Pirate Bay founder gets jail term

30 October 2014 Last updated at 16:52

Pirate Bay co-founder Gottfrid Warg has been sentenced to three-and-a-half years in prison for hacking into computers and illegally downloading files.

He and a co-defendant were convicted of breaking into computers owned by technology services giant CSC by a Danish court.

They downloaded police and social security files from the computers.

Prosecutors said it was the "largest hacking case to date".

Soon after the sentence was announced, lawyers representing Mr Warg said they would launch an appeal.

Warg's accomplice was given a six-month jail sentence but walked free from the court, having served 17 months in pre-trial detention.

The initial hack attack took place in February 2012 and gave the pair access to the sensitive information, including social security numbers and police records, for about six months.

Defence lawyers said that, although the hack attacks were carried out using a computer owned by Warg, he was not the person that used it to steal the files.

Instead, they said, an unnamed hacker took over this machine and used it to carry out the attacks. Warg has declined to name this other hacker.

After considering evidence, the judge and jury in the case said it was "unlikely" that other people were responsible.

The court's decision is the third to go against Warg in the last five years.

He was deported from Cambodia in September 2013 to Sweden where he served a jail term for copyright theft because of his involvement with the Pirate Bay file-sharing site.

In a separate trial in 2013, Warg was sentenced to two years in a Swedish jail for hacking into a bank's computers. This sentence was reduced to one year on appeal.

In that trial, Warg and accomplice were found guilty of breaking into the computer systems of computer services firm Logica, which was doing work for Sweden's tax office and a bank. On that occasion his accomplice was put on probation.

In late November 2013 he was deported to Denmark to face charges in the CSC hacking cases.

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Sony reports loss of $1.2bn

31 October 2014 Last updated at 11:05

Japanese consumer electronics giant Sony has reported a net loss for the three months to September of 136bn yen ($1.2bn; £762m).

The loss, which was attributed to its struggling mobile phone business, was not as great as analysts had expected.

In September the firm warned its annual loss might be more than four times bigger than initially forecast.

The firm said it now expects a full-year loss of 230bn yen, compared with a previous estimate of 50bn yen.

On Friday, Sony also reported an operating loss of 85.6bn yen for the September quarter, despite an increase in sales of 7.2% to 1.9tn yen for the period, compared with a year ago.

Sony said the rise in overall sales numbers was mostly due to a "significant increase" in its games and network services sales, "reflecting the contribution of the PlayStation 4."

Tough competition

The electronics giant has been losing money due to competition in the smartphone sector from global rivals such as Apple and Samsung.

It said it would start to reduce its smartphone presence in China particularly, where it has been losing ground to domestic firms including Xiaomi.

Sony has also been struggling this year to turn around its television unit, which has been losing money due to competition from Asian rivals including Samsung Electronics.

Two years ago, chief executive Kazuo Hirai promised to return Sony's underperforming electronics business to profit.

But earlier this year he forecast the firm would remain unprofitable until 2015.

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Millions hit in Drupal hack attack

31 October 2014 Last updated at 11:30

Up to 12 million websites may have been compromised by attackers who took advantage of a bug in the widely used Drupal software.

The sites use Drupal to manage web content and images, text and video.

Drupal has issued a security warning saying users who did not apply a patch for a recently discovered bug should "assume" they have been hacked.

It said automated attacks took advantage of the bug and can let attackers take control of a site.

'Shocking' statement

In its "highly critical" announcement, Drupal's security team said anyone who did not take action within seven hours of the bug being discovered on 15 October should "should proceed under the assumption" that their site was compromised.

Anyone who had not yet updated should do so immediately, it warned.

However, the team added, simply applying this update might not remove any back doors that attackers have managed to insert after they got access. Sites should begin investigations to see if attackers had got away with data, said the warning.

"Attackers may have copied all data out of your site and could use it maliciously," said the notice. "There may be no trace of the attack." It also provided a link to advice that would help sites recover from being compromised.

Mark Stockley, an analyst at security firm Sophos, said the warning was "shocking".

The bug in version 7 of the Drupal software put attackers in a privileged position, he wrote. Their access could be used to take control of a server or seed a site with malware to trap visitors, he said.

