Net pioneer warns of data Dark Age

13 February 2015 Last updated at 11:25 By Pallab Ghosh Science correspondent, BBC News, San Jose

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Watch Pallab Ghosh's full interview with Vint Cerf, internet pioneer, on his "digital Dark Age" warning

Vint Cerf, a "father of the internet", says he is worried that all the images and documents we have been saving on computers will eventually be lost.

Currently a Google vice-president, he believes this could occur as hardware and software become obsolete.

He fears that future generations will have little or no record of the 21st Century as we enter what he describes as a "digital Dark Age".

Mr Cerf made his comments at a large science conference in San Jose.

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Even if we accumulate vast archives of digital content, we may not actually know what it is"

End Quote Vint Cerf Web pioneer and Google VP

He arrived at the annual meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science stylishly dressed in a three-piece suit. This iconic figure, who helped define how data packets move around the net, is possibly the only Google employee who wears a tie.

I felt obliged to thank him for the internet, and he bowed graciously. "One is glad to be of service," he said humbly.

His focus now is to resolve a new problem that threatens to eradicate our history.

Our life, our memories, our most cherished family photographs increasingly exist as bits of information - on our hard drives or in "the cloud". But as technology moves on, they risk being lost in the wake of an accelerating digital revolution.

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What is the digital Dark Age? The BBC's Pallab Ghosh reports

"I worry a great deal about that," Mr Cerf told me. "You and I are experiencing things like this. Old formats of documents that we've created or presentations may not be readable by the latest version of the software because backwards compatibility is not always guaranteed.

"And so what can happen over time is that even if we accumulate vast archives of digital content, we may not actually know what it is."

'Digital vellum'

Vint Cerf is promoting an idea to preserve every piece of software and hardware so that it never becomes obsolete - just like what happens in a museum - but in digital form, in servers in the cloud.

If his idea works, the memories we hold so dear could be accessible for generations to come.

"The solution is to take an X-ray snapshot of the content and the application and the operating system together, with a description of the machine that it runs on, and preserve that for long periods of time. And that digital snapshot will recreate the past in the future."

A company would have to provide the service, and I suggested to Mr Cerf that few companies have lasted for hundreds of years. So how could we guarantee that both our personal memories and all human history would be safeguarded in the long run?

Even Google might not be around in the next millennium, I said.

"Plainly not," Vint Cerf laughed. "But I think it is amusing to imagine that it is the year 3000 and you've done a Google search. The X-ray snapshot we are trying to capture should be transportable from one place to another. So, I should be able to move it from the Google cloud to some other cloud, or move it into a machine I have.

"The key here is when you move those bits from one place to another, that you still know how to unpack them to correctly interpret the different parts. That is all achievable if we standardise the descriptions.

"And that's the key issue here - how do I ensure in the distant future that the standards are still known, and I can still interpret this carefully constructed X-ray snapshot?"

The concept of what Mr Cerf refers to as "digital vellum" has been demonstrated by Mahadev Satyanarayanan at Carnegie Mellon University.

"It's not without its rough edges but the major concept has been shown to work," Mr Cerf said.

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Dotcom's team reacts to guilty plea

16 February 2015 Last updated at 13:46

Kim Dotcom's US lawyer has denied that a guilty plea by one of the Megaupload's former employees has major implications for his client's case.

Andrus Nomm was sentenced to a year in jail after pleading guilty on Friday to conspiracy to commit copyright infringement while working for the now defunct file-sharing site.

The US is currently trying to extradite Mr Dotcom, who founded Megaupload, from New Zealand to stand trial.

Mr Dotcom denies wrongdoing.

The US Department of Justice (DoJ) has alleged that Megaupload's staff had "operated websites that wilfully reproduced and distributed infringing copies of copyrighted works" over a period of five years, causing more than $400m (£260m) of harm to copyright owners.

Nomm - a 36-year-old Estonian citizen - agreed to this damages estimate as part of his plea, according to a press release from the DoJ. He had been living in the Netherlands before he travelled to Virginia to make the deal with the US authorities.

The DoJ added that Nomm had acknowledged that through his work as a computer programmer for Megaupload, he had become aware of copyright-infringing material being stored on its sites, including films and TV shows that had contained FBI anti-piracy warnings.

It said he had also admitted to having downloaded copyright-infringing files himself.

