Chinese team wins $5m gaming prize

22 July 2014 Last updated at 02:21

Chinese team NewBee has taken home $5m in prize money after winning the world's most lucrative gaming contest.

The International pits the best players of a game called Dota2, created by developer Valve, against each other.

NewBee defeated rival Chinese team Vici Gaming to win the title.

The total prize money was $10.9m, with the runners-up getting $1.4m, and $4.5m distributed among the other 19 teams taking part in the tournament, which began on 18 July in Seattle.

Valve donated $1.6m of the prize money, but the rest was raised by some of the millions of people who regularly play the game.

Dota2 is as a multiplayer online battle arena game for the PC.

Each player assumes the role of one of 107 different heroes and must work together to defend their own and destroy their rival's "ancient" - an artefact sitting in a fortress sited in one corner of the game map.

Video streams of the matches have been shared online, and Valve even ran a "newcomer" series to educate people new to the game.

In addition, some bars, pubs and gaming centres around the world held parties for people keen to see the finals in a crowd.

The final was also shown on one of the ESPN channels.

"Valve have put an awful lot of thought into packing digital sports up as actual things for people to actually follow and watch and enjoy," wrote Alice O'Connor in a blogpost on the Rock, Paper Shotgun website.

Michael O'Dell, manager of the UK's Team Dignitas, said: "This year has certainly been the banner year for eSports, with massive tournaments in Dota, League of Legends and CS:GO (Counter-Strike: Global Offensive). And there are more to come. The scene is very vibrant right now."

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MPs seek judicial review of data law

22 July 2014 Last updated at 12:57

Two MPs have said they will be seeking a judicial review of the emergency legislation ensuring that police and security services have access to people's phone and internet records.

The Data Retention and Investigatory Powers Act was rushed through Parliament in three days.

But MP David Davis and Labour's Tom Watson are challenging whether the law is compatible with human rights law.

Their bid is backed by civil rights group Liberty.

Mr Davis and Mr Watson have written to the Home Office giving them seven days' notice of their intention to seek a judicial review of the passing of the legislation.

Individuals or organisations have the power to seek a judicial review of any decision by a public body that they believe has been made unlawfully.

If their request is granted, a judge reviews the way the decision was reached - but does not examine whether it was the correct decision or not.

'Scandal'

In this case - which could be heard in the autumn or early in 2015 - if the judge agrees with the MPs, then the act would not be struck down, but the government would have to take action to ensure it is compatible with human rights law.

Prime Minister David Cameron and Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg said that the accelerated passage of the bill through Parliament was necessary because of a ruling in April by the European Court of Justice.

They warned this would deny police and security services access to vital data about phone and email communications.

"Lives could be lost", said Home Secretary Theresa May.

They insisted that the act would simply maintain existing powers, which required communications companies to retain data for 12 months for possible investigation, but do not allow police or security agencies to access the content of calls or emails without a warrant.

But Mr Davis said: "Last week was a constitutional scandal. A piece of fundamental legislation was put through without proper scrutiny - without any real scrutiny.

"We were told it was simply reinstating the policy, but that is disingenuous. It was reinstating a policy which had been struck down by European law, without doing anything to make right the flaws which led to it being struck down, and it was reinstating policy which had fallen into very serious disrepute."

Mr Watson said that the deal between the three party leaders to rush the bill through Parliament amounted to "effectively making secret law, because most MPs didn't have the capacity or time to properly understand or scrutinise the legislation".

"We've been left with no option but to take the legal route," he said.

"The fact that the state at any time can find out almost your exact whereabouts, if you are carrying a mobile phone, I think is disproportionate and breaches the fundamental right to privacy."

Liberty director Shami Chakrabarti said that the European Court of Justice had suggested 10 safeguards which might improve the law - including measures to limit the period for which records are kept or to exempt specific professions, such as lawyers and MPs, from surveillance of this kind.

She said it was particularly appropriate that MPs were leading the legal fight, as their communications can be expected to include sensitive details relating to constituents' private lives.