He estimated that up to 5.1% of the billion or so sites on the web use Drupal 7 to manage their content, meaning the number of sites needing patching could be as high as 12 million.

Drupal should no longer rely on users to apply patches, said Mr Stockley.

"Many site owners will never have received the announcement and many that did will have been asleep," he said. "What Drupal badly needs but doesn't have is an automatic updater that rolls out security updates by default."

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Big firms 'must condemn GamerGate'

29 October 2014 Last updated at 23:59 By Dave Lee Technology reporter, BBC News

Please turn on JavaScript. Media requires JavaScript to play.

Zoe Quinn talks to Dave Lee about 'GamerGate'

Games publishers and industry figures must "stand-up and condemn" the movement referred to as "GamerGate", developer Zoe Quinn has told the BBC.

Ms Quinn has been at the centre of a furore which some argue is about ethics in journalism, but others consider to be a largely misogynist hate campaign.

The 27-year-old was forced to leave her home after receiving death threats.

She said publishers must "say GamerGate, and what it's been doing, is wrong".

"The fact that so much of the responsibility is offloaded to the people most harmed by it, when somebody in a much safer position than I am can stand up and condemn it... it's frustrating."

Intimate details

In a highly-emotional interview, Ms Quinn told the BBC how her life had "completely changed" after she had become embroiled in the row.

In August, an ex-boyfriend of Ms Quinn published a blog post, that ran to thousands of words, detailing intimate details about their relationship.

Continue reading the main story

I don't want to set an example that you can do this and get what you want."

End Quote Zoe Quinn Developer

The posts detailed that Ms Quinn had had a relationship with a journalist at prominent games site Kotaku - prompting accusations from others she had done so in an attempt to get positive reviews for her game, Depression Quest.

While the relationship happened, the review did not. The debate continued, however, and is now approaching its third month.

Ms Quinn, who has not returned home since the initial threats, had been speaking at the annual Gamecity event in Nottingham - despite a previous threat she would suffer a "crippling injury" the next time she went to a games conference.

"I used to go to games events and feel like I was going home," Ms Quinn said.

"Now it's just like... are any of the people I'm currently in the room with ones that said they wanted to beat me to death?

"It's terrifying. It sucks to not have any privacy. This has all been so public. It's more scrutiny than a politician faces - it's living with constant fear in a place I called home."

The ex-boyfriend, Eron Gjoni, has said he did not support the "abuse and harrasment" of Ms Quinn.

'Horrible misrepresentation'

Some firms - such as Ubisoft - have come forward and said they were strongly against "harassment, bullying and threats".

The Entertainment Software Association, a trade group for US developers, released a statement saying: "Threats of violence and harassment are wrong."

But Ms Quinn said she did not feel it went far enough.

"We need everybody to stand-up and condemn it - and not in this milquetoast 'harassment is bad you guys' way - because they don't think that what they're doing is harassment."

She added: "When people that are prominent in the industry can stand up and say 'I'm part of games, I love games, this hate mob doesn't speak for me, this is not welcome in games', it has the two-fold effect of making it less damaging to those that this can hurt, and it does something repair this horrible misrepresentation of this medium that so many of us love.

"Condemning them and say they do not speak for games - it's so fundamental, otherwise this is going to keep happening."

'Pure toxicity'

Analysis of discussion about GamerGate has indicated that misogynist abuse - and vitriolic messages in general - is not limited to either "side" of the argument.

Journalist Allum Bokhari, a writer for TechCrunch, has said there was credible evidence that at least one well-known trolling group was "working to provoke both sides against each other".

Meanwhile, some people previously offering highly vocal support of GamerGate have backed off.

"Through a snowball effect of misinformation, trolling, and ideological/emotional bias on both sides, the issue is quickly descending into a quagmire attracting trolls, extremists, and opportunists needlessly stirring the pot of controversy," said one prominent figure who backed GamerGate, but wished to remain anonymous in this article.

"The harassment is ultimately an unfortunate variable affecting both sides of this situation, and it distresses me to see anyone live in fear.

"Dismissing GamerGate as a misogynist hate movement is not going to make it go away, because it just simply is not that - it's a consumer boycott.

"Until we act like adults and come together to have a conversation on the ethics of games journalism, it's only going to get worse and worse - that's why I'm now choosing to distance myself from the issue."

