Children to have Linkedin profiles

20 August 2013 Last updated at 07:54 ET

Linkedin is dropping its minimum age for membership from 18 to 13.

Children's profiles will have default settings making less of their personal information publicly visible, with more prominent links to safety information.

Support requests from child members will also be dealt with separately.

The decision comes the day after the social-networking site for professionals launched University Pages, allowing higher education institutions to set up profiles.

Dr Bernie Hogan, of the Oxford Internet Institute, said the development, which takes effect on 12 September, would help children "differentiate between the public profile they want for employment [and] the personal profile they share on Facebook with their friends and family".

"I am personally opposed to employers intruding on Facebook pages while screening candidates," he said.

"The risk of unintended discrimination is very high."

But Dr Hogan also warned children could become a nuisance to Linkedin's 225 million existing members if they used the site to play games or set up profiles with false names.

"You can't get employed under a fake name," he said.

New York University, the University of Michigan and French business school Insead have already set up Linkedin profiles.

"University Pages will be especially valuable for students making their first big decision about where to attend college," Linkedin's head of universities Christina Allen said in a blog post.

23.44 | 0 komentar | Read More

Facebook founder's 'wall' hacked

19 August 2013 Last updated at 07:08 ET By Joe Miller BBC News

A Palestinian programmer has highlighted a flaw in Facebook's security system by posting a message on Mark Zuckerberg's private page.

Khalil Shreateh used a vulnerability he discovered to hack the account of the Facebook founder and raise the alarm.

Mr Shreateh said he had tried to use Facebook's White Hat scheme, which offers a monetary reward for reporting vulnerabilities, but had been ignored.

Facebook said it had fixed the fault but would not be paying Mr Shreateh.

Mr Shreateh found a security breach that allowed Facebook users to post messages on the private "walls" of people who had not approved them as "friends", overriding the site's privacy features.

'Not a bug'

He wrote to Facebook's White Hat team to warn them of the glitch, providing basic details of his discovery.

After a short exchange with the team, Mr Shreateh received an email saying: "I am sorry this is not a bug".

Following this rebuttal, Mr Shreateh exploited the bug to post a message on Mr Zuckerberg's page.

In the post, Mr Shreateh, whose first language is Arabic, said he was "sorry for breaking your privacy and post to your wall" but that he had "no other choice" after being ignored by Facebook's security team.

An engineer on Facebook's security team, Matt Jones, posted a public explanation saying that although Mr Shreateh's original email should have been followed up, the way he had reported the bug had violated the site's "responsible disclosure policy".

He added that as Mr Shreateh had highlighted the bug "using the accounts of real people without their permission", he would not qualify for a payout.

23.44 | 0 komentar | Read More

Minecraft maker shelves 0x10c game

19 August 2013 Last updated at 07:08 ET

Developer Markus "Notch" Persson, who created the hit online video game Minecraft, says he has shelved plans for a follow-up.

The new project was provisionally titled 0x10c. It was to be a space-themed game, set in the distant future.

Mojang, the company behind Minecraft, recorded £57m profit in 2012 and had promoted 0x10c during its development.

Mr Persson blamed both the high levels of interest in 0x10c and code copiers for his decision to stop working on it.

"I was streaming code and someone copied all the code and made their own version of it," he said of the new game during a live web stream.

"That was kind of the start of the decline of 0x10c. I realised the community was more powerful than I had the energy for."

There had been a great deal of interest in the game, which was to feature an in-game computer which could be programmed and even infected with viruses by players - not least because of the success of Minecraft.

Mr Persson has previously said he found it "weird" that he had made so much money out of the game, and told his web stream audience that he would no longer work on such high profile projects.

"I'm just going to make small games that hopefully you guys like instead of trying to do something that was going to have big mass appeal."

At the time of writing a blog documenting the development of 0x10c had not been updated since November 2012.

Earlier on in the broadcast Mr Persson appeared to blame the excitement surrounding the game for its demise before completion.

"I stopped developing 0x10c because everyone started caring about it before it was even done," he said.

"I just want to make small games and talk to other game developers about them. Forget all the hype."

He has today tweeted about the impact of his reputation as a high profile game developer on his work.