"This conviction is a significant step forward in the largest criminal copyright case in US history," said assistant attorney general Leslie Caldwell.

'Compassion and understanding'

Hong Kong-based Megaupload was one of the world's most visited "cyber locker" sites when its domain names and assets were seized in January 2012, at the request of the US authorities.

Mr Dotcom has long maintained that he had not encouraged users to upload pirated material, and has said he cannot be held responsible for what others had stored on his service.

At the end of last week Friday he tweeted: "I have nothing but compassion and understanding for Andrus Nomm and I hope he will soon be reunited with his son."

In an interview with Radio New Zealand, Mr Dotcom's lawyer attempted to play down the significance of the latest development.

"Mr Nomm [was] interested in just getting one year and being done with this, essentially [he] lost on procedure rather than merit," said Ira Rothken.

"It looks like a scripted guilty plea that was more of a Hollywood public relations stunt.

"Andrus Nomm was involved particularly in video streaming and... video streaming is never a copyright crime in the United States.

"The other points that were made during his plea bargain was that he claimed that no filtering was going on - but the failure to filter was at most a civil issue and not a criminal issue.

"And then he also said that Kim Dotcom evidently did not care about copyrights, not withstanding the robust notice and takedown policies of Megaupload. And the notion that someone does not care is also not a crime, it's not even a civil wrong."

Mr Dotcom and five other individuals face charges of conspiracy to commit racketeering, conspiracy to commit copyright infringement, conspiracy to commit money laundering and wire fraud.

An extradition hearing for Mr Dotcom and three of the other accused is scheduled to take place in Auckland in June.

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Call for 'eBay-style' online courts

16 February 2015 Last updated at 15:03

Low-value civil court cases in England and Wales could be dealt with by an online disputes system similar to that used by eBay, a report recommends.

A Civil Justice Council report says settling non-criminal cases of less than £25,000 online would reduce the expenses generated by a court.

Principal author Prof Richard Susskind said eBay disputes were "minor", like many civil court cases.

Her Majesty's Courts and Tribunals Service says it welcomes the report.

The proposed online dispute resolution scheme would be similar to the one used by online marketplace eBay to diagnose and resolve disputes.

Online facilitators would be used to help parties reach an agreement, and if that failed, online judges would rule on cases without the need for courts to be booked or for the parties involved to appear in person to give evidence.

The report, from the council's online dispute resolution advisory group, suggests conducting a pilot, ahead of an anticipated full roll-out in 2017.

The BBC's legal affairs correspondent Clive Coleman says the report is calling for a radical and fundamental change to the way courts deal with smaller claims.

'21st Century users'

It notes that the dispute resolution system run by eBay settles 60 million disputes between small traders every year.

Prof Susskind said the model was "remarkable" and could be used in a similar way in the civil courts system which was "too costly, too complex and too slow".

Speaking on BBC Radio 4's Today programme, he said eBay disputes "are minor differences, but so are the very many differences in our civil courts system".

Prof Susskind, who is IT adviser to the Lord Chief Justice, said the online court would have "a three-tier structure, and we expect most disputes to be resolved at the first two stages without a judge becoming involved".

Under the proposals, tier one would be "dispute avoidance", with interactive guides and information to help people understand their issues and identify the best way of resolving them.

Tier two would be "dispute containment", using "online facilitators" to help the parties reach agreement.

Tier three would be "dispute resolution", employing the use of judges to consider suitable cases online, largely on the basis of papers received electronically, but with an option of telephone hearings.

Prof Susskind said the system had the potential to resolve tens of thousands of cases every year and cost less for the parties involved and the taxpayer.

Lord Dyson, chairman of the Civil Justice Council, said in the foreword of the report that the area of online dispute resolution had "enormous potential".

Its aim was "to broaden access to justice and resolve disputes more easily, quickly and cheaply," he said.

"There will be a lot of work to be done, but I have no doubt that ODR will play an important role in the future of civil justice."

'Proper consultation'

The proposal for the creation of an online court comes five months after a senior judge called for courts to cut down on paper documents and move into the digital age.

In September, Lady Justice Gloster, who sits in the Court of Appeal, said the amount of files used in trials was similar to when she started her legal career 40 years ago.

The Law Society welcomed the proposals but said "lessons should be learned about existing systems".

