Sony warns press over hacking leaks

15 December 2014 Last updated at 11:17

Sony Pictures has contacted some US news outlets in an attempt to limit the damage caused by the hacking of its internal computer system last month.

The studio, its letter informed them, "does not consent to your possession... dissemination, publication... or making any use of the stolen information".

Script details, salary data and private email correspondence have been leaked in the wake of the huge cyber attack.

A group calling itself Guardians of Peace has claimed responsibility.

It is believed that the attack was triggered by Sony's new film The Interview, a comedy that features a plot to assassinate North Korea's leader Kim Jong-un.

North Korea has denied being involved in the attack, but has described it as a "righteous deed" that may have been carried out by its "supporters and sympathisers".

Variety, the New York Times and the Hollywood Reporter are among the publications understood to have been contacted by Sony's legal team.

A New York Times spokeswoman said its coverage would "take into account both the significance of the news and the questions of how the information emerged".

Some of the emails released have contained embarrassing exchanges about some of Hollywood's biggest stars, among them Angelina Jolie and Leonardo DiCaprio.

The producers of the new James Bond film Spectre have also confirmed that an early version of its script was stolen and "illegally made public by hackers".

George Clooney is the latest movie star to have had his personal emails disseminated, revealing he was personally stung by the critical reaction to his recent film The Monuments Men.

"I fear I've let you all down," the actor and director wrote in an exchange with Sony Pictures Entertainment co-chairman Amy Pascal.

The revelation that Jennifer Lawrence and Amy Adams were paid less than their male co-stars in American Hustle has also been widely reported.

Screenwriter Aaron Sorkin is among those to have criticised the media's apparent complicity with the hackers, accusing it of being "morally treasonous".

According to Variety's Andrew Wallenstein, however, publishing the stolen data is "problematic but necessary" because it "is in the public domain" and "unavoidable".

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Iowa developing driver's licence app

12 December 2014 Last updated at 17:45

The US state of Iowa is developing an application to put residents' driver's licences on mobile devices.

The app would use a pin number for verification and biometric identification to control who can access it, officials said.

"We are really moving forward on this," Governor Terry Branstand said, according to the Des Moines Register.

An initial pilot programme will begin next year, Iowa's transportation department tells the BBC.

The app could be used at traffic stops and security at Iowa airports.

The state is already one of 30 that allows drivers to show their proof of vehicle insurance electronically.

Residents will still be able to use a regular "hard" driver's licence, the transporation department says.

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Historic Apple 1 sold at auction

12 December 2014 Last updated at 10:39

A fully operational Apple 1 computer has been sold at auction for $365,000 (£230,000).

It is the only machine known to have been personally sold by Apple co-founder Steve Jobs, from a garage in California in 1976.

Fewer than 50 Apple 1 computers are now believed to be in existence.

Yet despite its rarity, the machine was sold at way below auction house Christie's estimate of $400,000-$600,000.

In October, the Henry Ford organization paid $905,000 for one of the computers.

The original Apple Computer - now referred to as the Apple 1 - was hand-made by Steve Wozniak, an engineer who co-founded Apple, with Jobs, in the 1970s. When new, the machines sold for $666.66.

To finance the building of the machines, Jobs sold his VW van, while Wozniak sold a calculator for $500.

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Drone flown 20ft from Heathrow jet

12 December 2014 Last updated at 11:30

The moment a device believed to have been a drone came within 20ft (6m) of a plane landing at Heathrow Airport has been described in a report by an air safety body.

The Airbus A320 was at 700ft (213m) when its pilot saw a small black object near the aircraft, the UK Airprox (aircraft proximity) Board (UKAB) said.

The report does not identify the airline or where the plane was arriving from.

The drone operator could not be traced.

'Critical phase'

The object "passed about 20ft over the wing" and appeared to be a small radio-controlled helicopter, the report said.

It did not strike the plane and the pilot was able to make a normal landing, at 14:16 BST on July 22.

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The report said it happened in a 'critical phase'

"It was a distraction during a critical phase of flight," the report added.

