Lost chunk of historic computer found

3 February 2015 Last updated at 11:59 By Mark Ward Technology correspondent, BBC News

An original part of one of the UK's pioneering computers has been found in the US.

The part is a significant chunk of Edsac - a machine built at Cambridge in the late 1940s to serve scientists at the university.

It came to light because of publicity surrounding an effort to rebuild the computer.

The part has now been donated to the rebuild project and will be incorporated into the finished machine.

Edsac, the Electronic Delay Storage Automatic Calculator, ran its first programs in May 1949 and through its working life aided many scientists by analysing data generated by many different experiments.

Before now, it had not been known what happened to the parts of Edsac after it was decommissioned and dismantled in the 1950s.

The uncovering of the part, called the Chassis 1A, solved part of that riddle, said Dr Andrew Herbert who is leading the reconstruction project at the National Museum of Computing at Bletchley Park.

Please turn on JavaScript. Media requires JavaScript to play.

WATCH: The pioneering Edsac computer is being recreated by engineers

It now appears that at the end of Edsac's life it was sold off in an auction but it is not known who bought all the parts.

"Details of the 'auction' are unclear, but there is a possibility that other parts of the original Edsac still exist and could even be in the Cambridge area stored away in lofts, garden sheds and garages," said Mr Herbert.

Book shelves

The Chassis 1A found its way to the US after being bought by Robert Little, who currently lives in Pennsylvania.

He got it from a Cambridge scientist called Dr Robert Clarke in 1969, who had bought several Edsac pieces in the auction intending to turn them into bookshelves.

Mr Little contacted the Edsac reconstruction team after reading about the project online.

The Chassis is designed to hold 28 of the 3,000 valves that formed the main computational elements of Edsac.

The 12 vertical racks of Edsac held up to 14 individual chassis on to which the valves were fixed.

Dr Herbert said the donated chassis was "quite distressed" by corrosion after being in storage for several decades.

Work is now under way to see how much of it can be incorporated into the reconstructed Edsac.

"It would be a major task to return this particular chassis to operating condition," he said.

"However, we hope to try to use some of the valves, if they are still functional, in our reconstructed Edsac thus providing a very tangible connection with the original machine."

The chassis is the second Edsac artefact that publicity about the reconstruction has brought to light. In June last year, detailed circuit diagrams of Edsac were discovered and are now aiding project workers.

The reconstruction of Edsac is due to be completed by the end of the year.

23.43 | 0 komentar | Read More

'Innocent' on police photos database

3 February 2015 Last updated at 09:46 By Nick Hopkins & Jake Morris BBC Newsnight

Police forces in England and Wales have uploaded up to 18 million "mugshots" to a facial recognition database - despite a court ruling it could be unlawful.

They include photos of people never charged, or others cleared of an offence, and were uploaded without Home Office approval, Newsnight has learned.

Photos of "hundreds of thousands" of innocent people may be on the database, an independent commissioner said.

The database complies with the Data Protection Act, police insisted.

Biometrics Commissioner Alastair MacGregor QC said he was concerned about the implications of the system for privacy and civil liberties.

Please turn on JavaScript. Media requires JavaScript to play.

The BBC's Nick Hopkins: "We are on the cusp of a revolution in biometric technology"

Speaking in his first interview, he told Newsnight that police forces had begun setting up a searchable database of police mugshots last year, without telling either him or the Home Office.

Almost every police force in England and Wales had now supplied photographs, he said.

'Reliability concerns'

It comes despite a ruling in 2012, when two people went to the High Court to force the Metropolitan Police to delete their photos from databases.

The judge warned forces should revise their policies in "months, not years".

Met Police Commissioner Sir Bernard Hogan-Howe told the BBC that since the court case, his force had stopped putting images on the national database until the law had been clarified.

"So the broad concern is - are we keeping images of people who aren't convicted, and are we using them?" he said. "I don't think this is against the law but of course we always want to catch criminals."

He added that he would look into the matter.

Mr MacGregor said police had been warned to put rules in place regarding the use of police mugshots - but had not done so.

He said he recognised the potential value of the database to the police, but warned senior officers had rushed in without considering all the implications.

"These are important issues and it does seem to me surprising that they have not been addressed more carefully," he said.

"I think there is always a danger that if you can do something then you will do it, the technology takes over... without giving the attention to the other issues that arise in relation to it as one should."

Mr MacGregor said he also had concerns about the reliability of facial recognition technology.

"If the facial recognition software throws up a false match, one of the consequences of that could easily send an investigation off into the completely wrong direction," he added.

