Tinder sued for sexual harassment

1 July 2014 Last updated at 10:06

The former vice president of marketing at Tinder is suing the company over claims of sexual harassment and discrimination.

Whitney Wolfe has filed a lawsuit, against the dating app, describing 18 months of harassment, starting in 2012.

She has said her title as co-founder was stripped because of her gender and accused Justin Mateen, chief marketing officer, of publicly insulting her.

Wolfe said he called her a whore at a company party.

She also claimed Chief Executive Officer Sean Rad ignored her complaints.

Justin Mateen and Sean Rad have been accused by Whitney Wolfe of discriminating against her

IAC/InterActiveCorp owns a majority stake in Los Angeles-based Tinder and is also a defendant, along with Match.com.

An IAC spokesman said Mateen had been suspended as part of an ongoing internal investigation and said the messages he sent Wolfe were "inappropriate".

"We unequivocally condemn these messages, but believe that Ms. Wolfe's allegations with respect to Tinder and its management are unfounded," he said.

Tinder and Match did not reply to emails requesting comment.

Wolfe said she came up with the idea for the name Tinder after worries its original name of Matchbox was too similar to Match.com.

She said she formed a romantic relationship with Mateen after he joined the company in 2012.

The lawsuit states Mateen called her "a desperate loser" in a marketing meeting as they began to break up and told a number of people, including Rad, that Wolfe was an alcoholic.

She also said he sent her a string of harassing texts.

Wolfe complained to Rad, who would ignore her "or call her a dramatic or emotional girl," the suit says, adding that in one meeting, Rad told her it was her job to "keep Justin calm."

Wolfe said she resigned after Mateen called her a whore at a company party in April.

She said she was stripped of her title of co-founder in November 2013 after Mateen said that having a "girl founder" would devalue the company, the lawsuit claims.

The news comes as activists accuse Silicon Valley of being unfriendly towards women.

They say female executives, founders and programmers are put off by the culture of the "brogrammer", a partying, male programmer.

Tinder allows users to link their Facebook pictures to their profiles, and then look at other users' pictures. Users swipe left to decline a match, or right to begin messaging someone.

Rad has previously said Tinder had created more than 150 marriages.

"Every day we get hundreds and thousands of emails telling us either [about] friendships made on Tinder or engagements, or long-term relationships being created," he said.

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Facebook attacked for emotion study

30 June 2014 Last updated at 03:31

Facebook is facing criticism after it emerged it had conducted a psychology experiment on nearly 700,000 users without their knowledge.

The test saw Facebook "manipulate" news feeds to control which emotional expressions the users were exposed to.

The research was done in collaboration with two US universities to gauge if "exposure to emotions led people to change their own posting behaviours".

Facebook said there was "no unnecessary collection of people's data".

"None of the data used was associated with a specific person's Facebook account," the social networking giant added.

Cornell University and the University of California at San Francisco were involved in the study.

Ability to manipulate?

Continue reading the main story

They are manipulating material from people's personal lives and I am worried about the ability of Facebook and others to manipulate people's thoughts in politics or other areas."

End Quote Jim Sheridan Labour MP

But some have criticised the way the research was conducted and raised concerns over the impact such studies could have.

"Let's call the Facebook experiment what it is: a symptom of a much wider failure to think about ethics, power and consent on platforms," Kate Crawford posted on Twitter.

Lauren Weinstein tweeted: "Facebook secretly experiments on users to try make them sad. What could go wrong?"

Meanwhile, Labour MP Jim Sheridan, a member of the Commons media select committee has called for an investigation into the matter.

"This is extraordinarily powerful stuff and if there is not already legislation on this, then there should be to protect people," he was quoted as saying by The Guardian newspaper.

"They are manipulating material from people's personal lives and I am worried about the ability of Facebook and others to manipulate people's thoughts in politics or other areas.

"If people are being thought-controlled in this kind of way there needs to be protection and they at least need to know about it."