Air traffic controllers were told of the incident and the aircraft behind were notified.

The UKAB said: "Despite extensive tracing action and the proactive assistance of local model flying club members, it was not possible to trace the operator of the model aircraft in question."

Continue reading the main story

• You may only fly the aircraft if reasonably satisfied the flight can safely be made.
• The person in charge must maintain direct, unaided visual contact with the aircraft to monitor its flight path in relation to other aircraft, people, vehicles, vessels and structures to avoid collisions.

Source: Air Navigation Order 2009

It said in summary: "The board members were satisfied that the A320 crew had seen a model helicopter and were of the unanimous opinion that the operator of the model had chosen to fly it in an entirely inappropriate location.

"That the dangers associated with flying such a model in close proximity to a commercial air transport aircraft in the final stages of landing were not self-evident was a cause for considerable concern."

A Heathrow spokesman said the "unauthorised use of unmanned aerial vehicles in proximity to an airfield is both irresponsible and illegal".

He said that Heathrow pursued prosecution for violation of airspace.

In October, Birmingham University warned the use of drones in the UK would rise over the next 20 years, raising "significant safety, security, and privacy concerns".

The airline pilots' association Balpa has demanded better protection for the public against the risks.

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Facebook ponders 'dislike' function

12 December 2014 Last updated at 12:54 By Dave Lee Technology reporter, BBC News

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Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg says his site is "thinking about" how to implement a way to dislike posts (Video credit: Facebook).

Facebook is thinking about adding a way to "dislike" posts on its site, founder Mark Zuckerberg has said.

Speaking at a Q&A session in California, he said it was one of the most requested features the social network receives from its users.

He said the site would need to find a way to make sure it did not become a way to demean people's posts.

According to Facebook's own figures, 4.5 billion "likes" are generated every day.

"One of things we've thought about for quite a while is what's the right way to make it so that people can easily express a broader range of emotions," Mark Zuckerberg told an audience at Facebook's headquarters.

"A lot of times people share things on Facebook that are sad moments in their lives. Often people tell us that they don't feel comfortable pressing 'like' because 'like' isn't the appropriate sentiment.

"Some people have asked for a dislike button because they want to say, 'That thing isn't good.' That's not something that we think is good for the world.

"The thing that I think is very valuable is that there are more sentiments that people want to express."

Fake likes

Facebook's Like button has been criticised as being a method by which the social network collects data on its users' browsing habits.

The system has also come under fire due to a high volume of "fake likes" - when the popularity of a brand or piece of content is inflated artificially.

Facebook has moved to combat the trade of so-called "like farming" - businesses that, for a price, will provide a huge number of likes quickly. This will be via automated robots, or by a network of humans paid a tiny sum for each click.

An investigation by the BBC in July 2012 showed that a fake company, set up by the BBC, could gain thousands of "likes" - despite the fact that the company, which promised bagels via the internet, was quite clearly bogus.

On closer inspection, many of the "likes" appeared to come from accounts that were not real people. Hardly any of the "likes" originated from places like the UK or US - instead the majority originated in places such as the Philippines.

Facebook has initiated legal action against firms offering "fake likes" or other bogus business practices on the social network.

Nervous advertisers

Any enhanced method for expressing sentiment - particularly negatively - would be likely to make advertisers nervous, said Paul Coggins, chief executive of ad firm Adludio.

"Facebook's big concern is revenue," he told the BBC.

"They need to keep their advertisers happy. I would think it highly unlikely that they would come up with a button that says you can 'dislike'.

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Rory Cellan-Jones explores the merits of Facebook advertising, by setting up a bogus bagel company online

"I think they will extend the success of the like button, which has been huge. Rather than have a quick yes-no, which is a bit black and white, my guess is that they'll probably look to do something with a bit more sentiment around it."

Mr Coggins suggested buttons which would indicate how a user feels, rather than a direct "dislike".

Guy Phillipson, chief executive of the Internet Advertising Bureau UK, said brands are now used to being openly criticised online.