'Cost-effective'

A number of police forces have begun to use facial recognition technology - including the Metropolitan Police and Leicestershire Police.

It is already used by Britain's spy agencies and by Border Force at UK airports and ports.

Leicestershire Police said the facial recognition system it had begun using last year had proved invaluable.

Andy Ramsay, identification manager at Leicestershire Police, told Newsnight the force now had a database with 100,000 custody photos.

He said searches of the database using facial recognition were 100% reliable in cases where there were clear images, and could be completed in seconds.

Mr Ramsay said facial recognition could soon become even more important than DNA or fingerprints for the police.

"All three have a place. This is developing. This is going to be, I think, the most cost-effective way of finding criminals."

Ch Con Mike Barton, of the Association of Chief Police Officers, said forces had to stay up-to-date with new technology.

"Everybody is very keen that the police enter the cyber world," he said.

"I hear much criticism of policing that we're not up to speed and it does come as a surprise to me that we're now being admonished for being ahead of the game."

He added: "If Parliament chooses to... regulate our use of photographs over and above that which we already have, then I'm more than happy."

'Flawed mind-set'

However, the use of the system has been criticised by some MPs.

Liberal Democrat Cabinet Office minister, David Laws, has written to the Home Office saying he is "alarmed" by the development, Newsnight has learned.

He has demanded urgent action to regulate the use of the database.

"I share the commissioner's concerns that this database will include images of individuals who have never been convicted of a recordable offence," he said.

David Davis, the former Tory shadow home secretary, said that police forces should not "misuse the data in this way".

"There is a mind-set here, which is flawed.

"It's quite understandable, police always want more powers, but I'm afraid the courts and parliament say there are limits," he said.

"You cannot treat innocent people the same way you treat guilty people."

Norman Baker, the Liberal Democrat former Home Office minister, said police "ought to have stopped and asked themselves what they were doing and if it had public support".

23.43 | 0 komentar | Read More

Gmail to let users email cash

It's the social situation we all try to avoid; forgetting to pay someone back because we don't have any cash, or that card reader thingie, to do it online.

Well Google are having a go at making debt settling easier, by allowing users to transfer funds on email.

It's coming in over the next few weeks for all Gmail users who are over 18 in the UK.

Users will have to click the "£" icon which will soon appear on emails, and enter the amount they wish to send.

Users will be able to both send and request cash

Google made the announcement on an official blog post and says the service will be free.

If you're really desperate for that score to be settled, you can even send requests for how much money you'd like to receive.

Users without a Gmail account will also be able to be sent cash - everyone will have to set up a Google wallet balance, and link it to their debit card or bank account.

Follow @BBCNewsbeat on Twitter, BBCNewsbeat on Instagram and Radio1Newsbeat on YouTube

23.43 | 0 komentar | Read More

BMW fixes lock security flaw

2 February 2015 Last updated at 13:01

BMW has patched a security flaw that left 2.2 million cars, including Rolls Royce and Mini models, open to hackers.

The flaw affected models fitted with BMW's ConnectedDrive software, which uses an on-board Sim card.

The software operated door locks, air conditioning and traffic updates but no driving firmware such as brakes or steering, BMW said.

No cars have actually been hacked, but the flaw was identified by German motorist association ADAC.

ADAC's researchers found the cars would try to communicate via a spoofed phone network, leaving potential hackers able to control anything activated by the Sim.

The patch, which would be applied automatically, included making data from the car encrypted via HTTPS (HyperText Transfer Protocol Secure) - the same security commonly used for online banking, BMW said.

"On the one hand, data are encrypted with the HTTPS protocol, and on the other hand, the identity of the BMW Group server is checked by the vehicle before data are transmitted over the mobile phone network," it said in a statement.

This should have already been in place, said security expert Graham Cluley.

"You would probably have hoped that BMW's engineers would have thought about [using HTTPS] in the first place," he wrote on his blog.

"If you are worried that your vehicle may not have received the update (perhaps because it has been parked in an underground car park or other places without a mobile phone signal, or if its starter battery has been disconnected) then you should choose "Update Services" from your car's menu."

23.43 | 0 komentar | Read More

Google and Uber may become rivals

3 February 2015 Last updated at 12:18

Uber has announced plans to research self-driving cars, which could put it head to head with Google.

Google launched a driverless car division in 2010.

Uber is teaming up with Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh, USA, to fund the Uber Advanced Technologies Center, it said in a blog post.

In turn, Google may be mulling over plans to roll out its own car-hailing service, according to Bloomberg.

Bloomberg quoted a source close to Uber's board of directors who claimed it had been shown screenshots of an app-based cab service, which Google already offers to staff.