However, Katherine Sledge Moore, a psychology professor at Elmhurst College, Illinois, said: "Based on what Facebook does with their newsfeed all of the time and based on what we've agreed to by joining Facebook, this study really isn't that out of the ordinary."

"The results are not even that alarming or exciting."

'Very sorry'

The research was conducted on 689,000 Facebook users over a period of one week in 2012.

According to the report on the study: "The experiment manipulated the extent to which people were exposed to emotional expressions in their News Feed".

The study found that users who had fewer negative stories in their news feed were less likely to write a negative post, and vice versa.

Adam Kramer of Facebook, who co-authored the report on the research, said: "We felt that it was important to investigate the common worry that seeing friends post positive content leads to people feeling negative or left out".

"At the same time, we were concerned that exposure to friends' negativity might lead people to avoid visiting Facebook."

However, he admitted that the firm did not "clearly state our motivations in the paper".

"I can understand why some people have concerns about it, and my co-authors and I are very sorry for the way the paper described the research and any anxiety it caused."

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Call for Google Glass ban in cinemas

1 July 2014 Last updated at 14:24 By Dave Lee Technology reporter, BBC News

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Rory Cellan-Jones finds out if he is allowed in a cinema wearing Google Glass

Google Glass should be banned in UK cinemas, the head of an influential trade body has urged.

Phil Clap, head of the Cinema Exhibitors' Association (CEA), said it wanted the smart glasses removed "whether the film is playing or not".

The CEA has no power to enforce a ban, but instead makes recommendations to most of the country's cinema industry.

Google suggested cinemas "simply ask wearers to turn it off before the film starts".

In a statement the company said Google Glass - the smart eyewear device that can record video - should be treated like any small gadget such as mobile phones.

"Broadly speaking, we also think it's best to have direct and first-hand experience with Glass before creating policies around it," the company said.

"The fact that Glass is worn above the eyes and the screen lights up whenever it's activated makes it a fairly lousy device for recording things secretly."

The CEA represents about 90% of the cinema industry in the UK, and also pushes the interests of groups such as the Federation Against Copyright Theft (Fact).

The Independent quoted CEA chief executive Phil Clapp as saying: "Customers will be requested not to wear these into cinema auditoriums."

Knock-off DVDs

Cinema chains will still be free to make their own decisions on the hardware.

When asked by the BBC for its thoughts on Google Glass last week, Vue said it would ask people to remove the eyewear as "soon as the lights dim before a screening".

While Google Glass is a very mobile piece of hardware, it is not particularly inconspicuous - and recording time can only last for a maximum of 45 minutes.

Anyone recording a film using the device would need to keep their head very still throughout.

However, Stuart Hall, a member of CEA based in London, said pirates would always use new ways to evade detection - and that bans should apply to "any kind of wearable technology".

He added that the likelihood of a Google Glass recording being poor quality would not deter pirates from selling knock-off DVDs.

"You don't know the quality is bad until you've bought it," he told the BBC.

Google Glass was launched in the UK last week, but with a price tag of £1000, it is not expected to become a mainstream product.

Despite this, Google has issued guidance on how people should use the device.

Follow Dave Lee on Twitter @DaveLeeBBC

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Seized Silk Road bitcoin sold in US

30 June 2014 Last updated at 11:07

The auction of 29,000 bitcoins seized during a raid on the Silk Road internet marketplace has been completed.

The sale of the coins, worth about $18.7m (£11m), was carried out by the US Marshals Service on 27 June.

The Silk Road shut down in late 2013 following raids by the FBI and other law enforcement agencies which said it was trading in illegal drugs.

The auction ran for about 12 hours and the successful bidders are due to notified on 30 June.

The seized bitcoins are part of the civil forfeiture and criminal action brought against Silk Road owner Ross William Ulbricht.

The bitcoin hoard was sold by being split into nine blocks of 3,000 coins and one of 2,657.

The US Marshals declined to name who had put down bids for the coins although earlier this month the agency accidentally leaked a list of some of the buyers in an email update about the sale.

Officials at the Agency wrongly addressed the email message, inadvertently revealing most of the people to whom it had been sent.