Describing the passage of the legislation as "a complete disgrace", she added: "In response to a three month old European Court of Justice decision, the government stitched up a private deal between three party leaders and allowed Parliament only three days to scrutinise this so-called emergency legislation.

"The fightback begins this week."

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Xiaomi shows off phone and wristband

22 July 2014 Last updated at 12:36 By Leo Kelion Technology desk editor

China's fast-growing electronics firm Xiaomi has unveiled a new flagship smartphone and companion wristband.

The firm is marketing the steel handset's 5in (12.7cm) screen as offering 17% greater resolution than Apple's higher priced iPhone 5S.

It adds that the wristband acts as an ID authenticator, allowing the phone to be unlocked without a password.

One expert described the Mi 4 phone as "another winner" from a firm that seemed to have "unstoppable momentum".

Xiaomi (pronounced shiow-me, and meaning little rice) showed off the new kit at a launch event in Beijing.

It also revealed that it had sold 57.4 million phones since going into the smartphone business three years ago.

In addition, the firm disclosed that its first batch of mobiles to go on sale in India had sold out in 38 minutes earlier in the day. However, it did not say how many were bought.

Earlier this month, Samsung Electronics forecast a drop in profits due, in part, to "increased competition" from Xiaomi and other rivals in China. The South Korean firm cut the pay of its top executives as a result.

Market research firm Canalys recently ranked it as the world's sixth-largest smartphone vendor and China's third-biggest, after Samsung and Lenovo.

Low cost, high spec

While Xiaomi is little known in the West, where it does not yet sell devices, BusinessWeek magazine recently described it as a "brand that consumers truly lust after" in China and other emerging economies.

The private-owned company was formed in 2010, and initially only offered its MIUI user interface as add-on software for Android devices.

However, it only took it a year to announce its first handset, which included high-end components at a relatively low price - something it achieved by keeping advertising to a minimum and mainly selling its devices online, a strategy it has continued ever since.

In 2013, it caused a further stir when it announced that Hugo Barra - one of Google's top Android executives - was leaving the search giant to become Xiaomi's global vice president.

"It seems to have woven together a killer combination of great product at a great price, with an audience that spreads the word for the firm via social media very effectively," said Ben Wood, lead researcher at telecoms consultancy CCS Insight.

"Its software offers a very clean and colourful user interface that is constantly being updated, sometimes on a weekly basis.

"The company incorporates changes that have been suggested by customers, and one of the nice touches is that it lets customers know if their ideas are implemented.

"So, it is being incredibly inclusive in terms of getting its users to define the direction of not only the software but also the hardware in some respects."

Activity tracker

Unlike most handset makers, Xiaomi's online marketing for the Mi 4 plays up the source of its parts, boasting a "high colour saturation" screen from Sharp and the "fastest" 13 megapixel rear camera from Sony.

The design is reminiscent of Apple's iPhone 5 and marks the Chinese firm's first metal-framed build.

It is powered by a quad-core Qualcomm Snapdragon 801 2.5Ghz processor - the same as used by the UK edition of Samsung's Galaxy S5.

However, Xiaomi offers 3 gigabytes of RAM memory, 50% more than Samsung's device.

It is also significantly cheaper, costing 1,999 yuan ($322; £189) for the version with 16GB of storage and 2,499 yuan ($402; £235) for the 64GB edition.

The wristband is also keenly priced at 79 yuan ($13; £7.50) - less than a tenth of cost of Fitbit's rival Flex bracelet in China.

In addition to unlocking the phone via Bluetooth, the water resistant Mi Band can track activity and sleep, and act as an alarm clock, but lacks a screen. Xiaomi says it lasts up to 30 days between charges.

In addition to China and India, the company currently sells its devices in Singapore, the Philippines, Taiwan and Malaysia.

It has also announced plans to expand into Thailand, Indonesia, Turkey, Russia and Mexico this year.

