US warns Antigua over 'piracy' plan

29 January 2013 Last updated at 10:55 ET

The US has warned Antigua and Barbuda not to proceed with a plan to run a legal "piracy" site.

It follows a World Trade Organization (WTO) ruling that the islands have the right to suspend US intellectual property rights.

The permission was granted as a result of the US barring its citizens from using gambling sites based in the Caribbean nation.

Antigua's government says its goal remains a negotiated settlement.

However, its high commissioner in London added that the country reserved the right to carry out its threat.

"The highest trade body in the world, having reviewed the merits of Antigua and Barbuda's case and its ability to recover from the negative impact of the USA's unilateral and discriminatory actions, has made its ruling," Carl Roberts told the BBC.

"Antigua and Barbuda has always reserved its privilege to utilise its legal rights on international law.

"This is one of our options as we continue to seek a fair and equitable resolution of our case."

He added that he objected to US's description of the planned site - which would sell movies, music and games without paying copyright fees to their US owners - as being "government-authorised piracy".

Tit-for-tat

The dispute dates back to the 1990s when Antigua and Barbuda - a former British colony - made efforts to develop an internet gambling industry to help tackle a decline in tourism.

It says its efforts were dealt a major setback by the US government's efforts to enforce laws which Washington said made electronic betting illegal if it crossed state lines.

Continue reading the main story

It would also serve as a major impediment to foreign investment in the Antiguan economy"

End Quote Office of the United States Trade Representative

Antigua complained to the WTO about the US's actions in 2003 claiming jobs and income had been lost as a result.

In 2005 the trade body ruled that the law unfairly discriminated against foreign companies despite the US saying that it never intended its commitments to the WTO to mean that it would allow the practice. I

It later agreed a compensation packages with other WTO members, but Antigua held out demanding $3.44bn (£2.2bn) of compensation a year.

In 2007 the WTO awarded it the right to waive intellectual property rights worth up to the smaller sum of $21m a year.

On Monday the WTO's dispute settlement body gave final authorisation for Antigua to sell movies, music, games and software via a store that would be able to ignore US copyright and trademark claims.

'Unhelpful rhetoric'

The US has responded to the move warning that such a move would amount to "theft".

"Government-authorised piracy would undermine chances for a settlement," said a spokeswoman for the US Trade Representative's office.

"It would also serve as a major impediment to foreign investment in the Antiguan economy, particularly in hi-tech industries.

"The United States has urged Antigua to consider solutions that would benefit its broader economy. However, Antigua has repeatedly stymied these negotiations with certain unrealistic demands."

Antigua's high commissioner in London described this as unhelpful rhetoric suggesting the US had not made proper efforts to settle the row.

"If you make offers and the offers are not accepted that means you have not touched the core of the problem," said Mr Roberts.

"You can't simply say that because you've put something on the table that there's an automatic expectation of acceptance."

Legal sales

One lawyer said that if Antigua did set up the mooted media download site it would be legal for UK-based internet users to buy films and music from it.

"If the site is based in Antigua, the files are sold in the local currency and it is not actively promoted to foreign subscribers or visitors there is nothing that could be done to prevent this," said Aaron Wood, an intellectual property specialist at Briffa.

"Assuming they set up a streaming site and a Brit then paid it for a pass key that would be completely legal.

"I also imagine they would set it up in a way that would not divulge where the user was based so they could say they were ignorant to their location."

23.43 | 0 komentar | Read More

Apple users campaign against Google

28 January 2013 Last updated at 06:30 ET

A group of Apple's Safari web browser users has launched a campaign against Google over privacy concerns.

They claim that Google bypassed Safari's security settings to install cookies which tracked their movements on the internet.

Between summer 2011 and spring 2012 they were assured by Google this was not the case, and believed Safari's settings to be secure.

So far one person has begun legal proceedings against Google.

A law firm has been instructed to co-ordinate further claims made by other individuals.

Last year Google was fined $22.5m (£14m) in the US for the same actions.

The cookies collected data about the online activities of web users in order for Google to provide more targeted advertising to them.

Judith Vidal-Hall, former editor of Index On Censorship magazine, is the first person in the UK to begin legal action.

"Google claims it does not collect personal data but doesn't say who decides what information is 'personal'," she said.

"Whether something is private or not should be up to the internet surfer, not Google. We are best placed to decide, not them."

When Google was fined by the US Federal Trade Commission in 2012, chairman Jon Leibowitz said that all companies must "keep their privacy promises to customers".