A spokesman said: "Proper consultation and proper investment would be essential.

"There has been a long history of underinvestment in court IT in England and Wales.

"A decade ago Lord Justice Woolf, in his report Access to Justice, identified the importance of better IT to the future of the civil justice system and in 2009 Lord Justice Jackson noted that the courts still did not have an IT system which was adequate for the delivery of civil justice at proportionate cost."

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Fitbit says Surge can cause rash

12 February 2015 Last updated at 18:54

Fitbit, the maker of wearable fitness trackers, has acknowledged that its latest device, the Surge, can cause a rash for some users.

It told news website TechCrunch that a "limited percentage" of users reported skin irritation and advised users to take a break from the device.

Fitbit was forced to recall its older Force wristband when a large number of users claimed it had caused skin rashs

It comes as a report compares the accuracy of fitness trackers.

"The reactions we are seeing with new products are not uncommon with jewellery or wearable devices that stay in contact with the skin for extended periods," Fitbit said in a statement.

"According to our consulting dermatologists, they are likely from wearing the band too tight, sweat, water, or soap behind held against the skin under the device: or from pressure or friction against the skin and should resolve quickly when users take a break from the device, usually within hours or days."

The Fitbit Surge - which costs $250 (£199) - was launched four months ago and soon after, users began posting photos of skin rashes caused by wearing the device on social media sites.

Shaun Ewing posted a picture of his rash on Twitter with the message: "Having a break from my @fitbit Surge. Might need to stop wearing it - nice rash (and my skin isn't usually sensitive)."

The firm had blamed nickel for causing the rashes for Force users although some reported that they previously had no such allergies.

"Fitbit's top priority in developing its new products was to eliminate the issues we had with Force. The reactions we are seeing with new products are different from the allergic reactions we saw with Force," a spokeswoman told the BBC.

More than 200 instances of skin irritation complaints on social media have been collected in a Google document started by one affected user.

Wearable accuracy

Meanwhile, a study comparing wearables to the fitness apps on smartphones suggests that the latter could be more accurate when it comes to measuring physical activity.

The study, led by researchers at the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania tested a range of gadgets including the Fitbit Flex, Fitbit One, Nike's Fuelband, the Jawbone UP24.

Fourteen participants walked on a treadmill for 500 steps and then 1,500 steps, twice each, for a total of 56 trials.

Each wore a pedometer and two accelerometers on their waist, three wristbands and carried two smartphones in their pockets loaded with fitness apps.

The data from the smartphones was only slightly different than the observed step counts (with a range of -6.7 to 6.2% relative difference) compared to a -22.7 to 1.5% difference for the wearable devices.

Some wearables though - such as the Fitbit One and the Jawbone UP24 - proved to be very accurate. The study did not include smartwatches.

"Compared to the 1% to 2% of adults in the US that own a wearable device, more than 65% of adults carry a smartphone," said report author Mitesh S Patel.

"Our findings suggest that smartphone apps could prove to be a more widely accessible and affordable way of tracking health behaviours."

None of the wearables tested included heart rate sensors. The addition of such components has helped some of the latest generation of activity trackers become more accurate.

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Police shut 2,000 'fake goods' sites

13 February 2015 Last updated at 12:02

Two thousand websites selling fake luxury goods have been removed since the start of the year, UK police say.

Counterfeit goods from brands such as Burberry, Longchamp and Abercrombie & Fitch were among the products offered.

The raids were the result of a collaboration between brand-protection groups and internet registries.

The Police Intellectual Property Crime Unit, run by City of London Police, also warned the sites could be harbouring malicious software.

"The criminals behind these websites will often take advantage of your personal details, such as financial information, and so people may find their card has been compromised and used for other fraudulent scams," said Det Ch Insp Danny Medlycott, who heads the unit.

"The sites themselves can also be harmful, as they contain malware and viruses that can infect your computer.

As a general rule, "if it looks too good to be true, then it probably is", he said.

And heavily discounted products were "often a telltale sign that something isn't right", he added.

Top tips

The current police operation, known as Ashiko, has shut nearly 5,500 websites selling fake designer clothes, handbags, sunglasses, shoes and jewellery since it launched in October.

Oliver Guimaraes, MD of Globaleyez, which helps jewellery retailer Thomas Sabo to target counterfeiting, said there had been "a tremendous decrease" in websites selling fake products.