However, it recently told the Wall Street Journal that an ambition to add Brazil to the list was taking longer than hoped because the South American country's laws meant it would have to assemble devices locally.

Mobile's rise

The Mi 4 announcement coincides with official figures that indicate more people in China now access the net using a mobile device than via a PC.

The China Internet Network Information Center said on Monday that the country had 632 million net users at the end of June - a 2.3% rise on last year's figure.

Of that number, 83% used a mobile device and 81% a PC.

According to a forecast by research firm IDC, China is now on course to account for about one third of all smartphone shipments by 2018.

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MH17: Facebook scams exploit crash

21 July 2014 Last updated at 15:19 By Kevin Rawlinson BBC News

Scammers are using the MH17 disaster in east Ukraine to spread objectionable links, online security experts have warned.

A link to a pornographic website disguised as a video of the Malaysia Airlines crash was posted on a Facebook page dedicated to one victim.

Many tweets have been posted that appeared to report the disaster, but actually included spam links.

One expert said the firms should take more responsibility for removing them.

Online security specialist Richard Cox said that it was common for spammers to exploit anything being discussed by a lot of people online.

"It is a fairly rapid and predictable response by the individuals behind it. They are all to make money. There is no compassion involved," he said.

Mr Cox, who is also chief information officer for anti-spam body Spamhaus, added that the perpetrators might be using software that could detect what was being posted regularly and repost using the same hashtags.

A Facebook community page dedicated to Liam Sweeney, one of the 298 people victims, uses his name and picture.

Its sole post is a link entitled: "Video Camera Caught the moment plane MH17 Crash over Ukraine".

However, the link takes users to a pornographic website. Moreover, anyone who clicks on it is then asked to call a phone number in order to verify that they are aged 18 or older.

"Whoever it is now has your caller ID and you could get a lot of nuisance calls," said Mr Cox.

Continue reading the main story

It is a fairly rapid and predictable response by the individuals behind it. They are all to make money. There is no compassion involved."

End Quote Richard Cox Spam expert

"This is all based on a somewhat tasteless video that probably doesn't exist and is presented in a completely tasteless way."

He added that Facebook should have deleted the site.

Facebook subsequently did so after it was brought to its attention by the BBC. A spokesman said: "We are disabling these profiles as soon as we are made aware of them.

"We encourage people to block those responsible and report suspicious behaviour to our team of experts via our reporting buttons so that we can quickly take the appropriate action."

Twitter abuse

On Friday 18 July, security firm TrendMicro reported that it had detected tweets pretending to be about MH17, but which also bore spam links.

Rik Ferguson, the firm's vice president of security research, said that its research suggested that the pages were most likely being used to gather clicks to generate advertising revenue.

He said the tactic could also be used to force pages higher up search engine rankings.

"It looks like a lot of people are retweeting what they are doing," he said.

Twitter's rules state: "User abuse and technical abuse are not tolerated on Twitter.com, and may result in permanent suspension.

"Any accounts engaging in the activities specified below may be subject to permanent suspension: If you post multiple unrelated updates to a topic using #, trending or popular topic, or promoted trend."

TrendMicro said that many previous disasters had been exploited in a similar way and that it expected to see further exploitation of the MH17 crash.

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Yahoo buys app analytics firm Flurry

22 July 2014 Last updated at 02:03

Yahoo has acquired an app analytics firm, Flurry, to help boost its advertising revenue from smartphones.

Flurry helps app developers analyse data about their users and deliver more personalised ads to them.

Some of Yahoo's rivals have also bought mobile advertising technology firms in an attempt to lure marketers to their apps, as well as generate revenue from ads on other company's apps.

The two firms did not disclose the financial terms of the deal.

However, some reports indicated that Yahoo paid between $200m and $300m (£117m and £ 175m) to acquire Flurry, making it one of Yahoo's biggest acquisitions since it acquired blogging platform Tumblr in 2012.

Revenue boost?