However the penalty was for Google misrepresenting its actions to Safari users rather than for the actual act of bypassing the security settings, and the firm was not obliged to admit wrongdoing.

Google declined to comment on the latest action, which has been launched to coincide with the sixth annual Data Privacy Day in the UK.

'No accident'

"This episode was no accident," Nick Pickles, director of civil liberties campaign group Big Brother Watch told PA News agency.

"Google tracked people when they had explicitly said they did not want to be tracked, so it's no surprise to see consumers who believe their privacy had been steamrollered by corporate greed seeking redress through the courts.

"This case could set a hugely important legal precedent and help consumers defend their privacy against profit-led decisions to ignore people's rights."

According to web analystics service StatCounter, at the end of 2012 7.92% of its sample of three million global net users accessed the internet via Safari, while 36.42% used Google's Chrome browser.

23.43 | 0 komentar | Read More

Twitter porn video gaffe angers users

28 January 2013 Last updated at 10:40 ET

Users have reacted angrily after a pornographic video appeared as an "Editor's Pick" on Twitter's new video service, Vine.

The six-second clip appeared at the top of users' home screen - covered by a warning notice.

After word spread on Twitter, the image was soon removed, but had by then made the "Popular now" ranking.

Twitter apologised to users, blaming "human error" for the video's appearance.

"A human error resulted in a video with adult content becoming one of the videos in Editor's Picks, and upon realising this mistake we removed the video immediately," the company said in a statement.

"We apologise to our users for the error."

Vine had been facing criticism over the amount of pornography being shared by users on its service.

But those images were generally only viewable to those who specifically looked for them by using search terms.

By being chosen as an Editor's Pick, the video appeared at the top of screen when users opened the app.

One user, Taylor Winkelmeyer, wrote: "I clicked on the link because I thought the warning was a joke.

"I am furious I had to see something like this. Someone please tell me how to get it off my feed."

23.43 | 0 komentar | Read More

Pentagon 'to boost cyber defence'

28 January 2013 Last updated at 11:23 ET

Please turn on JavaScript. Media requires JavaScript to play.

Defence Secretary Panetta warns in November of a "cyber Pearl Harbour"

The Pentagon will dramatically increase its cyber-security staff to counter threats against US government computer networks, according to media reports.

US Cyber Command, established three years ago, could grow as much as fivefold over the next few years.

The planned expansion comes amid a series of successful attacks, including a virus that wiped data from 30,000 computers at a Saudi oil firm.

Cyber Command currently has 900 staff members, both military and civilian.

Defence officials told the Washington Post, which first reported the staff increase, that the Pentagon had approved an expansion to 4,900 troops and civilians.

Another official told Reuters news agency that the force would be expanded significantly, though details were still being worked out.

The expansion comes at a time when the US military is balancing decreased budgets and a shift towards Asia and the Pacific.

According to reports, the plan calls for creating three types of forces under the Cyber Command: protecting computer systems that involve electrical grids and other kinds of infrastructure, offensive operations overseas as well as protection of the defence department's internal systems.

Outgoing Defence Secretary Leon Panetta has previously stressed the importance of the Pentagon's cyber-security efforts.

"We've got good people that are involved in it, but, very frankly," he said in November speech at a defence think tank, "if we're going to stay on the cutting edge of what's happening with regards to the changes that are occurring, we have got to invest more in that area."

23.43 | 0 komentar | Read More

Phone sensors spot security secrets

28 January 2013 Last updated at 20:46 ET By Mark Ward Technology correspondent, BBC News

Data captured by smartphone sensors could help criminals guess codes used to lock the gadgets, say security researchers.

By analysing data gathered by accelerometers they were able to get a good idea of the Pin or pattern used to protect a phone.

The data was useable because sensors can gather information with more freedom than apps loaded on the device.

Researchers said several different smartphone sensors could be subverted.

Tap to unwrap

Dr Adam J Aviv, a visiting professor at Swarthmore College in Pennsylvania, carried out the attacks by using data gathered by an accelerometer on a smartphone. Typically this sensor logs phone movements in three dimensions: side-to-side, forward-and-back and up-and-down.

The data gathered as the phone is moved is often used in games to steer or guide an onscreen entity such as a car or a ball.

Working with Matt Blaze, Benjamin Sapp and Jonathan Smith from the University of Pennsylvania, Dr Aviv realised that the data gathered by the accelerometer could also be used to work out where someone tapped on a screen when unlocking a gadget with a Pin or pattern.

