Faster wi-fi for train commuters

6 July 2014 Last updated at 02:01 By Richard Westcott BBC Transport Correspondent

Millions of pounds is to be spent on faster wi-fi for commuter trains across England and Wales, the BBC has learned.

A proportion of the £90m cost of the scheme will be funded by the government from a record-breaking fine being handed to Network Rail this week.

The firm looks after much of the track, signalling and stations across Britain.

It is being punished by the Office of Rail Regulation for missing key punctuality targets on its long-distance services over five years.

Critics have long questioned the point of fining Network Rail for poor service, because in the end it is being stripped of cash that could be used to improve the lines.

Ten times faster

Now ministers say they will make sure the cash will be used to help people get online.

The new service, which could be 10 times faster than the service available at the moment, should be available within three to four years.

Network Rail says commuters will in future be able to get a connection through equipment installed alongside the track, rather than the current system of having to find a satellite signal as they go along.

Train firms will have to pitch for a slice of the money, but the government has indicated it will favour the busier commuter lines first of all - the most crowded 30% of the network, which carries 70% of the passengers.

The fine is being imposed for the late running of long distance trains on routes including Cross Country, East Coast, First Hull Trains, First TransPennine Express, Grand Central, Virgin, some First Great Western, East Midlands Trains and Greater Anglia.

Network Rail could face a potential penalty of about £70m based on the number of targets it has failed to meet. However, the BBC understands the fine will be substantially lower than this because the regulator has made an allowance for recent bad weather.

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Google reinstates 'forgotten' links

4 July 2014 Last updated at 11:13 By Dave Lee Technology reporter, BBC News

After widespread criticism, Google has begun reinstating some links it had earlier removed under the controversial "right to be forgotten" ruling.

Articles posted online by the Guardian newspaper were removed earlier this week, but have now returned fully to the search engine.

Google has defended its actions, saying that it was a "difficult" process.

"We are learning as we go," Peter Barron, head of communications for Google in Europe, told the BBC.

Speaking to Radio 4's Today programme, he dismissed claims made on Thursday that the company was simply letting all requests through in an attempt to show its disapproval at the ruling.

"Absolutely not," he said. "We are aiming to deal with it as responsibly as possible.

Continue reading the main story

A few automated messages later, the story is back in the headlines - and Google is likely to be happy about that"

End Quote James Ball The Guardian

"The European Court of Justice [ECJ] ruling was not something that we welcomed, that we wanted - but it is now the law in Europe and we are obliged to comply with that law."

He said Google had to balance the need for transparency with the need to protect people's identity.

'Memory hole'

Mr Barron argued that the search giant was doing its best to comply with the ECJ's ruling, which stated that links to web pages can be removed from search engine if they are deemed to be "outdated, irrelevant or no longer relevant".

The ruling has come under particular scrutiny after BBC economics editor Robert Peston was notified that a blog post he had written in 2007 would be removed from appearing when a specific search was carried out on Google.

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Rory Cellan-Jones reports: ''The right to be forgotten imposed on Google... is now swinging into action''

The identity of the person who made the request is not yet known, although Google has confirmed it is not the subject of the article, former Merrill Lynch boss Stan O'Neal.

Instead, the request relates to the reader comments that appear underneath the story.

In addition to Peston's blog, seven other BBC articles were singled out for removal, most of which included comment threads.

Elsewhere, the Guardian's special projects editor James Ball wrote that six of the newspaper's articles had "fallen down the memory hole".

Back in the headlines

A source has confirmed to the BBC that the Guardian articles have now been re-indexed for all relevant search terms.

Mr Ball joined those saying that Google's actions may have been "tactical".

"There are very few news organisations in the world who are happy to hear their output is being stifled," he said.

"A few automated messages later, the story is back in the headlines - and Google is likely to be happy about that."

His thoughts echoed those of Ryan Heath, spokesman for the European Commission's vice-president, who described the decision to remove a link to Peston's blog as "not a good judgement".

"Google clearly has a strong interest in making sure that they're able to work with whatever the legal requirements are, so they position themselves in a particular way over that," he said.

"It doesn't come cheap to deal with all of these requests, so they need to find some way to come up with dealing with them."

He added that the ruling should not allow people to "Photoshop their lives".

Follow Dave Lee on Twitter @DaveLeeBBC

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Complaint over Facebook emotion test

4 July 2014 Last updated at 11:55

An official complaint has been filed to the US Federal Trade Commission about a Facebook experiment that manipulated the emotional state of users.

The study was carried out for one week in 2012 and targeted almost 700,000 users by varying the personalised content sent to their Facebook pages.

The complaint was filed by digital rights group the Electronic Privacy Information Center (Epic).