Ms Quinn herself suggested that the gaming ethics argument could progress - but only if it distanced itself fully from GamerGate tag.

"If you have any care for this industry, if you have any care for the future of games, you need to leave.

"If you have actual concerns, start over without [GamerGate]. If your concerns can't exist on their own, if they have to be supported off the backs of ruining lives, then how legitimate are your concerns?"

'Maybe they'll be back'

As well as Ms Quinn, other women in the games industry have had to leave home due to threats to their safety, including Brianna Wu, a developer in Boston, and Anita Sarkeesian, a feminist writer and commentator.

Ms Sarkeesian had published a series of YouTube videos criticising the depiction of women in many popular games. Some felt it was applying a level of political correctness not needed in gaming.

Ms Quinn said it was important to keep talking about the issue openly.

"I don't want to set an example that you can do this and get what you want.

"I have a folder on my desktop called 'those who left' - every time somebody sends me a message saying 'hey, I really admire your strength, but it's not worth it for me, I'm leaving', I save these.

"I'm going to hopefully go back through it in a few years, and maybe they'll be back."

As for whether she would be able to continue her own career, she said: "I love games more than they hate me."

Follow Dave Lee on Twitter @DaveLeeBBC

An extended interview with Zoe Quinn will be published later on Thursday.

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Wi-fi hotspot for every 150 people

3 November 2014 Last updated at 08:19 By Jane Wakefield Technology reporter, BBC News

The UK has one wi-fi hotspot for every 11 people and worldwide there is one for every 150, new research from wi-fi provider iPass indicates.

It suggests there will be 47.7 million public hotspots worldwide by the end of 2014.

France currently has the most hotspots, followed by the US and UK.

Hotspots are designed to fill the gaps in coverage left by mobile networks and are often offered free of charge.

The study is one of the first comprehensive looks at the distribution of global wi-fi. A clickable map of hotspots around the world shows the numbers in each region and where they are located - in homes, on trains, planes, airports and retail outlets.

Homespots

Over the next four years, global hotspot numbers will grow to more than 340 million, the equivalent of one wi-fi hotspot for every 20 people on earth, the research finds.

But this growth will not be evenly distributed. While in North America there will be one hotspot for every four people by 2018, in Africa it will be one for every 408.

While Europe currently has the most dense wi-fi coverage, Asia will overtake it by 2018, according to the report.

The research suggests that the vast majority of hotspots - nearly 34 million - are in homes. These hotspots are part of a growing trend to extend home wi-fi to the local community.

Increasingly firms such as BT are turning home wi-fi routers into public wi-fi hotspots which will provide free net access to other subscribers to the network.

It does so without affecting the bandwidth allowance of the customer whose home it is in.

US provider Comcast caused controversy when it introduced its public home wi-fi service in the summer because customers were not given the option to opt out before receiving it.

Such "homespot" public wi-fi will see explosive growth rising to more than 325 million in 2018 and taking wi-fi "from the cities to the suburbs", according to the research.

"Every second home you walk past will be a public hotspot that you can use if you are part of that provider's network," said June Bower, chief marketing officer at iPass.

There are nearly 7.5 million hotspots in shops, cafes and hotels and and a much smaller number - nearly 11,000, on trains, planes and in airports. But wi-fi on transport is also set to grow massively, the report indicates.

Google wi-fi

Unlike the mobile network, which tends to be run by three or four big players in each country, wi-fi hotspots are controlled by many different providers.

According to the research, more than 50% of all commercial hotspots are controlled by brands whose core business is not telecommunications.

Run by cafes, hoteliers and retailers, it can make the network "somewhat chaotic", according to Ms Bower.

"At the moment you have to have a separate log-in for every hotspot and ultimately the winning providers are those that will offer the easier access experience," she said.

And there is opportunity there for the big technology brands.

"Everyone has a Google log-in. Google could become a hotspot provider as could Facebook or Apple."

In fact Google is already dabbling in the wi-fi market.

In 2013, it made a deal with Starbucks to offer free wi-fi to 7,000 coffee shops in the US and it recently filed a request with the US Federal Communications Commission to test high-speed wireless spectrum at several locations in California.