"It was much easier to have grand plans when nobody knew who I was," he wrote.

"The gaming world doesn't need more under delivering visionaries."

23.44 | 0 komentar | Read More

Ask.fm unveils safety policy changes

19 August 2013 Last updated at 10:44 ET By Pia Gadkari Technology reporter

Please turn on JavaScript. Media requires JavaScript to play.

David Smith, father of Hannah, on Ask.fm's new safety policies: "The government needs to bring in new regulations."

Social networking site Ask.fm has unveiled changes to make its site safer after recent online bullying cases.

It said it would view all reports within 24 hours, make the report button more visible, and include bullying and harassment as a category for a report.

It said some of the changes would be live on the site by September.

The father of Hannah Smith, 14, who is believed to have killed herself at home in Leicestershire after she was bullied on the site, welcomed the changes.

"I think it's too late, but it's not too little," Dave Smith said in an interview with the BBC. "They're actually taking a step forward and they're making things safer for children on the internet."

'New laws needed'

Mr Smith said Ask.fm did not need to be shut down, since it had shown it was ready to make its site safer. But he called on the government to do more.

Continue reading the main story

It has become a cliche to say that the internet is ungovernable - but the fact that Ask.fm has felt obliged to respond to British anger over bullying on the site shows that is not the whole story.

Any site that attracts a global audience of young people quickly finds that it cannot wash its hands when things go wrong.

Monday's announcement has been welcomed by child safety experts.

But even though there will now be incentives for Ask.fm users to be a little less anonymous, it is that ability to say what you want without identifying yourself which is both the appeal and the danger of sites of like this.

There is pressure now to make it illegal to offer this kind of service to children without making sure they are who they say they are.

But the argument over anonymity - which offers security to dissidents in danger as well as a cloak for bullies - will continue to rage.

Even if Ask.fm loses its appeal to young people, other sites with even less security will take its place.

"The government needs to bring in new regulations so that people are safe on the internet," he said.

"We also need to bring new laws in so that if somebody is abusive on the internet they can actually get prosecuted for it."

Hannah was found hanged at her home in Lutterworth on 2 August.

Ask.fm said it would:

• Hire more staff, including a safety officer, to moderate comments on the site
• Create a "bullying/harassment" category for reported comments, alongside "spam or scam", "hate speech", "violence" and "pornographic content"
• Raise the visibility of a function to opt out of receiving anonymous questions
• Limit the number of features unregistered users were able to access, and require an email address upon sign-up for registered users

John Carr, secretary of the UK's Children's Charities' Coalition on Internet Safety, who is an adviser to the UK government on child safety, said: "The number of moderators they employ will be crucial as well as how fast they can be trained.

"But the measures they've announced definitely show they got the message and are moving in the right direction."

Report abuse

The UK Safer Internet Centre, which promotes the safe use of technology, said it was "delighted" by Ask.fm's proposed changes, and added the increased visibility of the "anonymous opt-out option" was an important development.

"We strongly advise users, especially children, to switch off anonymous questions, and to report any abuse they see on the site," the group said.

Continue reading the main story

Clearly these changes are positive steps in the right direction"

End Quote Claire Perry MP

"We will continue to offer advice to Ask.fm about their processes, to ensure users have a positive and safe experience."

In July, 1.4 million people in the UK visited Ask.fm, according to the latest figures from internet research firm Comscore.

After her death, Hannah's father said that he had found bullying posts on his daughter's Ask.fm page from people telling her to die.

Latvia-based Ask.fm ordered a law firm to conduct an audit of the site and its safety features in the wake of Hannah's death.

UK Prime Minister David Cameron has called for people to boycott websites that fail to tackle online abuse.

Claire Perry MP, an adviser to the prime minister on child safety issues, said she was hopeful the "responsible" changes would "prevent any more tragic consequences".

"While I am concerned as to the length of time it will take for these crucial measures to be implemented, clearly these changes are positive steps in the right direction," she said.

Companies including Specsavers, Vodafone, Laura Ashley and the charity Save the Children withdrew their advertising from Ask.fm after Hannah died.

It has also emerged that another teenager, 17-year-old Daniel Perry, had been urged to kill himself by anonymous users on Ask.fm in the months leading up to his death.