Google has been contacted by the BBC for comment but tweeted in response to the article:

"We think you'll find Uber and Lyft work quite well. We use them all the time."

In 2013, Google invested around $250m (£166m) in Uber, which now operates in more than 200 cities worldwide but has faced controversy over the way in which it vets its drivers following the rape of a customer in Delhi.

Uber's new research partnership will also look at maps and car safety technology, the firm said.

"The partnership will provide a forum for Uber technology leaders to work closely with [Carnegie Mellon University] faculty, staff, and students — both on campus and at the National Robotics Engineering Center (NREC) — to do research and development, primarily in the areas of mapping and vehicle safety and autonomy technology," said Uber.

23.43 | 0 komentar | Read More

Faster Raspberry Pi 2 unveiled

2 February 2015 Last updated at 08:46 By Leo Kelion Technology desk editor

Please turn on JavaScript. Media requires JavaScript to play.

HANDS-ON: Rory Cellan-Jones talks to Raspberry Pi creator Eben Upton about the latest model

A new budget-priced Raspberry Pi computer has been unveiled, offering child coders and others a faster processor and more memory than before, but at about the same price.

The Raspberry Pi 2 Model B is roughly six times more powerful than the prior version, the Model B+, according to the British charity behind it.

Previous versions of the kit have been widely adopted by schools and enthusiasts across the world.

But the Pi faces increased competition.

Another UK-based firm, Imagination, recently released a bare-bones computer of its own, and the Arduino, Intel Galileo, Gizmo 2, BeagleBone Black and Hummingboard also form part of a growing list of rivals.

Smoother video

The Raspberry Pi 2 makes two major changes to the previous version, while leaving other components unchanged:

• The CPU (central processing unit) is now quad-core rather than single-core. That means it can be programmed to use more of its cores to offer extra computing power, or made to use fewer to help save power consumption - useful if running as part of a battery-powered contraption. In addition, the Cortex A7 processor now runs at 900MHz rather than 700MHz
• The board now features one gigabyte of RAM (random access) memory, double the amount that was previously included

As before, owners will need to add their own keyboard, a MicroSD card containing a copy of an operating system, and television/monitor-connecting cables in order to start programming. Enclosures bought for the previous Model B+ computers will also fit the new one.

"We think it's about six times more powerful for most applications," Eben Upton, founder of Raspberry Pi, told the BBC.

"This means this is really a PC now.

"You can do most of the things with this that you can do with a PC. You can surf the web, you can watch videos, you can play games like Minecraft. But we also bundle it with the tools that children need in order to learn how to program.

"The great thing is - apart from those two changes - that we've managed to keep everything else the same.

"So, all of those tutorials that people have developed over the last few years will carry on working with this device. It just kind of broadens out the range of interesting stuff kids can do."

Existing software will need to be recompiled - meaning converted into a language the CPU understands - to take best advantage of the switch to the new multi-core processor.

The Raspberry Pi 2 can run a variety of Linux-based systems out-of-the-box, but its makers have also promised it will be able to support Microsoft's next operating system at a later date.

"For the last six months we've been working closely with Microsoft to bring the forthcoming Windows 10 to Raspberry Pi 2. Microsoft will have much more to share over the coming months," said a statement on the Raspberry Pi blog.

"The Raspberry Pi 2-compatible version of Windows 10 will be available free of charge to makers."

Microsoft itself has blogged on the topic.

"We see the maker community as an amazing source of innovation for smart, connected devices that represent the very foundation of the next wave of computing, and we're excited to be a part of this community," wrote Windows executive Kevin Dallas.

"Raspberry Pi has quickly become one of the maker community's favourite platforms because their highly-capable, low-cost boards and compute modules enable developers to bring their vision to life."

'Guaranteed success'

The new kit - most of which is manufactured at Sony's factory in Bridgend, South Wales - costs £22.85 excluding VAT, or $35.

One industry watcher was optimistic it would repeat the success of its predecessors.

"Its success is guaranteed - there's a great user-base already out there, but more importantly the Raspberry Pi has a level of name recognition that nobody else has been able to match yet," said Chris Green, principal technology analyst at the Davies Murphy Group Europe consultancy.

"Its makers seem to have a really good handle on what makes these devices really popular, both for the hobbyists as well as people wanting to use them in education.

"The improvements also address what people had been wanting - for graphics-intensive tasks the extra memory will help a lot. It's also quite handy for media streaming, you'll get a smoother experience when playing high definition video, with less buffering."

Beating the Spectrum

About 4.5 million units of the Raspberry Pi have now been sold, according to Mr Upton. But he added he didn't believe the market was close to being saturated.