"If brands do put something out which people don't like, they find out pretty quickly. It's been a force for good - advertisers know more about tone, or when they've gone too far."

Follow Dave Lee on Twitter @DaveLeeBBC

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Google moves engineers out of Russia

12 December 2014 Last updated at 13:29

Tech giant Google has confirmed reports that it plans to move engineers out of its office in Russia.

The firm said it "remains committed" to Google users in the country and told the BBC it has relocated engineers in other countries on previous occasions.

Google declined to say how many staff would be affected by the move.

In July this year, the Russian parliament passed a law requiring internet companies to store citizens' personal data inside the country.

The Kremlin has said the law is designed to aid data protection but critics have seen it as an attempt to censor internet access as the law would give the government powers to block sites which refused to comply.

Many tech companies store user data in huge data storage facilities around the world and do not link the location of the data to the location of the user, meaning that most users' data will not be kept in the same country as them.

Google will retain some staff including sales, marketing and support teams in its Russia office, according to the Wall Street Journal.

""We are deeply committed to our Russian users and customers and we have a dedicated team in Russia working to support them," said the firm in a statement.

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Firm apologises for Amazon 1p glitch

15 December 2014 Last updated at 09:03

A Londonderry-based company has apologised for a software glitch that led to hundreds of items being sold for just 1p on Amazon.

The glitch affected prices between 19:00 GMT and 20:00 GMT on Friday and involved firms who use the tool Repricer Express.

The company's chief executive, Brendan Doherty, said he was "deeply sorry for the disruption".

Amazon said most orders were cancelled after the error was spotted.

The orders were placed on its Marketplace service, which allows third-party companies to trade on Amazon.

Repricer Express automatically changes the cost of items for sale on Amazon Marketplace "to keep listings competitive 24/7 without constant attention".

'Disappointed'

In a statement, Mr Doherty said Repricer Express would be investigating the cause of the problem and putting measures in place to prevent it happening again.

"We managed to get the problem resolved so that any new prices going to Amazon were correct within about an hour of the problem being reported," he said.

"It took a further few hours to get incorrect prices reverted to their original prices where possible. Amazon have assured us that seller accounts will not be penalised for this issue."

He said the firm was helping Amazon to minimise the number of orders with incorrect prices being sent out.

"We take a lot of pride in the levels of service we provide so everyone here is disappointed that our customers have experienced this issue," he said.

A spokesman for Amazon said they were reviewing the small number of orders that were processed and would be directly contacting any affected sellers.

Repricer Express has been operating for over 10 years, and has offices in Derry and New York.

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Independent inquiry into flight chaos

15 December 2014 Last updated at 09:29

An independent inquiry is to be set up to investigate the air traffic control computer failure which disrupted flights at UK airports last week.

National Air Traffic Services (Nats) has blamed a software glitch at its centre at Swanwick in Hampshire.

The inquiry will look at Nats' handling of the episode and whether lessons were learned from previous failures.

Later, Transport Secretary Patrick McLoughlin will be questioned by MPs about the incident.

The UK's Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) says it will appoint an independent chair to lead the inquiry, which will take evidence from experts on information technology and air traffic control.

The computer failure caused huge problems at airports around the country on Friday - including delays at Heathrow and Gatwick, where departing flights were grounded for a time. Other UK airports reported knock-on effects.

Heathrow Airport also cancelled about 40 flights on Saturday morning before normal services resumed.

It comes a year after a telephone failure at the Hampshire control room which also caused flights to be disrupted - one of a number of technical hitches to hit the partly-privatised Nats since the Swanwick centre opened in 2002.

The transport secretary said the system failure was "unacceptable" and asked for a full explanation from Nats about what went wrong.

The BBC's political correspondent Robin Brant said Mr McLoughlin could expect to have a preliminary report from Nats on his desk on Monday morning.

He will face questions from MPs on the transport select committee on Monday afternoon.

'Dreadful' disruption

On Sunday, Business Secretary Vince Cable accused Nats of "skimping on large-scale investment" and being "penny wise and pound foolish".