Daniel is also believed to have been blackmailed on the internet and faced threats that images and videos on his laptop would be made public if he did not send money to an account.

A recent report from the National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children (NSPCC) indicated that online harassment or abuse was experienced by almost one in five children who used social networking sites.

It suggested the most common sort of bad experience was bullying and trolling, but that children also received unwanted sexual messages, cyber-stalking and felt under pressure to look a certain way.

23.44 | 0 komentar | Read More

Row after journalist's partner held

19 August 2013 Last updated at 13:38 ET

Please turn on JavaScript. Media requires JavaScript to play.

David Miranda: "I was kept in a room with six agents... asking me about everything."

Pressure is mounting on police to justify the detention of a journalist's partner under terror laws.

Senior politicians and an independent reviewer have said police must explain why David Miranda was detained for nine hours at Heathrow Airport.

Mr Miranda's partner is a journalist who published documents leaked by US whistleblower Edward Snowden.

Police have not said why Mr Miranda was held, but he said he was kept in a room and quizzed by "six agents".

Keith Vaz, chairman of the Home Affairs Select Committee, and shadow home secretary Yvette Cooper said police must explain why terrorism powers were used.

Brazil's foreign minister Antonio Patriota said he would call his UK counterpart William Hague to tell him the detention of Mr Miranda - a Brazilian national - was "not justifiable" and ask him to ensure it "won't happen again".

Please turn on JavaScript. Media requires JavaScript to play.

Neil Wallis, former executive editor, News of the World: "This is an appalling, blatant breach of press freedom"

Questions 'about everything'

Mr Miranda, 28, was held at Heathrow on Sunday on his way from Berlin to Rio de Janeiro, where he lives with his partner, Guardian journalist Glenn Greenwald.

"I remained in a room, there were six different agents coming and going, talking to me," Mr Miranda said.

"They asked questions about my entire life, about everything.

"They took my computer, video game, mobile phone, my memory cards, everything."

In Germany, Mr Miranda had been staying with US film-maker Laura Poitras, who has also been working on the Snowden files with Mr Greenwald and the Guardian, according to the newspaper.

Please turn on JavaScript. Media requires JavaScript to play.

His flights were being paid for by the Guardian. A spokesman said he was not an employee of the newspaper but "often assists" with Mr Greenwald's work.

Mr Miranda was detained under schedule 7 of the Terrorism Act 2000. This allows police to hold someone at an airport for up to nine hours for questioning about whether they have been involved with acts of terrorism.

Anyone detained must "give the examining officer any information in his possession which the officer requests". Any property seized must be returned after seven days.

The Independent Reviewer of Terrorism Legislation, David Anderson QC, said it was very unusual for someone to be held for the full nine hours, and he wanted to "get to the bottom" of what had happened.

He said he had asked the Home Office and Scotland Yard for a full briefing.

'Bullying'

The Guardian said it was "dismayed" by the detention and was "urgently seeking clarification from the British authorities" as to why it had happened.

Continue reading the main story

The stopping of David Miranda was highly unusual and will be just as controversial.

These powers are often used to have a look at an individual heading in or out of the country to see if there is any evidence linking them to terrorism. That may involve questioning and a search of their belongings.

In this case the search will likely be the key aspect. Police may well have been looking for any classified information originating from British and American intelligence and obtained by Edward Snowden.

But this was not a random stop by a policeman on the ground. So who wanted him searched? Was it British intelligence? Or could it have been a request from the US? That's something it has denied although it won't stop questions.

Another controversy will be over the stretching of counter-terrorism powers for something which doesn't look like it has anything to do with terrorism. Powers are often justified on the basis of stopping terrorist attacks. But what will the reaction be when they are used for something else?

Add to this the fact the Brazilian government is clearly unhappy and that Glenn Greenwald says he will now go after British intelligence more aggressively in his journalism and you have to wonder if the person who made the decision might just be wondering if it was worth it.

The Metropolitan Police confirmed a 28-year-old man was held from 08:05 BST until 17:00 BST on Sunday under schedule 7 and was not arrested.

According to the Home Office, more than 97% of examinations under schedule 7 last less than an hour.