Continue reading the main story

With Yahoo, we will have access to more resources to speed up the delivery of great products that can help app developers build better apps, reach the right users, and explore new revenue opportunities"

End Quote Simon Khalaf Flurry

Yahoo's deal comes just days after it reported that its profit fell by 18% to $270m during the three months to the end of June.

Revenues at the internet giant also fell 3% to $1.08bn.

Most of the decline was due to a sharp drop in digital display advertising, which plunged 8% in the second quarter.

However, it said that its mobile display and search revenue each grew more than 100% during the period, from a year ago.

On Monday, the two firms said that by joining forces they will be able to better serve their customers and boost mobile revenues further.

"With Yahoo, we will have access to more resources to speed up the delivery of great products that can help app developers build better apps, reach the right users, and explore new revenue opportunities," Simon Khalaf, chief executive of Flurry, said in a statement.

"Over the last six years we have accomplished a lot on our own, but with Yahoo we are in an even better position to achieve our joint goals."

According to its website, Flurry works with more than 170,000 developers, picking up data from 150 billion app sessions each month, to provide information to app publishers about their audiences, app usage and performance.

Focus on mobile

The global demand for smartphones has surged in recent years and an increasing number of people are accessing the internet via handheld devices, rather than the traditional desktop computers.

That has prompted internet firms such as Yahoo, Twitter, Google and Facebook to come up with strategies to increase their revenues from mobile devices.

Earlier this year, Facebook acquired LiveRail - a tech start-up that helps companies place more relevant ads in the videos that appear on their websites and apps.

The firms did not reveal the financial terms, but some reports indicated that Facebook paid between $400m and $500m to buy the firm.

Meanwhile, Twitter acquired MoPub mobile advertising exchange last year.

MoPub acts as a mediation service, allowing marketers to manage the placement of ads across several networks, including Facebook's.

At the same time, Google's AdMob and Apple's iAds platforms and several other smaller firms are also competing to provide the adverts shown on mobile phones and tablets.

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Iraq conflict breeds cyber-civil war

22 July 2014 Last updated at 12:32 By Mark Ward Technology correspondent, BBC News

A cyber-civil war is being waged alongside the armed conflict in Iraq, research by security firms suggests.

As well as using social media to rally supporters and spread propaganda, some factions are employing hackers to gather intelligence.

Well-known attack programs have been re-purposed in a bid to to subvert routers and other systems inside Iraq.

More broadly, cyber-thieves are also using the conflict to help trick people into opening booby-trapped messages.

Local conflict

"The key parties are local groups within Iraq using malware for targeted intelligence on each other," said Andrew Komarov, chief executive of security firm Intel Crawler.

"It is very hard to confirm who is the author, as some of the malware is used from public sources," said Mr Komarov, "but it is very visible that it is used within Iraq, and not outside against foreign countries, which may explain the beginning of internal local cyber-war."

One malware program, called Njrat, was used in hundreds of incidents and had helped some groups create networks of machines they could control remotely.

Once machines were infected with Njrat, attackers immediately started stealing files or using a computer's camera or microphone to monitor what was going on around it.

These attacks differ from those seen when malware similar to Njrat is used in other countries, said Mr Komarov. Instead of simply spamming out messages seeking victims from whom attackers can steal money, the cyber-activists in Iraq seem to target particular cities, groups and even families.

"All the attacks are very selective and affected mostly local conflicting parties," said Mr Komarov.

In addition, he said, Intel Crawler had seen some civilians targeted but these might be relatives and friends of people more closely involved in the conflict in the region.

Attackers attempt to infect potential victims using social media, said Mr Komarov but they are also scanning the net within Iraq seeking routers that they can then subvert using their own tools. The majority of these attacks are concentrated on four Iraqi cities, Baghdad, Basra, Mosul and Erbil.

"The reasons for doing this are intelligence gathering against local protest, opposition parties, as well as their contacts in civil population, or government and vice versa," he said.