In controlled tests, data from accelerometers was captured, exported and analysed to see if it matched a bigger "dictionary" of taps and swipes that had been previously gathered.

Continue reading the main story

One kink or hole in the system could lead to data being exposed"

End Quote Kevin Mahaffey Lookout

"It worked surprisingly well," said Dr Aviv of the attack. In tests, the software developed by the team got more accurate the more guesses it was allowed.

After five guesses it could spot Pins about 43% of the time and patterns about 73% of the time. However, said Dr Aviv, these results were produced when Pins and patterns were picked from a 50-strong set of numbers and shapes.

The pin and pattern spotting system did less well when it was applied to data gathered when users were walking around with gadgets. Using a phone while on the move introduced lots more "noise", said Dr Aviv which made it harder to pick out the unlock patterns.

However, he said, many security researchers were getting interested in the sensors that came as standard in smartphones largely because the data they gathered was not subject to the same controls that governs other phone functions.

'Ensure integrity'

"More sensors on smartphones equals a lot more data flowing through these devices, which means protecting them is even more critical," said Kevin Mahaffey, chief technology officer at mobile security firm Lookout.

"One kink or hole in the system could lead to data being exposed and utilised," he said. "As the physical and digital worlds merge, and we become more reliant on the interconnections forged, we need to collaborate across them to ensure the integrity of data."

Dr Aviv said that typically users did not have to give permission for a sensor to gather data even if the information it grabbed had nothing to do with the application they were using.

Other researchers had looked into ways to subvert data gathered by gyroscopes, accelerometers and other orientation sensors to work out passwords, said Dr Aviv. One group even analysed smears on touchscreens to get clues about Pins and patterns.

"We are starting to realise that the way we interact with these devices affects the security of these devices," he said. "The fact that we hold them in our hands is different to the way we use traditional computers and that actually can leak information to sensors in the device."

23.43 | 0 komentar | Read More

Philips to exit hi-fis and video

29 January 2013 Last updated at 03:03 ET

Dutch electronics giant Philips is to sell off its home entertainment business, including hi-fis and DVD players, to Japan's Funai Electric.

Funai will pay 150m euros ($200m; £130m) and a regular brand licensing fee to take on the product lines.

The company wants to focus on its healthcare, light bulbs and home appliances businesses as part of its "Accelerate!" restructuring plan.

Philips also reported a 355m-euro loss for the last three months of 2012.

The loss was in line with expectations and was largely due to a 509m-euro fine imposed on the company last year by the European Commission for participating in a cartel to fix prices in the television business.

Philips announced last year that it was transferring its loss-making television unit to a new joint venture arrangement with Hong Kong's TPV.

Its latest divestments will not happen immediately - its audio business will pass to Funai in the latter half of this year, while the transfer of its video business will not take place until 2017.

The Dutch firm's underlying profitability in the last quarter - net of the fine and various restructuring costs - improved to 875m euros, beating the expectations of most market analysts.

However, chief executive Frans van Houten said he expected sales to remain subdued in the first half of this year, because of the "challenging market" in the US and Europe, which account for well over half of Philips' revenues.

23.43 | 0 komentar | Read More

Whatsapp rebuked over privacy policy

29 January 2013 Last updated at 05:53 ET

The Whatsapp messaging app has been criticised after a joint investigation by Dutch and Canadian regulators.

Investigators said that when smartphone owners installed the app it asked to access their address books.

They said the problem was that it then transmitted all the contained phone numbers to its servers, and failed to delete those belonging to people who had not signed up to the service.

Whatsapp has not commented on the report at this time.

The Dutch Data Protection Authority has said that it could take punitive action if the Silicon Valley firm behind the product does not change it.

The Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada added that it would also continue to monitor the company, but said it did not have the power to issue sanctions despite its belief that the firm was breaking local laws.

Scan and store

WhatsApp was launched in 2009 and allows users to send each other text, image, video and audio messages.

It works across Android, iPhone, Blackberry, Windows Phone and Symbian platforms and does not charge a fee per message.

Instead some users pay its developer an annual $0.99 (63p) subscription, while others face a one-off cost to download the app. This has helped make it a popular alternative to SMS and MMS message services.

On installation users are asked permission to share their contacts so that the software can identify which of their friends are also on the service.

The regulators noted that only iPhone users running the latest version of Apple's iOS operating system were given the option of manually adding contacts rather than allowing their address book to be scanned.

They noted that although it was not illegal for the firm to have copied over data belonging to non-users, the problem was that it did not delete the information after running the friend-identification check.

