Thursday, 2 February 2012
LIVE PTV SPORTS
A Google spokesperson said it believed that 'access to information is the foundation of a free society' Google changes enable 'per country' blog take downs
Google will now be able to block access in individual
countries following a legal removal request.
The new system means blocking will not require restricting
world-wide access to a blog.
The changes apply in Australia, New Zealand and India,
but the BBC understands Google plans to roll it out globally.
The news follows Twitter's announcement that it could
selectively block tweets on a country-by-country basis -
news that attracted criticism from
free speech campaigners.
However, Joss Wright, research fellow at the Oxford
Internet Institute, said he felt the changes to Blogger were a positive step.
"Google's new approach to supporting country-level takedown
requests in Blogger strikes a good balance between free
speech, legality and practical issues for end users.
"By allowing per-country takedown requests, Google can meet
local laws without blocking content at a global level."
Change of address Under the new system, a blog reader will, in the first instance,
be directed to a website address using a "country-code top level domain".
For example, for users based in Australia, Blogger's servers will
automatically direct them to blogname.blogspot.com.au.
"If you visit a blog that does not correspond to your
current location as determined by your IP address, the
blogspot servers will redirect you to the
domain associated with your country," Google said in a Q&A the
company posted about the changes.
Google believes this will allow it to comply with local law
enforcement requests, while keeping content available in other jurisdictions.
Additionally users will also able to tell Google to direct them to a
different country web address by adding "/ncr" - ncr stands for "No Country Redirect".
In order to read a blog via a US web address users outside America
would type " blogname.blogspot.com/ncr".
"Blog readers may request a specific country version of the blogspot
content by entering a specially formatted 'NCR' URL, " the company wrote in the Q&A.
It is not clear, however, if this would work for requests to access
blocked blogs made from the jurisdiction in which the removal notice originated.
Keeping it local The company has in the past taken a similar local approach
to blocking content in other products.
For example, Google has said it removes all Nazi-related
content from Google.de, the address for its German services.
In a 2007 blog post, which the BBC understands still reflects
the firm's position, Google said that "dealing with controversial
content is one of the biggest
challenges we face as a company".
In the same post the company noted that different national
laws on free speech "create real technical challenges, for example,
about how you restrict
one type of content in one country but not another".
With this system Google may have, for Blogger at least,
answered its own question.
Hackers
Since banks brought in "two-factor" authentication, official figures have shown fraud fell significantly
Hackers outwit online banking identity security systems
Criminal hackers have found a way round the latest generation of online
banking security devices given out by banks, the BBC has learned.
After logging in to the bank's real site, account holders are being tricked
by the offer of training in a new "upgraded security system".
Money is then moved out of the account but this is hidden from the user.
Experts say customers should follow banks' official advice, use up-to-date
anti-virus software and be vigilant.
Devices like PINSentry from Barclays and SecureKey from
HSBC - which look a lot like calculators - ask users to insert a
card or a code to create a
unique key at each login,
valid for around 30 seconds, that cannot be used again.
This brought a new level of online banking security against password theft.
The additional line of defence provided security even if a user's
computer along with any password information was hacked.
While these chip and pin devices make the hackers' job more difficult,
the hackers themselves have raised their game.
'Man in the Browser' attack A test witnessed as part of a BBC Click investigation suggests even those
with up-to-date anti-virus software could be at risk.
There is no specific risk to any one individual bank.
In the test the majority of web security software on standard settings did
not spot that a previously unseen piece of malware created in the software
testing lab was behaving suspiciously.
The threat does not strike until the user visits particular websites.
Called a Man in the Browser (MitB) attack, the malware lives in the web
browser and can get between the user and the website, altering what is
seen and changing details of what is being entered.
How to spot if you have been infected
- If your transaction seems to be taking longer than normal, there is a
- chance it is going via a fraudster's system
- If you are asked for more information than normal, especially entire
- passwords where previously you were only asked for part, your
- machine may have been infected
- Computers that have been infected often slow down while
- malware monopolises both the processor and the internet connection
Some versions of the MitB will change payment details and amounts
and also change on-screen balances to hide its activities.
With the additional security devices, the risk of fraud is only present
for one transaction, and only if the customer falls for the "training exercise".
"The man in the browser attack is a very focused, very specific,
advanced threat, specifically focused against banking," said Daniel Brett,
of malware testing lab S21sec.
"[Although] many products won't pick this up, they've got a
much bigger scope, they're having to defend against all the viruses since
the beginning of time."
Every time a new update to the malware is released, it takes
the security companies a number of weeks to learn how to spot it - to
learn its common features.
Wednesday, 1 February 2012
iPhone
iPhone battery fix coming 'in a few weeks'
APPLE
Apple has acknowledged a problem with battery life on the iPhone 4S and other devices running its new operating system. The company says a software update coming "in a few weeks" will address the problem.
The company previously had not publicly acknowledged complaints about battery life on the phone, which surfaced soon after it was released October 14 and continued to grow in the weeks since.
"A small number of customers have reported lower than expected battery life on iOS 5 devices," Apple said in a statement to AllThingsD, a part of the Wall Street Journal network. "We have found a few bugs that are affecting battery life and we will release a software update to address those in a few weeks."
The company previously had not publicly acknowledged complaints about battery life on the phone, which surfaced soon after it was released October 14 and continued to grow in the weeks since.