Mr Greenwald said the British authorities' actions in holding Mr Miranda amounted to "bullying" and linked it to his writing about Mr Snowden's revelations concerning the US National Security Agency (NSA).

He said it was "clearly intended to send a message of intimidation to those of us who have been reporting on the NSA and [UK intelligence agency] GCHQ".

He told the BBC police did not ask Mr Miranda "a single question" about terrorism but instead asked about what "Guardian journalists were doing on the NSA stories".

Mr Greenwald said he would respond by writing reports "much more aggressively than before".

"I have lots of documents about the way the secret services operate in England," he said.

"I think they are going to regret what they did."

'Extraordinary'

Mr Snowden, who has been granted temporary asylum in Russia, leaked details of extensive internet and phone surveillance by American intelligence services.

According to the Guardian, he passed "thousands of files" to Mr Greenwald, who has written a series of stories about surveillance by US and UK authorities.

Mr Vaz said police must "of course" question people if they have "concerns" about what they are doing in the UK.

Please turn on JavaScript. Media requires JavaScript to play.

"What is extraordinary is they knew he was the partner [of Mr Greenwald] and therefore it is clear not only people who are directly involved are being sought but also the partners of those involved," he said.

"Bearing in mind it is a new use of terrorism legislation to detain someone in these circumstances... I will write to the police to ask for the justification of the use of terrorism legislation - they may have a perfectly reasonable explanation."

Ms Cooper said the situation must be "investigated and clarified urgently", adding: "The public support for these powers must not be endangered by a perception of misuse."

In a statement, the Liberal Democrats said police should use schedule 7 powers "proportionately and for good reason".

Journalism 'not terrorism'

Dr David Lowe, a former counter-terrorist detective, said the length of the detention might be explained by the "volume of documentation" carried by Mr Miranda.

He said the amount of information revealed by Mr Snowden to the Guardian was not yet known, but police might have kept Mr Miranda for the full nine hours allowed because they had lots of data to go through.

Dr Lowe also said Mr Miranda might have been targeted because of the "top secret" information police thought he was carrying, rather than because of his relationship with Mr Greenwald.

But journalists' groups have accused authorities of misusing terrorism laws.

Bob Satchwell, of the Society of Editors, said the incident was "another example of the dangerous tendency" for authorities to "assume that journalists are bad when in fact they play an important part in any democracy."

He added: "Journalism may be embarrassing and annoying for governments but it is not terrorism."

23.44 | 0 komentar | Read More

Google case 'should be heard in US'

19 August 2013 Last updated at 14:11 ET

Google is seeking to stop a lawsuit, claiming it illegally tracked internet users, from being heard in the UK, the claimants' lawyer Dan Tench says.

Dozens of UK users of Apple's Safari web browser claim Google bypassed a privacy setting without telling them.

The Sunday Times reported that Google's lawyers have filed papers with the High Court which said any information gleaned from its search engine was not "private or confidential".

Google declined to comment.

The case is in its early stages and lawyers have yet to appear in court to present their arguments.

However, Google has already been fined by the US trade watchdog for flouting Safari security settings.

The British claimants, who launched their campaign earlier in the year, argued that between summer 2011 and spring 2012 they were assured by Google that their online activity was not being tracked, and believed Safari's settings to be secure.

'Inherently personal'

But, they say, cookies - which allow websites to "remember" the user - were used to collect data about the online activities of web users to allow Google to provide targeted advertising to them.

Safari has a setting that is supposed to block the cookie software used by internet companies to track their customers' behaviour.

Google, worth about $285bn (£182bn), has suggested that British courts should not decide the matter, and the case should be heard by a court in California because that is where the company's software is based, according to reports.

The internet giant has tried to use this tactic in other cases against it, Mr Tench said.

But the lawyer said he believed the "harmful action" took place in the UK, where his clients lived and accessed the internet, so it would be appropriate for the case to proceed here.

"Google are trying to resist this claim on the basis of whether the UK is the appropriate jurisdiction to bring the action," he said.

"If they were right, that would constitute a very significant, practical handicap on anybody bringing any complaint against Google."

A British judge is expected to rule on the issue of jurisdiction in October.

In its submission to the UK's High Court, Google also said the information taken was not "private or confidential".