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Former Android boss leaves Google

31 October 2014 Last updated at 11:57

One of the creators of the world's most popular mobile operating system is to leave Google, it has been announced.

Andy Rubin, who co-founded the Android project, is to step down after around nine years at the technology giant.

Announcing Mr Rubin's departure, Google said he created "something truly remarkable" in Android.

Mr Rubin, who has also worked for Apple, reportedly plans to found an incubator for hardware start-up firms.

"I want to wish Andy all the best with what's next. With Android he created something truly remarkable - with a billion plus happy users. Thank you," said Google's chief executive and co-founder Larry Page.

Mr Rubin's departure comes after he stepped down from Google's Android division in March 2013 to begin working on the technology giant's robotics project.

He was behind the acquisition of seven robotics companies in a six-month spell as part of a reported attempt to develop a rival to Amazon's mooted drone delivery system. Google said that those claims were speculation.

When he left, Android came under the control of Sunder Pichai, a rising star at the company who worked with Google Chrome and Apps, and who has since picked up yet more responsibilities from Larry Page.

'Extraordinary progress'

Writing on Google's blog at the time, Mr Page wrote that when Andy Rubin he first launched Android in 2003, "most people thought he was nuts".

He said Mr Rubin's vision of "aligning standards around an open-source operating system" struck a chord with Google because it simplified the development process.

And he lauded its subsequent success, which he said was "pretty extraordinary progress for a decade's work".

The move comes amid a series of executive changes at Google, which the New York Times reported were designed to relieve Larry Page of the responsibility of running individual projects.

"These changes will free me up a bit so I can focus on the bigger picture with Sundar [Pichai] when it comes to our core products," it quoted a memo from Mr Page as saying.

The news of Mr Rubin's departure from Google came as Twitter confirmed that it had demoted its head of product, the former director of Google's Mobile Apps, Daniel Graf.

Mr Graf was replaced by Kevin Weil, who took up the role of vice president of product. The former retained his title but was given a narrower role.

He will be expected to work on geolocation features and other strategic initiatives, a source intimated.

His demotion came only six months after he was hired from Google and is the second time Twitter's head of product has been replaced in the year since the initial public offering.

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Hungary scraps controversial web tax

31 October 2014 Last updated at 12:57

Hungary has decided to shelve a proposed tax on internet data traffic after mass protests against the plan.

"This tax in its current form cannot be introduced," Prime Minister Viktor Orban said on Friday.

Large-scale protests began on Sunday, when demonstrators hurled old computer parts at the headquarters of Mr Orban's ruling Fidesz party.

The draft law - condemned by the EU - would levy a fee on each gigabyte of internet data transferred.

The protesters objected to the financial burden but also feared the move would restrict free expression and access to information.

The levy was set at 150 forints (£0.40; 0.50 euros; $0.60) per gigabyte of data traffic.

After thousands protested the government decided to cap the tax at 700 forints per month for individuals and 5,000 forints for companies. But that did not placate the crowds.

The BBC's Nick Thorpe in Budapest writes:

Viktor Orban does not often back down, but he has done so on this occasion for several reasons.

• He saw how unpopular the tax was. He managed with one stroke to do something which opposition leaders had tried and failed to do for five years: unify his opponents
• He took on the best-organised community in the country - internet users - and lost
• The government's communication methods failed again - as they have with almost every major decision since Fidesz came to power
• "We are not Communists. We don't go against the will of the people," he said - a sign that growing comparisons between Fidesz and the old Hungarian Socialist Workers' Party are hitting the mark.

What happens next? Mr Orban's decision to cancel the tax deprives his opponents of a valuable rallying cry. The big question for them will be whether they can use the momentum of two big rallies to create new forms of opposition to Fidesz.

They have proven that he can be defeated. Mr Orban has proven that he is more flexible than many analysts give him credit for.

'It should not be done'

Fidesz had said the special tax was needed to balance Hungary's budget in 2015.

Speaking on Kossuth public radio, Mr Orban said that "if the people not only dislike something but also consider it unreasonable then it should not be done...

"The tax code should be modified. This must be withdrawn, and we do not have to deal with this now."

He said a measure seen by the government as a technical issue had become "a fear-inducing vision".

There will be a national consultation on it in January, he said.