Facebook said it had no comment to make about the complaint.

Damages call

In its complaint, Epic said Facebook had flouted ethical standards that govern experiments on human subjects.

The 2012 experiment involved Facebook collaborating with two US universities to see if changing the emotional content of stories and updates sent to users' Facebook profile pages had any effect on the people that read them.

It found that it was possible to influence people and that those who read fewer messages with negative emotional content were less likely to write a similarly negative personal update on their profile page.

Continue reading the main story

"We never meant to upset you"

End Quote Sheryl Sandberg Facebook

"The company purposefully messed with people's minds," said Epic in its complain, adding that Facebook did not get explicit permission from users to carry out the experiment. The organisation's terms and conditions did not allow Facebook to carry out the test nor hand over data to experimenters.

Epic wants Facebook to pay damages and to hand over the algorithm underlying the work.

The social network's action amounted to a "deceptive practice", said Epic, and as such should be subject to enforcement action by the Federal Trade Commission (FTC).

Facebook's actions also violated a 2012 order imposed on it by the FTC, which required it to safeguard user data, said Epic.

The UK's information commissioner is also investigating whether Facebook broke data-protection laws when it carried out the psychological experiment.

In earlier statements about the experiment Facebook said it had taken "appropriate" steps to protect user data.

In addition on Thursday Facebook chief operating officer Sheryl Sandberg apologised for the way the study was carried out. "We never meant to upset you," said Ms Sandberg while talking to the press during a trip to India.

"It was poorly communicated," she said. "And for that communication we apologise."

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NSA 'targets' Tor users and servers

4 July 2014 Last updated at 12:32

The NSA has been targeting the Tor anonymising system to spy on its users, suggests a report.

German public broadcaster ARD said two Tor servers in Germany were actively being watched by the US spy agency.

Citing information given by official sources, ARD said almost anyone searching for Tor or installing it could be watched by the NSA.

Tor hides users' location and identity by randomly bouncing data through some of the machines making up the network.

Data is encrypted during the hops to better conceal who is visiting which page.

Information passed to ARD suggests the NSA has tapped into traffic to and from two German directory servers used by Tor to scoop up the IP (internet protocol) addresses of people who visited it.

Data passing in and out of these servers was vulnerable because it was unencrypted. Other directory servers might also have been watched.

The addresses the NSA grabbed were monitored via an analysis system it developed called XKeyscore, said ARD. XKeyscore works by snooping on information passing through the few exchanges around the world where data hops from one ISP to another.

Data grabbed from these sources was used to build up a a profile of the web browsing habits associated with those IP addresses.

Sites offering several other anonymising and privacy tools were also watched, said the ARD report.

"Merely searching the web for the privacy-enhancing software tools outlined in the XKeyscore rules causes the NSA to mark and track the IP address of the person doing the search," it said.

A spokeswoman for the NSA told news site Ars Technica: "XKeyscore is an analytic tool that is used as a part of NSA's lawful foreign signals intelligence collection system. Such tools have stringent oversight and compliance mechanisms built in at several levels.

"All of NSA's operations are conducted in strict accordance with the rule of law."

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Russia backs law on web data storage

5 July 2014 Last updated at 04:22

Russia's lower house of parliament has passed a law requiring internet companies to store Russian citizens' personal data inside the country.

The Kremlin says the move is for data protection but critics fear it is aimed at muzzling social networks like Twitter and Facebook.

The Russian government is thought to be seeking greater access to user data.

Social networks were widely used by protesters opposing President Vladimir Putin's return to the Kremlin in 2012.

Analysts say there are fears that Russia may be seeking to create a closed and censored version of the internet within its borders.

The new bill must still be approved by the upper chamber and President Putin before it becomes law.

If passed, the new rules will not take effect until September 2016 but will give the government grounds to block sites that do not comply.

"The aim of this law is to create... (another) quasi-legal pretext to close Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and all other services," internet expert and blogger Anton Nossik told Reuters news agency.

"The ultimate goal is to shut mouths, enforce censorship in the country and shape a situation where internet business would not be able to exist and function properly."

But introducing the bill to parliament, MP Vadim Dengin said "most Russians don't want their data to leave Russia for the United States, where it can be hacked and given to criminals".

"Our entire lives are stored over there," he said, adding that companies should build data centres within Russia.

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Dotcom extradition hearing delayed

7 July 2014 Last updated at 11:41

An extradition hearing for Kim Dotcom, who stands accused of "massive" piracy, has again been delayed.

Mr Dotcom ran Megaupload, a file storage site that authorities claimed was being used to store and share films and other content illegally.