Mr Tench said: "I do find it surprising that Google is seriously trying to contend that there is no expectation of privacy in one's history of internet usage.

"That is something inherently, intimately, personal, where one would have a very high expectation of privacy."

23.44 | 0 komentar | Read More

Amazon.com website goes offline

19 August 2013 Last updated at 16:53 ET By Leo Kelion Technology reporter

Amazon.com has become the latest high-profile website to go offline in recent days.

Visitors to the US shopping site were greeted with a message saying: "Oops! We're very sorry," alongside a "500 Service Unavailable Error" report.

The site returned online about half an hour after the problem was first flagged by users of the news site Reddit.

Amazon could not be reached for comment at this time.

The firm's UK site was not affected by the issue, however its Canadian home page also showed an error message.

The support section of Intel's website and some pages which are only accessible to the computer chip-maker's staff also became unavailable for a period on Monday. A spokeswoman said this was due to an "internal issue" and it was a coincidence that it had occurred shortly after Amazon's problem.

It follows Google's two-minute downtime on Friday. That affected the firm's main search page as well as its Gmail email service, YouTube video site and Drive storage product.

Analytics firm GoSquared reported the fault caused a 40% dip in worldwide internet traffic. Google has not explained the cause.

Microsoft's Outlook.com and the New York Times website have also faced problems

Microsoft blamed a three-day-long disruption to its email product on a failure in its "caching" temporary storage service. It said this "resulted in a flood of traffic that our services did not handle properly".

The New York Times has said that an "internal issue" with its servers meant that the newspaper became unavailable for two hours on Wednesday.

"It's very unusual to see such a number of high-profile websites all suffering peak-time outages within the course of a few days of each other," said Chris Green, principal technology analyst at the Davies Murphy Group consultancy.

"People are going to be very interested to know exactly what the reasons were for the incidents that are still unexplained because the implications are huge: we've seen everything from users being unable to see their email to visitors and third-party retailers who use Amazon's marketplace being unable to buy and sell goods - all happening seemingly with no warning."

23.44 | 0 komentar | Read More

Fast in-flight wi-fi by early 2014

20 August 2013 Last updated at 08:32 ET By Joe Miller BBC News

In-flight wi-fi fast enough to stream video content from sites such as Netflix and the BBC's iPlayer could be available on airlines by 2014.

Communications regulator Ofcom is proposing to license a new satellite system for aircraft, ships and trains.

Earth Stations on Mobile Platforms (ESOMPs) can deliver connections up to 10 times faster than those currently available to travellers.

Britain's airlines have not indicated whether they would use the technology.

Ofcom began a consultation last week on the authorisation of the stabilised satellite dish system, which utilises high-frequency bands.

'Commercial decision'

Several commercial satellite operators are planning to launch networks that support the use of ESOMPs in the coming months.

An Ofcom representative said airlines would "have to make a commercial decision" on whether to utilise the new systems.

British Airways' in-flight entertainment and technology manager, Richard D'Cruze, said the airline was "closely monitoring developments in the connectivity market in both the satellite and direct air-to-ground technology areas".

Ofcom says it has been working with its European counterparts for the past two years, including France, Germany and Luxembourg, who are in the process of putting together their own regulations.

The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) in the US has already authorised the use of ESOMPs.

Andrew Ferguson, editor of broadband information website thinkbroadband.com, told the BBC the "inevitable higher costs for new systems" may be passed on to data-hungry passengers, who would instead choose to rely on various 3G and 4G mobile options.

"The parts of the UK that might benefit the most are those train services in rural areas where 3G connectivity is currently very poor or non-existent," he added.

"If the consultation does result in the roll-out of this satellite based mobile connectivity, with its stabilised satellite dish system, the totally connected world vision will be one step closer, and passengers on aeroplanes may have to endure the loud telephone calls of others who have VoIP, Skype or similar on their phones."

23.44 | 0 komentar | Read More

Xbox One courts indie developers

20 August 2013 Last updated at 08:32 ET By Leo Kelion Technology reporter

Microsoft is offering free Xbox One development kits to approved video games makers to encourage small teams to make titles for its forthcoming console.