A European Commission spokesman, Ryan Heath, said the tax was "bad in principle" because it was a unilateral measure applied to a global phenomenon.

He said it was "part of a pattern... of actions that have limited freedoms or sought to take rents without achieving wider economic or social interest" in Hungary.

The Commission has previously criticised Mr Orban's government for constitutional proposals seen to be cementing the Fidesz party's political dominance.

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CoD: 'Toxic' gamers not welcome

Call of Duty's lead developer has told Newsbeat he wouldn't characterise the gaming community as "misogynistic".

The man in charge of new CoD title Advanced Warfare says he has "low tolerance for toxic behaviour".

He was speaking after the developer at the centre of the #GamerGate row said the industry should do more to condemn the online trolling of women.

Michael Condrey said: "Like a lot of areas of society there are examples of people behaving poorly."

Zoe Quinn received death threats and was forced to leave her home after having a relationship with a video games journalist.

Game developer Zoe Quinn received death threats online

The #GamerGate story has dominated media coverage of the games industry since August.

Some people will tell you it's a debate about ethics in video game journalism, others will say it's about misogynistic men trolling women online.

Call of Duty lead developer Michael Condrey

With the new Call of Duty being released today the game's lead developer Michael Condrey told Newsbeat: "I certainly wouldn't characterise the community of fans I know and had the pleasure to engage with as toxic or misogynistic.

"The community as a whole is very healthy, engaged and thoughtful and probably like anything anywhere well outside of gaming.

"In the fringes of a lot of areas of society there are examples of people behaving poorly."

"Come to the game to have fun, come to be social, come to enjoy and build a community and have a positive energy.

"Toxic behaviours, abusive language, inappropriate emblems, I don't want that around.

"So for our community, Sledgehammer Games and Advanced Warfare we have pretty low tolerance for toxic behaviour."

The pressure is on Michael and Sledgehammer Games, the studio that created the game, for this version of Call of Duty to be successful.

Last month one of its main rivals in the first person shooter genre, Battlefield 4, won a Golden Joystick award for best multiplayer game.

In 2011 Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 made nearly £500m in sales globally during the first five days of its release alone.

So to try and draw in the fans this new version has got futuristic fighting, multiplayer options galore and a star turn from Kevin Spacey.

According to members of the game's development team, Aaron Halon and Brett Robbins, there could be more stars of the silver screen turning their talents to video games in the future.

Brett told us: "He was basically number one on a shortlist, when we actually started writing the story we actually had him in mind."

Aaron said: "It's something that we set out early on to really focus on… I definitely think it's a trend we'll see continue in the future."

Follow @BBCNewsbeat on Twitter and Radio1Newsbeat on YouTube

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Microsoft stops selling Windows 7, 8

3 November 2014 Last updated at 13:49

Microsoft has officially stopped selling retail copies of some versions of Windows 7 and 8.

The date to stop selling the software was set some time ago and should help Microsoft move people on to more recent versions of its operating system.

Separately, statistics suggest people are finally moving away from some very old versions of Windows.

The next version of Windows, called Windows 10, is due to be released in late 2015.

Old code

From 31 October, consumers could no longer buy copies of the Home Basic, Home Premium and Ultimate versions of Windows 7. Now, Windows 8 is also no longer available. The change affects both copies bought in shops or loaded on PCs and laptops.

The current version of Windows, 8.1, will be the default version offered on PCs.

The change will take time to feed through into the market, as many PC makers have large stocks of older versions of Windows and will continue to sell PCs running the software.

Those keen to get a computer running Windows 7 will be able to "downgrade" from 8.1 to Windows 7 Professional but relatively few PC firms offer this option.

Gordon Kelly, writing in Forbes, said the policy revealed "Microsoft's determination to distance itself from the original form of Windows 8" despite it being released just over two years ago.

The original version of Windows 8 did not prove popular because it did away with some familiar elements of the desktop version of the operating system.

By contrast, he said, Windows 7 has been available since late 2009 and is still very popular among users. About 53% of Windows users are on the various editions of Version 7 of Windows, he said. The more recently released Windows 8 has only grabbed a 6% market share and has already been surpassed by 8.1, said Mr Kelly.