"A small number of customers have reported lower than expected battery life on iOS 5 devices," Apple said in a statement to AllThingsD, a part of the Wall Street Journal network. "We have found a few bugs that are affecting battery life and we will release a software update to address those in a few weeks."
Apple has admitted a problem with battery life on the iPhone 4S, saying a software fix is coming.
Comments on a thread started October 15 in Apple's support forums to
complain about battery life had grown to 217 pages by Thursday morning.
Apple has declined to comment beyond its basic statement. Messages
from CNN requesting information about the complaints were not returned.
The poorer-than-expected battery life has largely been attributed to
location-based apps and other power-draining features of the iOS 5
system. Some users have reported improvements when they disable
time-zone and GPS features, while others have said the improvements
were minimal.
The apparent glitch is the second time in a row that a popular
iPhone has experienced a highly publicized problem in its early days.
And the responses, so far, have been similar.
The iPhone 4 suffered from what some called the death grip,
causing users who held the phone in a certain way to lose phone calls.
Apple denied that there was a problem before eventually saying that it did,
in fact, affect a small number of customers.
The company eventually offered free cases, which improved the phone's reception.
Neither time has the problem affected sales in a major way.
The iPhone 4 is the most popular smartphone in the world,
and the 4S is on track to perform just as well, starting with
a reported 4 million sales in its first three days on the market.
complain about battery life had grown to 217 pages by Thursday morning.
Apple has declined to comment beyond its basic statement. Messages
from CNN requesting information about the complaints were not returned.
The poorer-than-expected battery life has largely been attributed to
location-based apps and other power-draining features of the iOS 5
system. Some users have reported improvements when they disable
time-zone and GPS features, while others have said the improvements
were minimal.
The apparent glitch is the second time in a row that a popular
iPhone has experienced a highly publicized problem in its early days.
And the responses, so far, have been similar.
The iPhone 4 suffered from what some called the death grip,
causing users who held the phone in a certain way to lose phone calls.
Apple denied that there was a problem before eventually saying that it did,
in fact, affect a small number of customers.
The company eventually offered free cases, which improved the phone's reception.
Neither time has the problem affected sales in a major way.
The iPhone 4 is the most popular smartphone in the world,
and the 4S is on track to perform just as well, starting with
a reported 4 million sales in its first three days on the market.
 |
Facebook began in 2004 as a way for Harvard University students to communicate
Facebook unveils $5bn stock market flotation plans
The world's largest social networking site, Facebook, has announced plans for a stock market flotation.
Facebook said it would seek to raise $5bn (£3.16bn, 3.8bn euros),
about half the amount many analysts expected.
But the initial public offering (IPO) is still expected
to be the biggest sale of shares by an internet company.
Facebook, just eight years old and started by Harvard
University students, now has 845 million users and
made a profit of $1bn last year.
Facebook filed its intention to float with the Securities and
Exchange Commission after the US stock markets closed.
The documents revealed for the first time information about
the company that had previously been the subject of speculation.
This included news that Facebook's net income in 2011 rose
65% to $1bn, off revenues of $3.71bn.
It was disclosed that founder Mark Zuckerberg owns 28.4%
of Facebook, and also that the network now has 845 million
monthly users and 443 million daily users.
A letter from Mr Zuckerberg said: "Facebook was not originally
created to be a company. It was built to accomplish a social mission
- to make the world more open and connected.
"We think it's important that everyone who invests in Facebook understands
what this mission means to us, how we make decisions and why we do the things we do."
The $5bn being raised would be the most for an
internet initial public offering since Google and its early backers raised $1.67bn in 2004.
"The company is a lot more profitable than we thought,"
said Kathleen Smith, principal of IPO investment advisory firm Renaissance Capital.
She said Facebook's numbers were "very impressive,"
but she added that Facebook needed to talk more about where
it saw its growth coming from.
"What new areas of business is it expecting to pursue beyond display ads?" she said.
The final amount Facebook will raise is likely to change as
Facebook's bankers gauge the investor demand for the shares over the coming months.
The story of the company was made the subject of a 2010 Hollywood film,
The Social Network, and the firm has made the verb "to friend" a part of everyday language.
Tuesday, 31 January 2012
iphone
A new online petition is demanding that Apple clean up its act overseas in time to make its next iPhone "the first ethical iPhone."
Watchdog group SumOfUs last week put up a petition asking Apple to "make the iPhone 5ethically," referring to the company's use of overseas manufacturing from companies such as Foxconn, which have recently come under fire for their working conditions and practices.
The petition, which the group says garnered more than 35,000 signatures in its first 24 hours, asks Apple to "overhaul the way its suppliers treat their workers," ahead of the release of its next smartphone, which is expected later this year.
"Can Apple do this? Absolutely," the petition reads. "According to an anonymous Apple executive quoted in The New York Times, all Apple has to do is demand it, and it'll happen."
Overseas manufacturers came under fire last week with a pair of investigative stories published by The New York Times that lambasted Apple for poor worker labor and safety issues in its supplier facilities, as well as using cut-throat business practices that prohibited those manufacturers from making improvements.
Apple did not respond to the reports in the press, though an internal memo from Apple CEO Tim Cook that leaked last week argued to employees that "any suggestion that we don't care is patently false and offensive to us."
"If Tim Cook is really offended by these allegations, why isn't he doing anything to fix the problems?" Taren Stinebrickner-Kauffman, executive director of SumOfUs, asked in a statement. "This is the supply chain he set up as COO--he needs to start taking responsibility, not blaming the messenger."
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