The list included UK-based virtual currency payment processor Coinbase as well as auction site Second Market and marketplace Bitcoin Shop.

Another larger hoard of bitcoins, believed to be worth about $85m, was also seized during the 2013 raid. Mr Ulbricht is contesting ownership of these bitcoins saying they are his personal property and are not part of the Silk Road's assets now controlled by the US government.

The sale comes as California clarifies state laws governing crypto currencies such as Bitcoin. Until now it has been technically illegal to buy and sell using virtual currencies. The law ends a state prohibition that requires commerce to be transacted only with US currency.

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Toys classed as drones by US agency

30 June 2014 Last updated at 13:55

Hobbyists are concerned new US Federal Aviation Administration guidance classifying first-person-view model aircraft as drones will ground toy planes unless they have a permit.

The FAA hopes its list of "dos and don'ts" will make model aircraft safer.

But David Schneider, of the IEEE Spectrum, said a child's toy such as the Hubsan FPV X4 Mini RTF Quadcopter would now require a permit to fly.

Models must be visible at all times, without vision-enhancing devices.

These include:

• binoculars
• night-vision goggles
• powered vision-magnifying devices
• goggles that give a "first-person view" from the model

"Such devices would limit the operator's field of view thereby reducing his or her ability to see and avoid other aircraft in the area," the guidance says.

"Additionally, some of these devices could dramatically increase the distance at which an operator could see the aircraft, rendering the statutory visual-line-of-sight requirements meaningless."

The guidance also states model aircraft can be flown only for recreational - not commercial - purposes. Operators can take pictures of their house, for example, but cannot use them to advertise the house for sale

Model aircraft must also weigh 55lb or less. And when flying within five miles of an airport, the operator must warn the air traffic control tower.

British Model Flying Association development officer Manny Williamson told the BBC: "The BMFA is monitoring the developing situation in the United States regarding the FAA's stance on the operation of first-person-view model aircraft with considerable interest.

"First-person-view flight is permitted in the UK under the terms of an exemption from certain provisions of the Air Navigation Order issued annually by the CAA [Civil Aviation Authority].

"The current exemption was issued in May 2014, and there are no indications that the current permissions will be revoked or altered in any way.

"In the UK, first-person-view flight is a recognised and valid aspect of recreational model flying and the BMFA is keen to maintain and support this position for the benefit of all UK model flyers."

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EU roaming fees fall for phone users

1 July 2014 Last updated at 11:08

Charges for surfing the internet on smartphones while travelling in the EU have been cut by half as new rules come into force.

European leaders have brought in changes over recent years to cut the fees in stages since 2007, aiming to eliminate them entirely within months.

These roaming charges can lead to phone users getting a "bill shock" following overseas trips.

The latest changes are designed to coincide with the holiday season.

"This huge drop in data roaming prices will make a big difference to all of us this summer," said Neelie Kroes, the EU telecoms commissioner.

Activity	Old price cap (2013)	New price cap (2014)
Downloading data/browsing	45 cents (36p) per megabyte	20 cents (16p) per megabyte
Making a call	24 cents (19p) per minute	19 cents (15p) per minute
Receiving a call	7 cents (6p) per minute	5 cents (4p) per minute
Sending a text message	8 cents (6p)	6 cents (5p)
Source: European Commission (all prices exclude VAT)

The changes mean that price caps for data downloads have been cut from 45 euro cents (36p) per megabyte, before VAT, to 20 cents (16p).

Fees for calls and text messages should also be reduced as the new rules come into effect on Tuesday.

The cap for making a call falls from 24 cents per minute to 19 cents, and sending a text (excluding picture texts) is down from eight cents to six cents.

Meanwhile, the cap for receiving calls is down from seven cents a minute to five cents.

Stuart Miles, founder of the Pocket Lint website, said that consumers should feel the benefit of the changes, although phone companies could alter the structure of some of their deals.

He said that many operators already had infrastructure across different European countries so these additional charges were questionable.

Consumer groups have warned that consumers need to still be on their guard against bill shocks if travelling outside of the EU.