Police also issued some guidance:

• Check the spelling and grammar on the website, as well as the URL - people running such sites often do not pay a lot of attention to that

• Look to see where the trader is based and whether they provide a postal address - just because the web address contains "UK", do not assume the seller is based there
• Only deal with reputable sellers - use sites that you know or which have been recommended to you. Check online reviews if you have not bought from the seller before.

• Check the website is a legitimate stockist by visiting brand-i.org

• Ensure the website address begins "https", which indicates it is secure

• Don't access links in unsolicited emails; always type in the website address or use a search engine to find a site.

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Rural groups angry over Virgin plans

13 February 2015 Last updated at 16:01

Campaigners have expressed disappointment that Virgin Media's £3bn investment in broadband will not benefit rural areas.

The company said it had no plans to extend the network into the countryside, concentrating instead on expansion in towns and cities.

The decision could "exacerbate the rural-urban digital divide", said the Country and Land Association (CLA).

But a group that represents rural broadband providers was unsurprised.

"With £1.7bn of public funding going almost entirely through BT, it isn't surprising that an investment of this scale is focusing on areas that Virgin expects to see delivering better results," said Malcolm Corbett of the Independent Networks Co-operative Association.

Virgin Media currently has five million customers and its latest investment, which it claims is the biggest in broadband infrastructure in the UK for more than a decade, is expected to extend its network from 13 million to 17 million homes.

'Look beyond cities'

The CLA acknowledged it was not always profitable for private businesses to invest in remote areas.

However, a spokesman said it was "a pity that private companies are not putting the infrastructure in place to benefit rural business".

"What is clear is that rural areas will not be able to access speeds in excess of 30Mbps or 50Mbps for some time to come. All this does is show that the rural economy is neglected once again," he added.

Many rural business and families would like to be able take advantage of Virgin Media's Fibre to the Home technology, he said.

"BT's rollout of superfast broadband under the government's rural broadband programme relies on fibre to the cabinet (FTTC). This further disadvantages rural communities and businesses from effective connection speeds, because the further away a business is from the cabinet, the slower the speed."

Meanwhile the Countryside Alliance's head of policy, Sarah Lee, said it was "disappointing that the improvements will not be seen in rural areas, but we welcome this challenge to BT's monopoly".

"We hope this investment will encourage all broadband providers to look beyond the cityscape and invest in our countryside communities, to enable them to compete economically and socially in this digital world."

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Mum's 'US police car' on school run

16 February 2015 Last updated at 09:52

A woman has been turning heads on the school run by driving her children in a replica American police car.

Rachel Sims, from Hemel Hempstead in Hertfordshire, bought the car which was built to promote the PlayStation video game Need for Speed.

It has the words "Dodge City Police", "Emergency Response" and "911" on it.

Ms Sims said although "one man fell over a bin" when he saw it, it was clearly not a UK police car and an officer told her it was fine to drive.

The black and white Avenger car is fitted with flashing yellow lights, but has no siren. Its registration number PS 03 NFS stands for PlayStation Need For Speed.

"People stop in the street and stare when we go past. One old man was looking at it and fell over a bin," Ms Sims said.

The 38-year-old drives her four children, aged 15, 12, eight and three, to school and back each day, but hopes to hire out the eye-catching vehicle for proms and weddings.

"I have been stopped by the police, but they checked and told me there was nothing wrong with it.

"It can't really be mistaken for a British police car. It looks nothing like one. The colours are different and the markings aren't luminous," Ms Sims said.

"There is no way you could say I was impersonating a police officer. I wouldn't want to drive it in the US though."

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US drone rules impact Amazon plans

16 February 2015 Last updated at 12:03

The Federal Aviation Authority's (FAA) draft rules for the use of drones in US airspace do not permit Amazon to launch its Amazon Air delivery service.

The draft rules state that pilots must remain within eyesight of their unmanned crafts, although it said it would consider factoring in a second line of sight in some cases.

Pilots must also be FAA certified to operate drones.

Amazon said it remained "committed" to its plans for delivery via drone.

"We are committed to realising our vision... and are prepared to deploy where we have the regulatory support we need," said Paul Misener, Amazon's vice-president of global public policy.