Intel Crawler gathered its information by monitoring activity on Iraqi cyberspace and via intelligence contacts in the region.

Cyber-security firm Kaspersky Labs said the conflicts in Iraq, Syria and other Middle Eastern nations had spawned a whole series of attacks that were hitting people across the region.

Senior security researcher Mohamad Amin Hasbini said many of the attacks had been "heated" by the continuing conflict, but it was not clear whether they were all politically motivated.

However, he said, there was evidence that attackers were exploiting interest in the conflict to trick people into opening booby-trapped attachments or visiting pages that exploit vulnerabilities in browsers.

Topics such as Shia Muslims, connections between Syrian President Assad and Isis, arrests of Isis militants, names of Hezbollah infiltrators and information about trouble spots in the region had all been used in files seeded with malware, said Mr Hasbini.

"Malware used in those attacks appears to have been distributed with the help of social media channels including Facebook, YouTube, political forums and via e-mail, Skype and Whatsapp messengers," he added.

Njrat as well as other malicious programs called Bitfrost and DarkComet had all been used to create these dangerous messages, he said.

"After successful infection, the hackers are capable of monitoring the device and can take full control, including key-logging, taking screenshots and activating the camera," he added.

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'Cock-up' over Irish genealogy site

22 July 2014 Last updated at 13:20

An Irish government genealogy site has been criticised by the country's data watchdog for leaking ID information.

Sensitive information about living individuals, such as birth dates and maiden names, was available on Irishgenealogy.ie site until last week.

The data on living people has been removed on the orders of the country's data protection commissioner.

Commissioner Billy Hawkes told the Irish Times he was "shocked" by the amount of data that had been available.

He described the situation as a "cock-up" and a "shocking example of the public service falling down on the job".

The genealogy site was launched in 2013 to help Irish citizens trace their ancestors and draw up a family tree.

In a statement, the Office of the Commissioner said it had advised the Irish government on the creation of the site and had been assured it would only use information from birth registers more than 100 years old.

However, said the statement, it had become clear last week that the site had featured data from contemporary civil records about living individuals.

While much of this data was available for a fee from the relevant authorities, this was very different to putting it online for free., it added.

The Irish Times said the site made it possible to build up a very accurate picture of someone's family history including the names of parents, children, marital status and birth date.

It is not clear whether any ID thieves have targeted the site and taken any sensitive information.

The genealogy site now displays a notice saying the civil records data is "temporarily unavailable".

It said it was liaising with the Department of Arts, Culture and the Gaeltacht about how "to ensure that the operation of this site complies with data-protection law, prior to the website going live again".

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YouTube star sued over copyright

22 July 2014 Last updated at 13:58

A leading YouTube entrepreneur is facing legal action for alleged copyright infringement in her videos.

Ultra Records, which has musicians Kaskade, deadmau5 and Calvin Harris on its books, is suing Michelle Phan.

The label and its publishing arm claim she has used about 50 of their songs without permission in her YouTube videos and on her own website.

But one of the artists whose work she is alleged to have used has said he supports Ms Phan.

Continue reading the main story

Copyright law is a dinosaur, ill-suited for the landscape of today's media."

End Quote Kaskade DJ on the Ultra label

Kaskade, whose work features most prominently in the record label's complaint, said: "Copyright law is a dinosaur, ill-suited for the landscape of today's media."

He expressed his disbelief on Twitter that his own record label was suing Ms Phan for copyright infringement. "And the kicker... they're citing her using my songs for the suit. Come. On," he wrote on the site.

But Kaskade, who was nominated for a Grammy award last year, said there was little he could do to stop the label pursuing the case.

In response, Ms Phan thanked him and wrote: "Your music inspired not just myself, but millions of my followers to dance and dream on."

Michelle Phan found success posting make-up tutorial videos, attracting more than six million subscribers to her channel since she started it in 2007. She is a member of a group of YouTube stars whose popularity rivals that of many mainstream pop stars.