The next hearing would be in February 2015, Mr Dotcom said on Monday. He is currently on bail and living in New Zealand. He has denied the charges.

The reason for the latest extradition hearing delay is not yet known.

Mr Dotcom's mansion home was raided by US and New Zealand authorities in January 2012.

The 40-year-old was arrested on the roof of his home, but has since been involved in a bitter back-and-forth relationship with New Zealand's courts, its politicians and figures in the entertainment industry.

Earlier this year, a New Zealand court ruled that the raid was legal, but that the US's cloning of electronic evidence was not.

Civil lawsuits

More recently, the court decided that Mr Dotcom did not have to hand over access codes to hard-drives seized in the raid.

Additionally, the entertainment industry has launched multiple lawsuits to run alongside the criminal case.

One, from a number of film studios, alleges that Mr Dotcom cost the industry $500m (£320m) in lost revenue.

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The BBC's Dave Lee follows Kim Dotcom on his campaign trail

Mr Dotcom told the BBC earlier this year that he believed the civil lawsuits were a sign the industry believed the criminal case was faltering.

Since his arrest, Mr Dotcom has launched a new file storage site, Mega, and his own political party.

The Internet Party has since merged with an existing group in the country to become #InternetMana. A general election is set to be held in the country on 20 September.

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Ordinary people 'caught in NSA net'

6 July 2014 Last updated at 10:02

Ninety percent of people identified in a tranche of communications intercepted by the NSA were ordinary internet users, not foreign surveillance targets, analysis by a US paper says.

The Washington Post says innocents were "caught in a net the National Security Agency had cast for somebody else".

Much of the highly personal information was retained, the paper says, even though it had no intelligence value.

The information was provided by former NSA contractor Edward Snowden.

The paper said it reviewed some 160,000 emails and instant-messages and 7,900 documents from some 11,000 online accounts, gathered by the NSA between 2009 and 2012.

The Post said that a four-month investigation it carried out revealed that nine out of 10 of the account holders - including many Americans - were not the intended surveillance targets.

Much of the information has, the paper says, a "startlingly intimate, even voyeuristic quality" telling stories of "love and heartbreak, illicit sexual liaisons, mental-health crises, political and religious conversions, financial anxieties and disappointed hopes".

However the paper says that the intercepted files also contained "discoveries of considerable intelligence value".

These included "fresh revelations about a secret overseas nuclear project, double-dealing by an ostensible ally, a military calamity that befell an unfriendly power, and the identities of aggressive intruders into US computer networks", it said.

The Post argues that the surveillance files highlight a policy dilemma for President Obama - while there are some discoveries of "considerable intelligence value" there is also "collateral harm to privacy on a scale that the administration has not been willing to address".

Mr Snowden, 30, fled the US in May 2013 and has been living under temporary asylum in Russia.

Last year, he fed a trove of secret NSA documents to news outlets including the Washington Post and the Guardian.

Among other things, the leaks detailed the NSA's practice of harvesting data on millions of telephone calls made in the US and around the world, and revealed the agency had snooped on foreign leaders.

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Spanish firm admits false accounts

6 July 2014 Last updated at 19:05

The Spanish wi-fi firm, Gowex, is filing for bankruptcy after its boss admitted that the firm's accounts for the last four years were false.

Founder and chief executive Jenaro Garcia Martin resigned after making the admission to his board.

In a statement Gowex said that Mr Martin had told the board the accounts "do not show a full and fair view of the company's situation".

On Thursday shares were suspended as a broker questioned the firm's revenues.

The US firm Gotham City Research had described Gowex as a "charade" and said that its revenues were "at most" 10% of those reported.

"We have evidence Gowex's largest customer was really itself," the report said.

'Heartily sorry'

That sparked a freefall in the company's shares, wiping 60% from the company's value in two days, before they were suspended on Thursday.

Initially the company had described the report as "incorrect" and "defamatory".

After the confession and resignation from Mr Martin, the board said:

"Confronted by the expectation that the company would not be able to cope with its maturing current debt payments, [the board] agreed to file a voluntary request for bankruptcy."

Mr Martin also took to the social media site Twitter to apologise. His tweet said "I apologise to all. I am heartily sorry."

In a later posting he said "I made the deposition and confession. I want to collaborate with the justice. I face the consequences."

The Madrid-based company supplies free wi-fi services in major cities across the world - including Madrid, London, Shanghai and Buenos Aires.

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Arrests over 'hoax' government websites

7 July 2014 Last updated at 00:12

Five people have been arrested as part of a crackdown on websites made to look like official government sites.

The arrests come after more than 5,700 complaints about the websites were made to the Advertising Standards Authority and Citizens Advice.

Most were linked to alleged scams over fees charged for tax return, driving licence and passport applications.