But Nats chief executive Richard Deakin rejected the criticism.

He told BBC Radio 4's Today programme Friday's issue was not "down to a lack of funding" - rather it was "one error, or limitation, in four million lines of code".

"Over the next five years we are spending around £575m on new systems," he said. "We have the funding that we need to deliver the service that we require."

He insisted the public had not been put at risk as there were "processes and procedures in place to make sure that even if there are glitches, everything remains safe".

Labour MP Paul Flynn has called for Mr Deakin to be docked bonuses in his salary because of the "dreadful" disruption.

Mr Deakin told the BBC he expected his pay to be affected by the incident but stressed that Nats' performance over the year had been good.

"I haven't done the calculations on that yet, my time since Friday has been very much focused on getting everything back up and running," he said.

The chairwoman of the transport select committee, Louise Ellman, said it was "vital that we establish what happened".

She said her committee would also call Nats and the Civil Aviation Authority to give evidence.

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Pirate Bay 'copy' goes online

15 December 2014 Last updated at 12:35

Isohunt, a website providing access to mostly pirated material, has cloned the database of its competitor, The Pirate Bay, after it was shut down last week.

The cloned site is online and fully functioning, according to users.

The Pirate Bay, one of the world's most visited websites, has been closed since a police raid in Sweden last week.

Isohunt, which was banned in the UK last month, says it made the move in order to "save the Freedom of information on the Internet".

If The Pirate Bay returns, the cloned site will be taken down, Isohunt added.

The Pirate Bay offered an expansive list of links to pirated content including films, TV shows and music.

The Swedish police carried out a raid near Stockholm last week, seizing servers from The Pirate Bay following an investigation which had lasted "years", the force said.

While its founders have already been convicted of copyright infringement offences and some have been jailed, the site has proved difficult to close down permanently.

In 2012, The Pirate Bay changed its structure to make itself more portable and easy to clone.

When he heard about the raid last week Peter Sunde, one of the site's original founders, said that he did not like what the site had become.

"The site was ugly, full of bugs, old code and old design," he wrote in a blog post.

Mr Sunde went on to criticise the explicit nature of the adverts which appeared on it.

"It never changed except for one thing - the ads. More and more ads were filling the site, and somehow when it felt unimaginable to make these ads more distasteful they somehow ended up even worse."

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Sydney siege brings Uber criticism

15 December 2014 Last updated at 11:25

Cab-ordering firm Uber has been criticised for increasing fares by up to four times normal rates during the hostage crisis in Sydney, Australia.

As the police cordoned off a wide area around the Lindt cafe where a gunman is holding staff and customers hostage, Uber's pricing algorithm responded to a surge in demand by raising prices.

Uber has responded to the criticism by offering free journeys out of the city's central business district (CBD).

It has also refunded some passengers.

But the rapidly expanding cab firm also tweeted that higher rates were still in place "to encourage drivers to get into the CBD".

In a blogpost on Sunday, Uber explained that "surge pricing is used to encourage more drivers to come online and pick up passengers from the area."

Twitter users had accused the firm of exploiting a potential terrorist situation for its own financial gain.

Minimum fares rose to A$100 (£53) at one point with one customer telling tech news site Mashable he'd been quoted A$145-185 for a journey from Sydney's CBD to the airport - a 13-mile journey that would normally cost about A$40-70 depending on the time of day.

Another customer said this was "almost price gouging at its worst".

Uber backlash

This is the latest in a run of negative news stories for Uber.

Taxi drivers in France have been blocking some roads around Paris and at airports in a protest against the firm.

Monday's demonstration came as France's Interior Ministry said it would ban UberPop, the company's car-pooling service, from 1 January.

And last week, Uber said it would suspend operations in Delhi, India, following the arrest of an Uber driver accused of raping a female passenger.

In response, the Delhi authorities banned all internet-based cab services.

Uber apologised for what happened and acknowledged that it "must do better".

There have also been taxi protests in other cities around the world with various governments threatening to legislate against the firm.

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