One of her YouTube videos, Barbie Transformation Tutorial, has been viewed more than 50 million times. Her tutorial on how to reproduce Lady Gaga's look has been watched more than 45 million times.

British YouTube tutorial stars such as Sprinkle of Glitter have signed deals with major brands. Others include Tanya Burr, Lily Pebbles and Pixiwoo.

According to court documents filed in California, the label and its associated publisher, Ultra International Music Publishing LLC, claim Ms Phan makes money from advertising attached to her YouTube channel and website.

The label also said she "has been featured in a high-profile and multi-platform advertising campaign for YouTube, which features some of YouTube's most popular personalities".

"[Ms] Phan has also been featured in national advertising for Dr Pepper," it said.

The label said that, while its complaint "includes nearly 50 examples of blatant copyright infringement, plaintiffs' analysis is still preliminary, and the full extent of [Ms] Phan's infringement has not yet been determined".

'Substantial and irreparable injury'

The parties have asked for $150,000 (£88,000) for each proven copyright infringement.

The publishing arm has also demanded an injunction, claiming that it has "sustained and will continue to sustain substantial, immediate and irreparable injury" as a result of Ms Phan's use of its copyrighted material.

Ms Phan's videos have become increasingly sophisticated, showing her in different locales, with some even resembling music videos themselves.

They continue to offer make-up advice, and are often accompanied by music.

The record label and music publisher claimed Ms Phan had profited from the use of their artists' tracks and compilations.

Her Night Life Favorites video, advising what to carry for a night on the town, used Kaskade's song 4AM, they alleged.

Her internet fame has also led to a book deal and the design of a make-up line, according to the complaint.

The plaintiffs said Ms Phan had been informed she did not possess a licence "and yet continues to wilfully infringe in blatant disregard of plaintiffs' rights of ownership".

The publisher said it believed Ms Phan would continue the alleged infringement unless ordered to stop by the court.

A spokesman for Ms Phan said the lawsuit "lacks any merit". She said: "Ultra agreed to allow Michelle to use the music and Michelle intends to fight this lawsuit and bring her own claims against Ultra.

"Michelle's intention has always been to promote other artists, creating a platform for their work to be showcased to an international audience. Kaskade, whose music has been featured in Michelle's videos, has publicly defended Michelle against Ultra's claims and acknowledges the success he's gained from her support."

The BBC was unable to verify the claim that Ultra granted Ms Phan permission to use the music. A lawyer for the label and publisher did not respond to a request for comment.

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Nvidia unveils Shield gaming tablet

22 July 2014 Last updated at 16:09 By Leo Kelion Technology desk editor

Nvidia has unveiled a gaming-focused tablet that works with a new separate controller.

The 8in (20.3cm) Android-powered Shield Tablet - which can also stream games from a PC - is the firm's second handheld device, but the first to be sold outside the US.

Many of the details of the machine were first revealed by the BBC earlier this month.

One expert said the price was "well pitched" but questioned its appeal.

"One major weakness of the Shield ecosystem is the lack of desirable games exclusives," said Piers Harding-Rolls, head of games at the IHS Global consultancy.

"Android games playable on the TV or ports of old PC games are not enough to sell this device to the dedicated gamer.

"The ability to stream games from a [Nvidia graphics card] GeForce GTX-equipped PC over home wi-fi via the device to the TV is attractive, but only to a small sub-segment of PC gamers."

Nvidia suggests the tablet offers "near-console" graphics quality when it is connected to a TV and used to stream PC titles.

But it explained the reason it could not outperform an Xbox One or PlayStation 4 was that the PC's graphics had to be compressed to be sent over wi-fi.

As a result, hardcore gamers wishing to play PC titles on their living room TVs might still prefer to wait until Valve's Steam Machines platform is launched next year.

Nvidia is charging $299/£229 for a version of the tablet with 16 gigabytes of storage, and $399/£299 for a 32GB version with an added 4G chip.