Those held last week under the Fraud Act are on police bail, trading standards officials have announced.

An awareness campaign is also being launched by the government warning people to look out for the misleading internet sites, whose URLs often contain fragments of official web addresses, such as "govuk" or "directgov".

Official government services can be found by searching on the gov.uk website.

Richard Lloyd, executive director of consumer organisation Which? said the copycat websites mislead people into paying potentially hundreds of pounds for services that should be free.

Adverts removed

Continue reading the main story

People should be aware of rogue websites that are out there trying to exploit them "

End Quote Jo Swinson Consumer affairs minister

The National Trading Standards Board said it was making it "as difficult as possible" for online hoaxers to operate.

Its chairman Lord Harris said: "We have been working with search engines such as Google and Bing to remove adverts from online search results and we continue to gather intelligence across the country to help tackle this issue.

"We urge you to avoid unofficial websites which could leave you out of pocket or at risk of identity theft."

Consumer affairs minister Jo Swinson said: "It's great that it's becoming easier and more common to use the internet to order official documents such as passports or tax discs, but people should be aware of rogue websites that are out there trying to exploit them and take their hard-earned cash and even put them at risk of identity theft.

"The enforcement action which the National Trading Standards eCrime team has taken demonstrates the government's commitment to tackling these scammers. We will not let them get away with misleading consumers."

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Heathrow gives charged gadget advice

7 July 2014 Last updated at 13:49 By Leo Kelion Technology desk editor

Heathrow Airport has told passengers to ensure all electronic devices carried as hand baggage are charged before travel if they are flying to the US.

It posted details of the new rule on its website and Facebook page.

The move follows a request from the US that "certain overseas airports" implement enhanced security measures.

The UK government has also revised its rules to state that if a "device doesn't switch on, you won't be allowed to bring it on to the aircraft".

Affected passengers have been told they may also have to undergo extra screening measures.

British Airways has said that its customers face being made to rebook if they are found in possession of an uncharged device.

The Department for Transport declined to say whether other UK airports would enforce a similar restriction on flights to the US.

American officials said last week they were aware of a "credible" terrorist threat, but have not linked the security changes to any specific intelligence.

Analysts, however, have suggested the action could be a response to efforts by Islamic militants in Syria and Yemen to build bombs that evade airport security checks.

Powerless phones

A spokeswoman for Heathrow said that it did not comment on security matters.

But the BBC understands that passengers flying to the US will be advised to remove relevant chargers from their hold luggage at check-in, so that they can top up carried-on gadgets if necessary. Alternatively, they can opt to place any powered-down kit in their stowed luggage.

If they still arrive at the security point with a powerless device, they will be directed to a nearby retailer that might be able to provide a recharging cable, and told of the location of airport charging points.

If the traveller is still unable to power on their machine, it will be suggested they make use of MailandFly - an existing service offered by the firm Bagport, which is based at Heathrow's security control.

It allows passengers to pay for banned hand baggage to either be shipped to them separately or be stored at one of the firm's warehouses for up to 42 days.

"We already deal with perfumes, knives and other prohibited items... and shipping a powered-down device would be possible," said Bagport station manager Liisi Puutsa.

If the traveller rejects this option, it will ultimately be up to the airline to arrange what happens to the device.

British Airways has warned its customers that even newly purchased devices from an airport shop must have power, noting that checks might be carried out at the boarding gate in addition to the earlier security controls.

It noted that passengers using London as a transfer point must also have their devices charged, adding that anyone who failed to meet the requirement faced delays.

"If your device doesn't power up when you are requested to do so, you will not be allowed to fly to the US on your original service. Our customer services team will look after the rebooking of your travel arrangements," it said on its website.

Virgin Atlantic, Delta Air Lines and Air France were all unable to provide details of how they would tackle such a situation when asked by the BBC.

Check list

The authorities are not providing a specific list of the devices now subject to power-on checks.

However, the US Transport Security Administration has singled out mobile phones as one type of device affected, and the UK's hand luggage rules also mention tablets, MP3 players, cameras and electric shavers as other examples.

One expert suggested an ever-growing number of gadgets were likely to be included over the coming years.

"When they first started asking for laptops to be taking out separately, they used to ask that the device be powered up too," said TK Keanini, chief technology officer at the cybersecurity firm Lancope.

"This is nothing new in terms of a requirement, but I do see it as a growing challenge for them as more and more types of devices start to make it through these checkpoints.

"With the 'internet of things' approaching, smart-everything will pose new challenges at these checkpoints."

Have you been affected by this? You can share your experience by emailing haveyoursay@bbc.co.uk using "Airport delays" as a subject heading.

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