Instead, the investigators said, the data was kept in a hashed form - in other words the telephone numbers were transformed into a short code and stored.

"This practice contravenes Canadian and Dutch privacy law, which holds that information may only be retained for so long as it is required for the fulfilment of an identified purpose," said the regulators,

The agencies added that the app's developer had taken steps to address some of their other concerns.

These included the introduction of encryption to prevent third-parties eavesdropping on messages sent via unprotected wi-fi networks, and the adoption of a stronger authentication process to make it harder for scammers to hack accounts in order to send messages from them.

23.43 | 0 komentar | Read More

Biggest 'full HD' smartphone launch

29 January 2013 Last updated at 08:03 ET

A South Korean firm has unveiled the biggest smartphone to date with a screen capable of showing 1080p high-definition video at full resolution.

Pantech's Android-powered Vega No 6 features a 5.9in (15cm) display, which packs in 373 pixels per inch.

China's Huawei recently unveiled a 6.1in handset, but it was only a 720p display.

They add to the so-called "phablet" category, as manufacturers test how big customers are willing to go.

When Samsung helped pioneered the format with its 5.3in Galaxy Note in 2011, many analysts suggested its size was too large to find favour.

Dell had previously released a 5in phone - the Streak 5 - but had ended up discontinuing the line to focus on a larger 7in tablet.

But the Note proved a success for the South Korean firm, leading Samsung to announce a larger successor last August.

In recent months other firms, including Sony, LG, HTC and ZTE, have unveiled smartphones with 5in and larger screens. More super-sized handsets are expected to be announced at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona which begins on 25 February.

Remote control

Technology consultancy Ovum suggested that demand for the format was proving particularly strong in emerging markets where most customers could not afford both a phone and a tablet.

"The Galaxy Note has been a proof-point that consumers will adopt the larger phone," said the firm's researcher Adam Leach.

"It's an artificial barrier that a phone has to be below 5in and a tablet above 7in.

"There is a limit on what can be used with one hand, but there's an economic point that if a device can be used like a tablet and a phone then it's got more value, especially to people who can only afford to buy one device."

The popularity of phablets is taking some manufacturers in unexpected directions.

Taiwan's HTC recently announced it would bundle a bluetooth remote control with its 5in-screened Butterfly handset in China.

The add-on HTC Mini has its own screen and can be used to make calls or send messages when paired with the larger phone.

23.43 | 0 komentar | Read More

Google in N Korea mapping push

29 January 2013 Last updated at 09:18 ET

Please turn on JavaScript. Media requires JavaScript to play.

Many landmarks are now labelled including notorious prison labour camps - Courtesy Google Maps

Google has puts its first detailed maps online of North Korea, a country that has so far been mostly blank on the search giant's popular Maps website.

The data was compiled on Google's Map Maker tool, which allows users to contribute information mainly using satellite images or local knowledge.

Many landmarks are now labelled, as are the notorious prison labour camps and nuclear research sites.

The move comes a few weeks after the head of Google visited North Korea.

In the capital, Pyongyang, schools, theatres, government buildings and underground stops are now marked in Google Maps, as are statues, some embassies, an ice rink and the infamous 105-storey Ryugyong hotel, which has been under construction for more than 25 years.

The Yongbyong nuclear site is labelled, to the north, and a road called Nuclear Test Road, leading to a site north of Punggye-ri which is believed to be where Pyongyang is preparing to test a nuclear device.

There is little detail of much of the country but a number of grey sites are marked as being some of the many prison labour camps in North Korea, which some 200,000 people are thought to be held.

In the largest camp - Camp 22 - near the border with China, the map identifies an armoury, a food factory and a guard's rest room.

BBC technology correspondent Mark Gregory says the information given by the maps is likely to be of particular interest in South Korea, where many people have ancestral connections or family still living in the North.

But the citizens of North Korea itself will get little benefit from it, he adds, as only a few hundred are allowed access to the internet by their government.

Scant information

Launched in 2008, Map Maker data has been used to build maps in Google Maps for countries such as Iraq and Afghanistan.

The process uses data sent in by members of the public which are then fact-checked. In the case of North Korea, Google said satellite images were the main source.

"For a long time, one of the largest places with limited map data has been North Korea. But today we are changing that," said Jayanth Mysore, senior product manager at Google Map Maker.

"As a result, the world can access maps of North Korea that offer much more information and detail than before," he said.

Google said a large number of people in South Korea had contributed information to create usable maps.