The wireless controller costs $59.99/£49.99, which is cheaper than rival premium smart device controllers from Moga, Logitech and Samsung. The firm says it uses a wi-fi connection, rather than Bluetooth, to minimise latency - the delay between a button press and a game's response.

'Niche appeal'

Several controllers can be paired with the tablet at one time, allowing multiplayer gaming, however at present they do not work with other devices.

"This is the ultimate tablet for gamers," Chris Daniel, a senior product manager at Nvidia, told the BBC at a launch event in London.

"It will do everything you expect a tablet to do, and on top of that we've brought our Shield ecosystem for an amazing gaming experience."

The Shield Tablet's processor features a 192-core GPU (graphics processing unit) allowing it to run graphics-intensive Android titles natively. It can also make use of a PC's graphics card - if it is a compatible Nvidia model - to supplement the tablet's power.

This, Mr Daniel explained, offered a level of future-proofing to ensure the machine would run later Android games that would require even more power.

In addition, the tablet can stream titles run on a PC and sent to the tablet via wi-fi or 4G, assuming the data connection is fast enough.

The company suggested a two megabit per second upload and download speed was the minimum required.

Users based in California can also access the firm's Grid cloud gaming service - an experiment in which the firm offers games streamed from its own servers. This is similar to Sony's new PlayStation Now facility, which is also limited to the US at this time.

"If Nvidia can extend its cloud gaming proposition beyond a select beta test in California, then this would widen the desirability significantly," commented Mr Harding-Rolls.

Keza MacDonald, UK editor of the gaming site Kotaku, was a little more positive.

"It will remain niche, but Nvidia has always sold to a niche - very tech-savvy people who want the shiniest thing," she said.

"For gamers who want a tablet this will be attractive. I can imagine having this tablet next to my TV more than I can owning a Steam Machine if the streaming works as well as promised."

Despite good reviews, the original Shield Portable, which features a built-in controller, is thought to have had only very limited sales. Nvidia declined to provide any official sales figures.

That has led some analysts to speculate that the platform is, in effect, a tech demo, designed to entice other manufacturers to include Nvidia's chips and software in their devices.

But Mr Daniel said there were no plans to provide the innovations to others at this time.

"I'm not ruling it out," he said, "But the focus is on our own Shield devices for now."

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Browser 'fingerprints' track users

22 July 2014 Last updated at 17:16

Web users are being warned about a novel tracking system that watches what they do online and frustrates tools designed to prevent them being tracked.

The warning comes from researchers who have found the tracking system being used on thousands of websites.

The system exploits features of the web's underlying code to generate unique identifiers for each visitor.

Government portals, online shops and pornography sites were all been found to be using the tracking system.

"The tracking mechanisms we study are advanced in that they are hard to control, hard to detect and resilient to blocking or removing," wrote the researchers in a paper describing their work.

The team, made up of researchers at Princeton University in the US and University of Leuven in Belgium, analysed tracking techniques on the top 100,000 websites. They found that many sites had turned away from well-known systems such as small text files called "cookies" in favour of more subtle methods.

More than 5% of the sites they surveyed had turned to a technique known as "canvas fingerprinting" to identify visitors.

This technique forces a web browser to create a hidden image. Subtle differences in the set-up of a computer mean almost every machine will render the image in a different way enabling that device to be identified consistently.

Popular sites using the technique included the White House, the San Francisco Chronicle's website and the YouPorn pornographic portal.

Many web browsing programs now include tools that let people manage or stop their activity being tracked across the sites they visit. Many advertisers are keen to find out these browsing histories to better target ads.

The team also studied ways to stop canvas fingerprinting but said none of the browsing programs it tested had stopped the system being used. Only the Tor anonymising browser did a good job of spotting the fingerprinting technique was being used and asking people if they were happy for it to operate.

Web tracking company AddThis had tested canvas fingerprinting on a small number of the 13 million sites currently signed up to use its technology to track users, the firm told the ProPublica website.

It said it planned to stop using the technique because it was "not uniquely identifying enough".

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