It announced the move at the Gamescom trade fair in Cologne as part of its ID@Xbox self-publishing programme.

The equivalent hardware for the Xbox 360 costs thousands of pounds.

One expert said the move might help address a perception that Sony was more "indie-friendly".

The PlayStation maker dedicated a large part of its presentation to independent developers at the E3 expo in June, while Microsoft only briefly mentioned the sector at the Los Angeles event.

"Microsoft needed to be stronger about its message about this side of the industry," said Ed Barton, director of digital media at research firm Strategy Analytics.

"It has always been good at supporting the big firms with 400-strong teams, but it needs to show it can go down the spectrum all the way to the one-man bands.

"No-one knows where the next Minecraft will come from. And even if this doesn't move the needle hugely in terms of video game sales it will get the firm good press. There's a part of the public that love [independent] games like Journey - they make the ecosystem more interesting."

Track record

Although Microsoft said that in time it intended to make it possible for software writers to create games using retail versions of the Xbox One, at launch the facility will be limited to special development editions of the machine.

To qualify, it said, developers must have a proven track record of shipping games on a console, PC or mobile devices.

Teams which are approved will be given two of the development machines free of charge.

The teams must also have their programs certified by Microsoft's managers before they become available to the public, but they will be free to set their own wholesale price to which the console-maker will then add its own charge.

Microsoft added that it was taking steps to make sure gamers could easily discover self-published titles on its marketplace by:

• Allowing the games to show up in the main Xbox One store rather putting them into a separate area, as was the case with the Xbox 360
• Offering a view of what is "trending", based on what the gamers' friends and the wider community are playing
• Using an "editor picks" section to showcase indie titles

In addition, it confirmed it would not charge developers to distribute software updates - the firm ended such fees for the Xbox 360 in April - and would not place a limit on how many updates they offered.

Microsoft added that it would now host events in London, Seattle and San Francisco for applicants to find out more.

"We are committed to ID@Xbox and are fully invested in helping independent developers succeed on Xbox One," said Marc Whitten, Xbox chief product officer.

'Right direction'

Barry Meade of Fireproof Studios - a 14-person team that won Bafta's award for best British game earlier this year - had previously criticised Microsoft for "interminable bureaucracy, exorbitant fees and, let's be honest, frequent head-in-the-sand arrogance".

However, he gave a cautious welcome to the latest announcement.

"This is an encouraging step for indie developers and it looks like Microsoft is going in the right direction," he told the BBC.

"We'll have to wait for more information on the actual cost of set-up and games submission - historically high for small teams.

"And it remains to be seen what the firm's actual attitude is to indie development as, again, historically this has not been Microsoft's greatest strength. But this is good news so far."

Prof Louis Natanson, who leads computer games education at Abertay University in Dundee, also welcomed the news.

"The next generation of consoles is now looking very exciting for indie companies, with Microsoft's announcements today and Sony's work on bringing indie games to the Vita and building the PlayStation 4 to make it easily accessible to small development teams," he said.

"There hasn't been a more exciting time for indie developers since the bedroom development scene of the 1980s and 1990s."

23.44 | 0 komentar | Read More

Anonymous 'hacks council website'

20 August 2013 Last updated at 12:04 ET

A Surrey council's website has been hacked with pages replaced with references to David Miranda, who was recently detained at Heathrow Airport.

Mole Valley District Council's website was turned off on Monday afternoon after the attack.

The council believes it was carried out by the group Anonymous, which has been responsible for attacks on the Home Office and Sony.

A limited service is expected to be available by Thursday.

A council spokesman said: "The council is confident that the firewall protecting the public information, databases and internal information services have not been breached."

He said the council had decided earlier that a complete rebuild of the website was "the safest option".

Mr Miranda was held at Heathrow for nine hours on Sunday while in transit from Germany to Brazil.

His partner is Guardian journalist Glenn Greenwald, who published documents leaked by US whistleblower Edward Snowden.

"I remained in a room, there were six different agents coming and going, talking to me," Mr Miranda said.

"They took my computer, video game, mobile phone, my memory cards, everything."

He has launched a legal challenge over the police's use of anti-terror laws to detain him and seize his property.

23.44 | 0 komentar | Read More