The change will also clear the path for the arrival of Windows 10, he added.

Separately, market analysis reveals that the numbers of people using the venerable Windows XP operating system has suddenly seen a sharp decline. Data from Netmarketshare suggests that in October this year its share dropped from almost 24% to just over 17%. It is not yet clear what was behind the fall.

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Facebook sets up 'dark web' service

3 November 2014 Last updated at 13:58 By Dave Lee Technology reporter, BBC News

Facebook has created the ability for users to connect directly to the social network via anonymising "dark web" service Tor.

While it was already possible to access Facebook via Tor, the new set-up means all data is encrypted and Tor users are not mistaken for hacked accounts.

Users could access the site "without losing the cryptographic protections" of Tor, Facebook said.

It may appeal to people in places where the network is blocked.

China, Iran, North Korea and Cuba are among countries that have attempted to prevent access to the site.

Facebook is the first Silicon Valley giant to provide official support for Tor, a network built to allow people to visit web pages without being tracked and to publish sites whose contents would not show up in search engines.

Facebook's move would prove popular among those who wanted to stop their location and browsing habits from being tracked, said Dr Steven Murdoch, from University College London, who was consulted by Facebook for the project.

He explained users would still need to log-in, using real-name credentials, to access the site.

He told the BBC: "It's quite hard to use a social network completely anonymously, it somewhat defeats the point, unless you're just reading information.

"But just because you want to tell Facebook your name, doesn't mean they should be able to find out your location and your browsing habits."

The crucial change is the new Tor service - accessed through a Tor browser at https://facebookcorewwwi.onion/ - means all communication remains in the anonymous Tor network. Previously, some traffic would leave the closed network and access the open internet, potentially exposing a user's location and other information.

Dr Murdoch dismissed suggestions the move could anger governments who regularly approached Facebook with requests to hand over user information.

"It's not so much protecting people from governments," said Dr Murdoch, "but protecting from people who are spying on communications - that could be anyone from criminals to marketers."

Facebook, along with other major web companies, is currently pushing for permission to be more transparent over government requests it receives.

Security blockage

It has been possible to access Facebook through Tor for some time, albeit with some frustrations.

Tor is a network that anonymises users. One of the key ways it does this is by routing internet traffic through several locations - making it hard to track down where the user is browsing from.

But when accessing Facebook, this causes problems. One of the site's security measures is that if a user tries to log-in from an unexpected location, it will flag this as evidence the account has possibly been compromised.

Of course, it could just mean that a user has changed location - holidaymakers often find they must go through additional security steps, such as naming people in pictures, before being able to log-in while abroad.

"[Tor's] design means that from the perspective of our systems a person who appears to be connecting from Australia at one moment may the next appear to be in Sweden or Canada," explained Facebook engineer Alec Muffett, who has led the site's Tor efforts, in a blog post.

"In other contexts such behaviour might suggest that a hacked account is being accessed through a 'botnet', but for Tor this is normal."

It meant accounts were being wrongly locked out. Other problems, such as fonts not displaying correctly, marred Facebook use on Tor.

What is Tor?

Tor is a special part of the internet that requires software, known as the Tor Browser bundle, to access it.

The name is an acronym for The Onion Router - just as there are many layers to the vegetable, there are many layers of encryption on the network.

It was originally designed by the US Naval Research Laboratory, and continues to receive funding from the US State Department.

It attempts to hide a person's location and identity by sending data across the internet via a very circuitous route involving several "nodes" - which, in this context, means using volunteers' PCs and computer servers as connection points.

Encryption applied at each hop along this route makes it very hard to connect a person to any particular activity.

To the website that ultimately receives the request, it appears as if the data traffic comes from the last computer in the chain - known as an "exit relay" - rather than the person responsible.

As well as allowing users to visit normal website anonymously, it can also be used to host hidden sites, which use the .onion suffix.

Tor's users include the military, law enforcement officers and journalists - who use it as a way of communicating with whistle-blowers - as well as members of the public who wish to keep their browser activity secret.

But it has also been associated with illegal activity, allowing people to visit sites offering illegal drugs for sale and access to child abuse images, which do not show up in normal search engine results and would not be available to those who did not know where to look.

Follow Dave Lee on Twitter @DaveLeeBBC

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