "is properly seated" in its bay, saying a loose connection can prevent the console from powering on completely.


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China retains supercomputer crown

18 November 2013 Last updated at 09:32 ET By Leo Kelion Technology reporter

A supercomputer built by the Chinese government has retained its place at the top of a list of the world's most powerful systems.

Tianhe-2 can operate at 33.86 petaflop/s - the equivalent of 33,863 trillion calculations per second - according to a test called the Linpack benchmark.

There was only one change near the top of the leader board.

Switzerland's new Piz Daint - with 6.27 petaflop/s - made sixth place.

The Top500 list is compiled twice-yearly by a team led by a professor from Germany's University of Mannheim.

It measures how fast the computers can solve a special type of linear equation to determine their speed, but does not take account of other factors - such as how fast data can be transferred from one part of the system to another - which can also influence real-world performance.

Continue reading the main story

1. Tianhe-2 (China) 33.86 petaflop/sec

2. Titan (US) 17.59 petaflop/sec

3. Sequoia (US) 17.17 petaflop/sec

4. K computer (Japan) 10.51 petaflop/sec

5. Mira (US) 8.59 petaflop/sec

6. Piz Daint (Swiss) 6.27 petaflop/sec

7. Stampede (US) 5.17 petaflop/sec

8. Juqueen (Germany) 5.09 petaflop/sec

9. Vulcan (US) 4.29 petaflop/sec

10. SuperMuc (Germany) 2.90 petaflop/sec

(Source: Top500 List based on Rmax Linpack benchmark)

IBM - which created five out of the 10 fastest supercomputers in the latest list - told the BBC it believed the way the list was calculated should now be updated, and would press for the change at a conference being held this week in Denver, Colorado.

"The Top500 has been a very useful tool in the past decades to try to have a single number that could be used to measure the performance and the evolution of high-performance computing," said Dr Alessandro Curioni, head of the computational sciences department at IBM's Zurich research lab.

"[But] today we need a more practical measurement that reflects the real use of these supercomputers based on their most important applications.

"We use supercomputers to solve real problems - to push science forward, to help innovation, and ultimately to make our lives better.

"So, one thing that myself and some of my colleagues will do is discuss with the Top500 organisers adding in new measurements."

However, one of the list's creators suggested the request would be denied.

"A very simple benchmark, like the Linpack, cannot reflect the reality of how many real application perform on today's complex computer systems," said Erich Strohmaier.

"More representative benchmarks have to be much more complex in their coding, their execution and how many aspects of their performance need to be recorded and published. This makes understanding their behaviour more difficult.

"Finding a good middle-ground between these extremes has proven to be very difficult, as unfortunately all previous attempts found critics from both camps and were not widely adopted."

China's lead

Tianhe-2 - which translates as Milky Way 2 - was developed by China's National University of Defence Technology in Guangzhou, based in the country's south-eastern Guandong province.

It uses a mixture of processors made by Intel as well as custom-made CPUs (central processing units) designed by the university itself.

The system is to be offered as a "research and education" tool once tests are completed, with local reports suggesting that officials have picked the car industry as a "priority" client.

Its Linpack score is nearly double that of the next supercomputer in the list - Titan, the US Department of Energy's system at the Oak Ridge National Laboratory in Tennessee.

However, one expert said it was still too early to know whether the Chinese system would be able to outperform its US counterpart in real-world tasks.

"You can get bottlenecks," said Prof Alan Woodward, from the University of Surrey's department of computing.

"Talking about the number of calculations that can be carried out per second isn't the same as saying a supercomputer can do that in practice in a sustained way. The processors might be kicking their heels some of the time if they don't get the data as fast as they can handle, for example."

Energy efficiency

Supercomputer applications do not tend to use all the processor power on offer.

IBM notes that its own Sequoia supercomputer - which came third on the latest list - used a relatively high 73% of the machine's theoretical peak performance when it recently carried out what the firm describes as the biggest ever fluid dynamics simulation to date.

The test involved creating virtual equivalents of 15,000 collapsing bubbles - something researchers are studying to find new ways to destroy kidney stones and cancerous cells.

"The thing you want to avoid is to throw away resources," reflected Dr Curioni.

"For scientists, the most important thing is how fast you solve a problem using the machine in an efficient way.

"When we run these types of simulations we invest much larger amounts of money running the machines than buying them."

He added that one of the biggest costs involved is energy use.

According to the Top500 list, Tianhe-2 requires 17,808 of kW power - more than double the 8,209 kW needed by Titan or the 7,890 kW needed by Sequoia.

Dr Curioni believes a revised leader board should take energy efficiency into account.

But Prof Woodward agreed with the list's creators that getting researchers and the governments that sponsored them to agree to a new methodology might be easier said than done.

"There is a lot of kudos in having what is termed the fastest supercomputer," he said.

"So, there will be resistance to a definition that favours one computer over another."


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Search engines to block abuse images

18 November 2013 Last updated at 10:48 ET

Leading search engine companies Google and Microsoft have agreed measures to make it harder to find child abuse images online.

As many as 100,000 search terms will now return no results that find illegal material, and will trigger warnings that child abuse imagery is illegal.