However, at least one of the contributors was from Australia, and does not speak Korean.

"I wanted to go to North Korea and because it was not yet mapped I decided to start mapping so I could at least see how easy it would be to travel within the country," Sebastiaan van Oyen, who works as a risk manager for a financial trading firm in Sydney, told the BBC.

Mr van Oyen said he had used satellite images to get his data saying they "are good enough to cover the whole country, although the quality and date of the data varies".

"For a basic map you will be fine, but it will take time to get reliable street level navigation."

However, he said that the biggest obstacle towards creating a more detailed map was to get enough local knowledge to name all the features.

"Keep in the back of your mind that there are restricted areas and not much [readily available] local knowledge outside of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea."

Google's Chairman, Eric Schmidt, visited North Korea earlier this month, despite warnings from US leaders that it was "ill-advised" in the wake of Pyongyang's launch of a long-range rocket in December.

Mr Schmidt urged the country to end its self-imposed isolation and allow its citizens to use the internet, saying it would lag behind economically unless it embraced internet freedom.

23.43 | 1 komentar | Read More

Google funds Raspberry Pi computers

29 January 2013 Last updated at 09:30 ET By Jane Wakefield Technology reporter

Schools around the UK are to be given 15,000 free microcomputers, with a view to creating a new generation of computer scientists.

Funded by Google, the Raspberry Pi Foundation hopes the free devices will inspire children to take up coding.

The pared-down Raspberry Pi, launched a year ago, is already a huge success.

There are concerns current information and communications technology (ICT) teaching is inadequate preparation for the future jobs in technology.

Skill decline

The partnership was announced at Chesterton Community College in Cambridge, where children were given a coding lesson by Google's chairman Eric Schmidt and Raspberry Pi co-founder Eben Upton.

"We hope that our new partnership with Google will be a significant moment in the development of computing education in the UK," said Mr Upton.

"We believe that this can turn around the year-on-year decline in the numbers and skill sets of students applying to read computer science at university."

Continue reading the main story

Mark Ward Technology correspondent, BBC News

---

The Raspberry Pi has a growing number of rivals.

For hobbyists there is Julian Skidmore's 8-bit Fignition that costs about the same as a Pi.

Slightly pricier, but not by much, are the APC from VIA, Rikomagic's MK802 and RK3066, the BeagleBoard, the Mele A1000 and the Hiapad Hi-802.

Alongside these are more expensive products such as FXI's Cotton Candy Android computer, Intel's Next Unit of Computing, Xi3's Piston and Zotac's ZBOX.

These cost a good deal more than a Pi, upwards of £150, and aim to be a fully featured computer.

Other manufacturers are getting into the puny PC game though their devices are not as malleable as a Pi.

Favi's computer on a USB stick acts as a media server. Dell is doing something similar with Project Ophelia which will do some work locally but shunt the hard stuff to the cloud.

Over the past decade, the number of people studying computer science in the UK dropped by 23% at undergraduate level and by 34% at graduate level.

British innovators

To help ensure teachers and children get the best out of the devices, Google and Raspberry Pi are working with six educational partners, including Code Club, Computing at School, Generating Genius and Coderdojo. They will distribute the devices to schools around the UK.

In the past Mr Schmidt has said ICT teaching in the UK puts too much emphasis on using, rather than creating, software.

Announcing Google's Raspberry Pi giveaway, on Tuesday, he said: "Britain's innovators and entrepreneurs have changed the world - the telephone, television and computers were all invented here.

"We have been working to encourage the next generation of computer scientists and we hope this donation... to British school pupils will help drive a new wave of innovation."

Google is also sponsoring ICT teacher training via a scheme in conjunction with the Teach First charity.

Sponsorship suspicions

It has led some critics to question whether large corporations such as Google should take on such a role.

"Schools are increasingly being used as marketing venues by companies promoting their own brands in return for teaching resources, books, sports equipment or computers," said a National Union of Teachers representative.

"Commercial sponsorship of school resources and equipment and their involvement in training can actively undermine teachers' efforts to educate children about the dangers of manipulation and commercial exploitation,"

Rival Microsoft has also called for a shake-up of how computer science is taught in the UK.

"Computer science is something that we have been calling the 'fourth science' for some time. We believe that it is every bit as important as physics, chemistry and biology," said Steve Beswick, director of education at Microsoft.

"By formally introducing children to computer science basics at primary school, we stand a far greater chance of increasing the numbers taking the subject through to degree level and ultimately the world of work."

23.43 | 0 komentar | Read More