European politicians want to go further and make the cost of a call or downloading internet data in another EU country the same as it would be at home.

In April, the European Parliament voted to scrap roaming fees, but this now requires the approval of all EU governments.

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Google to be sued over 'snooping'

30 June 2014 Last updated at 18:24

The US Supreme Court has rejected Google's appeal to dismiss legal action accusing it of breaking privacy laws.

In 2010 Google admitted accidentally collecting personal data from unencrypted wi-fi networks while building its Street View program.

Its cars collected emails, usernames and passwords between 2008 and 2010.

According to USA Today, Google has been the subject of nearly a dozen civil actions. And those suing the search giant are now "pressing forward".

"In 2011, those lawsuits were combined in one class action in federal court in San Francisco," it said.

Google is accused of breaking the US Wiretap Act, which "regulates the collection of the content of wire and electronic communications" and restricts unauthorised interception.

The BBC understands Google argued the information collected fell under an "accessible to the public exception" clause, which permits the interception of electronic communication if it is readily accessible to the general public.

In an official blog post, the company said: "We want to delete this data as soon as possible, and are currently reaching out to regulators in the relevant countries about how to quickly dispose of it."

Google has already agreed to pay $7m (£4,1m) to settle an investigation into the matter, "involving 38 US states and the District of Columbia", according to a report from Reuters news agency.

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Robots might roam UK nuclear sites

1 July 2014 Last updated at 03:34

Robots could soon be roaming over decommissioned nuclear sites and abandoned coal mines in the UK to test their ability to work autonomously.

The proposal to create the test sites is one strand of a broad plan that seeks to co-ordinate UK robot research.

Drafted by the Technology Strategy Board, it calls for "grand challenges" which see researchers compete to make robots that complete specific tasks.

The UK could lead the world in robots, said the authors behind the plan.

Cash call

The proposals come as Science Minister David Willetts unveils how the Technology Strategy Board will spend the £400m in funds allocated to it over the next year. Some of that cash is already earmarked for research on robotics.

"Robots have often been positioned as a thing of the future, but today's strategy-launch emphasises the fact that they are very much of the here and now," Mr Willetts is expected to say during a speech on 1 July.

The board wants the UK to do more for robotics by implementing the recommendations on test sites and challenges and by putting cash into geographical areas, such as Bristol and Edinburgh, already known for their academic expertise with robots.

Continue reading the main story

We need to act quickly if we don't want to be left behind"

End Quote Prof David Lane Heriot-Watt University

"We need to provide a business environment in the UK that is geared towards helping robotic and autonomous technologies out of the lab and into the marketplace," said Prof David Lane of Heriot-Watt University who headed the Robotics and Autonomous Systems Special Interest Group at the TSB which drew up the plan.

Driverless cars, rail systems that can monitor and repair track by themselves, technologies that assist elderly people, and nuclear plant safety monitors were all examples of leading British robot technology, said Prof Lane.

"The UK has an exceptional heritage in many of the industries where robotics can be most useful," he said.

"We need to act quickly if we don't want to be left behind," he added. "With the right course of action, we believe the UK could achieve 10% of the global market share by 2025."

The plan was "great news" said robotics expert Prof Noel Sharkey from the University of Sheffield.

"The UK is the lowest user of industrial robotics in the technically developed nations of Europe - well behind Spain and Italy," he said. "We have a lot of robotics talent in our universities with enormous potential to bring the UK to hi-tech glory.

"It is a massive market and we have already slipped well behind," he said.

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Energy firms hacked by 'Dragonfly'

1 July 2014 Last updated at 13:38

More than 1,000 energy companies in North America and Europe have been compromised in a huge malware attack unearthed by US security firm Symantec.

The hackers are thought to be part of an Eastern European collective known as Dragonfly, which has been in operation since at least 2011.

Targets included energy grid operators and industrial equipment providers.

"Its primary goal appears to be espionage," Symantec said.

Sabotage operations

Eighty four countries were affected, although most of the victims were located in the United States, Spain, France, Italy, Germany, Turkey, and Poland.