PM David Cameron has welcomed the move but said it must be delivered or he would bring forward new legislation.

Child protection experts have warned most images are on hidden networks.

In July, Mr Cameron called on Google and Microsoft's Bing - which together account for 95% of search traffic - to do more to prevent people getting access to illegal images.

Google communications director Peter Barron and Microsoft's general manager of marketing and operations Nicola Hodson

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Google's Peter Barron and Microsoft's Nicola Hodson say they have worked together to block and remove content

He said they needed to ensure that searches which were unambiguously aimed at finding illegal images should return no results.

The issue of online images showing the sexual abuse of children has made headlines in recent months after the convictions of Stuart Hazell and Mark Bridger for the murders of Tia Sharp and April Jones.

Both Hazell and Bridger were known to have sought out and viewed child abuse images online.

On Monday, Downing Street said the government would be checking to see that internet companies acted "urgently" .

David Cameron

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New software

Now both companies have introduced new algorithms [software instructions] that will prevent searches for child abuse imagery delivering results that could lead to such material.

Continue reading the main story

What difference have today's measures by Google and Microsoft made?

Typing "child pornography" in to Google's search engine now brings up a set of search results that include warnings that child abuse imagery is illegal.

The first three links are all related to reporting disturbing images or seeking help if you think you or someone you know has a problem with child abuse images.

The first link is an advert that links to a Google statement about protecting children from sexual abuse. The next link directs you to the Internet Watch Foundation, where you can report criminal online content, and a link to Stop it Now advises users how they can get help and advice.

The remaining search results are mainly news stories from around the world reporting on child abuse images.

Google communications director Peter Barron said the changes, which had cleaned up the results for more than 100,000 queries that might be related to the sexual abuse of children, would make it "much, much more difficult to find this content online".

"We're agreed that child sexual imagery is a case apart, it's illegal everywhere in the world, there's a consensus on that. It's absolutely right that we identify this stuff, we remove it and we report it to the authorities," he said.

The restrictions will be launched in the UK first, before being expanded to other English-speaking countries and 158 other languages in the next six months.

Warnings - from both Google and charities - will make it clear child abuse is illegal.

Microsoft, which in a rare display of unity is working closely with Google on this issue, says its Bing search engine will also produce clean results.

Microsoft's general manager of marketing and operations Nicola Hodson said: "Day-to-day we're fierce competitors, and we collaborate on this issue because it transcends that.

"It will be much harder to find that content on both Bing and Google. We are blocking content, removing content and helping people to find the right content or also sources of help should they need that," she said.

The two companies joined other internet firms at Downing Street for an internet safety summit earlier.

Speaking after the summit, Mr Cameron said the next stage was to target the "dark internet" - where people share images online without making them publicly available.

Continue reading the main story

Analysis

Mark Ward Technology correspondent, BBC News


Google and Microsoft's efforts will make it harder to search for abuse images but will do nothing to limit access to what is on the deep web or held on darknets.

The deep web is simply those parts of the web not catalogued by search engines. These are the parts of websites search crawlers do not visit or cannot find.

Some deep web sites are password protected, or only give access to people visiting from certain addresses or are forums or places that block indexers or use file formats they do not log.

Darknets are stand-alone networks that sit separate to the web but are accessible to those that run the right software to get at them. Many operate on a peer-to-peer basis and can only be accessed by those invited to join them.

Tory MP Claire Perry, Mr Cameron's adviser on the sexualisation and commercialisation of childhood, told BBC Radio 4's Today programme the new measures were a "great step forward".

"We're not declaring victory but this is a massive step in the right direction," she said.

Lyn Smith, grandmother of April Jones, who was killed by Mark Bridger in October last year, welcomed the plans for new online restrictions.

"I don't know if it's enough but it's a start. I'm glad David Cameron has got involved in this," she said.

'Missed opportunity'

But Jim Gamble, former head of the Child Exploitation and Online Protection Centre (Ceop), told BBC Breakfast he did not think the measures would make any difference with regard to protecting children from paedophiles.

"They don't go on to Google to search for images. They go on to the dark corners of the internet on peer-to-peer websites," he said.

Former head of CEOP Jim Gamble

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Former head of anti-exploitation body Ceop, Jim Gamble: "I don't think this will make any difference"

He said search engines had already been blocking inappropriate content and the latest move was just an enhancement of what was already happening.

A better solution would be to spend £1.5m on hiring 12 child protection experts and 12 co-ordinators in each of the police regions to hunt down online predators, he added.

NSPCC chief executive officer Peter Wanless said "a concerted and sustained effort from all quarters" was needed to stay one step ahead of sex offenders, who were getting ever more technologically advanced.

"This is the key child protection issue of a generation - we cannot fail," he said.

A June report by Ceop highlighted how the "hidden internet" helped distributors of child abuse images evade detection by using encrypted networks and other secure methods.

Google and Microsoft have agreed to work with the UK's National Crime Agency and the Internet Watch Foundation to try to tackle networks which host child abuse images.

The two companies are also using their technological expertise to help in the identification of abuse images.


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