The firm had said last year that in terms of the technology required for Amazon Air, it was ready to launch as soon as regulations were in place.

The draft rules will be open to public consultation and are unlikely to come into force for a couple of years.

The Small UAV (Unmanned Aerial Vehicle) Coalition, of which Amazon is a member, said it "applauded" the proposed rules, launched yesterday by the FAA, but mentioned several caveats, including relaxing the rule about line of sight.

"First Person View technology is available now, and is critical to unleashing the power of automation in this space," the group said in a statement.

"Until small UAVs are able to go beyond the line of sight, we are not maximising the technology as other companies already do."

High flying

It also said the proposals should be explicit about whether companies can test drones on private property, and should not limit operation to daylight hours.

The coalition, whose members also include drone manufacturers Dji and Ghost, GoPro and Google's R&D arm Google X, added that the altitude limit of 500 ft ( 152 m) should be raised "with appropriate safeguards".

China's biggest internet retailer Alibaba trialled drone deliveries inside the country at the beginning of February.

Google has also been testing drone deliveries in Australia, and DHL carried out a delivery by unmanned aircraft in Germany.

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Amazon Prime charges anger customers

Are you paying Amazon £79 a year for something you didn't even know you'd signed up for?

Many customers are complaining they're being charged for Amazon Prime, even though they hadn't realised they'd committed to a contract.

Prime membership guarantees free one-day delivery on millions of items as well as a number of other perks.

The website does state that subscribers will be upgraded to a paid membership at the end of the free trial.

Reports suggested that Amazon Prime added 10 million new subscribers in the last three months of 2014 alone.

It also claimed that Amazon Prime members now represent nearly half of all Amazon customers.

It's not known how many users there are in the UK, but Amazon tell us it's "millions".

As well as free delivery, Prime customers get unlimited photo storage and access to an instant video streaming service.

But if you look on social media, you will see some customers are unhappy and they seem to be telling similar stories.

They claim they are or have been Amazon customers and may at some point have agreed to a Prime free trial, but hadn't realised that once that period was over automatic payments of £79 would be taken out of their account every year.

Amazon says: "Customers who sign up to a free trial of Prime receive an email informing them of the duration of the free trial and how to avoid continuing to paid Prime Membership.

"Customers who become full Prime members can cancel their membership at any time and we will refund the full membership if the customer has not made any eligible purchases or used any Prime benefits."

If you want to avoid your free trial being extended to a paid service go to Your Account on Amazon and adjust your membership settings within 30 days of signing up.

You can cancel your membership in Your Account at any time.

Full refunds are only given if you've not used any of the Prime benefits.

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Experts judge '$1bn bank hack' claim

16 February 2015 Last updated at 15:05

A leading security company says it has uncovered an "unprecedented" cyber-attack on up to 100 banks, which could result in $1bn (£648m) of losses.

But security experts are split over the severity of the alleged breaches, and on how much cash was stolen.

Russian company Kaspersky Lab said the hackers had accessed the banks' networks by sending spoof emails to staff.

It added that the criminals manipulated cash machines to dispense stolen money.

The majority of banks that allegedly fell victim to the scheme are based in Russia, with a handful of others spread across China, Ukraine, and Uzbekistan, and other countries.

One bank is said to be based in the UK, although it is not believed to be a well-known brand.

Kaspersky said it had worked with Interpol and Europol on the investigation.

It says it believes that the group is still active, and one of its directors told the New York Times that "this is likely the most sophisticated attack the world has seen to date in terms of the tactics and methods that cybercriminals have used to remain covert".

Kaspersky's revelations build on a report released by another cyber-security company, Fox-IT, last year.

Commenting on the Kaspersky release, Fox-IT said that since it had published its findings in December, "the group has decreased their activities and might now have even stopped entirely".

Some security experts have also called into question the $1bn figure.

"A lot of the money will be got back," said Dr Steven Murdoch, from University College London's Information Security Research Group, adding that while there were undoubtedly "large numbers" involved, the amount had been overestimated.

But he added that the report's findings should be "useful for banks".

Cyber-security expert Prof Alan Woodward, of Surrey University, told the BBC that "nobody knows the real figure" but it was evident that the attackers had "a lot of patience and a lot of planning".

He said that the companies affected would now be working to "close the stable door, and then work out how many horses bolted".

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