Since 2013 Dragonfly has been targeting organisations that use industrial control systems (ICS) to manage electrical, water, oil, gas and data systems.

Symantec said Dragonfly had accessed computers using a variety of techniques, including attaching malware to third-party programs, emails and websites, giving it "the capability to mount sabotage operations that could have disrupted energy supplies across a number of European countries".

It had used Backdoor.Oldrea to gather system information, including the computers' Outlook address book and a list of files and programs installed, and Trojan.Karagany to upload stolen data, download new files and run them on infected computers, Symantec said.

'Interesting and concerted'

"The way Dragonfly targeted the companies in question was - while not groundbreaking - interesting and concerted. It appears they clearly mapped out their intended plan of attack," said Rob Cotton, CEO at global information assurance firm NCC Group.

"The increasing frequency and sophistication of these attacks whilst concerning should not be a cause of alarm for the average consumer - yet. Government departments such as the CPNI (Centre for the Protection of National Infrastructure) provide sound advice to all key components of our society, ensuring the lights stay on and similar core services and functions critical to our way of life are available."

The attack is similar to the Stuxnet computer worm, which was designed to attack similar industrial controllers in 2010 and reportedly ruined almost 20% of Iran's nuclear power plants.

Symantec said Dragonfly "bears the hallmarks of a state-sponsored operation, displaying a high degree of technical capability".

Independent computer security analyst Graham Cluley told the BBC that the motivation for the attack was unclear, but agreed that many would suspect the attacks were sponsored by a foreign state, highlighting a new era of online crime:

"There is no doubt that we have entered a new era of cybercrime, where countries are not just fighting the threat - but are also exploiting the internet for their own interests using the same techniques as the criminals."

Dr Andrew Rogoyski, chair of techUK Cyber Security Group, told the BBC that "on the face of it, the attacks seem much more benign than Stuxnet but time and further analysis will tell."

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Anti-malware action hits millions

1 July 2014 Last updated at 13:54

Traffic to millions of servers has been disrupted as Microsoft seeks to shut down persistent cybercriminals.

Backed by a court order, the software giant seized control of web domains it said were being used to infect Windows PCs with malware.

Microsoft stopped traffic reaching the malicious domains but has also inadvertently stopped data reaching many legitimate sites.

The original owner of the domains said Microsoft's action was "heavy-handed".

Court challenge

In a blogpost, Microsoft lawyer Richard Boscovich said it had taken the action against domain administration firm No-IP.com for its "roles in creating, controlling, and assisting in infecting millions of computers with malicious software".

He said No-IP's infrastructure had been used to spread the Bladabindi and Jenxcus family of malicious programs in 93% of the cases it had seen. Over the past 12 months, he said, Microsoft had detected variants of the two viruses more than 7.4 million times.

The thieves behind the malware could steal data from infected machines, record keystrokes and listen to any sounds taking place around a computer, he said.

Microsoft had taken the legal step of making itself the controller of the 23 domains because No-IP had not done enough to police them, wrote Mr Boscovich. A federal court in Nevada granted Microsoft the right to take over the No-IP domains.

Once it had had control of the suspect domains, he said, Microsoft had applied filters so only "clean" data had got through and that helping the malware spread had been caught and discarded.

In response, No-IP said Microsoft's action had been "draconian" and had wrongly "affected millions of innocent internet users".

No-IP speculated that Microsoft had underestimated the amount of data traffic flowing towards the domains it was now administering, which had caused service disruptions for many legitimate customers.

"Millions of innocent users are experiencing outages to their services because of Microsoft's attempt to remediate hostnames associated with a few bad actors," wrote No-IP in a statement posted on its site.

It added that Microsoft could have achieved the same end result if it had made more effort to contact No-IP's senior management.

"Unfortunately, Microsoft never contacted us or asked us to block any subdomains, even though we have an open line of communication with Microsoft corporate executives," it said.

"This heavy-handed action by Microsoft benefits no-one," it added. "We will do our best to resolve this problem quickly."

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