"We're selling about 200,000 a month now," he said.

"The surprise to us is that people don't buy just one Raspberry Pi.

"There are a lot of people with five or six. And we think those people are naturally going to want this.

"We are very very close to it being the bestselling British computer. I think another half a million and we will go past the Sinclair Spectrum as the bestselling British computer."

The lower-specced Model A+, with just one - rather than four - USB socket, remains on sale costing about £7 less.

23.43 | 0 komentar | Read More

'Snoopers' charter' revival dropped

2 February 2015 Last updated at 20:43

A cross-party group of peers has dropped a second attempt to add the so-called "snoopers' charter" to the government's counter-terrorism bill.

Lords King, Blair, Carlile and West wanted measures on communications data, rejected by the Lib Dems in 2012, to be included in the bill, saying they were vital tools for combating terrorism.

But they withdrew their amendment and it did not go to a vote.

The counter-terrorism bill will give new powers to UK security services.

It will also allow the home secretary to impose temporary exclusion orders on British terror suspects.

The legislation had already cleared its first hurdle in the House of Lords, and undergone detailed scrutiny in committee.

'Lost opportunity'

During the first of two days of report-stage scrutiny, Lord King, a Conservative former defence secretary, said there was a "significant gap," exposed by the recent Paris shootings, which could be plugged by a temporary stop-gap measure.

But he said that without the required support the amendment to add communications data powers was doomed to fail.

He said: "We will lose an opportunity to put in place a temporary stop-gap measure that could have reduced the threat to our nation from terrorism at the present time.

"We just have to pray that we don't pay too high a price for that."

Along with former Metropolitan Police Commissioner Lord Blair, former Lib Dem independent reviewer of anti-terror laws Lord Carlile and former Labour security minister Lord West, Lord King wanted to add whole sections of the defeated Communications Data Bill to the counter-terrorism legislation.

The proposed amendments sought to require internet service providers to log more of what people do online and to make that data more easily accessible to law enforcement and security services.

'Mass surveillance'

They scaled back the number of agencies that could demand access to the data from the hundreds included in the original bill to just three: the police and the two security services.

Opponents of the so-called snoopers' charter say it would amount to mass surveillance of internet communications by the state.

The Counter Terrorism Bill also includes a requirement on universities and councils to take steps to counter radicalisation.

It also includes:

• Changes to TPIMs - Terrorism Prevention and Investigation Measures - to allow the authorities to force suspects to move to another part of the country
• Requiring internet providers to retain internet protocol address data to identify individual users
• Raising the burden of proof for imposing TPIMs from "reasonable belief" to "balance of probabilities"
• Greater powers to disrupt people heading abroad to fight - including cancelling passports at the border for up to 30 days
• Tighter aviation security - requiring airlines to provide passenger data more quickly and effectively
• Banning insurance companies from covering ransom payments
• Forcing firms to hand details to police identifying who was using a computer or mobile phone at a given time

Under the exclusion orders proposal, Home Secretary Theresa May would be able to sign an order to ban a suspected extremist from returning to the UK, for up to two years at a time.

The individual could return if they agreed to some kind of investigation or monitoring arrangements to ensure they were not a threat.

Labour has called for a judge to have a role when the orders are imposed, a view echoed by David Anderson QC, the government's independent reviewer of terror legislation.

23.43 | 0 komentar | Read More

Warning over new Facebook malware

Facebook said they are working on the problem

If someone shares a porn video on Facebook, beware.

The latest threat to users involves a fake Flash Player update which pops up during a preview of a pornographic video.

Once you click on the link to update your video player, malware (the name given to malicious software), downloads onto your computer.

This Trojan horse software gives the creator of the malware remote access to your computer.

They can then download viruses onto your computer.

Security researcher Mohammad Faghani alerted users to the threat in a post on the Full Disclosure blog, which flags up network vulnerabilities.

"The Trojan tags the infected user's friends with an enticing post," he explained.

Faghani warned that the malware then tags up to 20 friends of the victim in the malicious post, thus leading to a larger number of those who could be affected.

He believes it could "infect more than 110,000 users in two days".

Faghani also said the malware was able to hijack keyboard and mouse movement.

In response, Facebook said it was aware of the problem and was working to block it.

In a statement issued to security news website Threatpost, a Facebook spokesperson said: "We use a number of automated systems to identify potentially harmful links and stop them from spreading.

"In this case, we're aware of these malware varieties, which are typically hosted as browser extensions and distributed using links on social media sites.

"We are blocking links to these scams, offering cleanup options, and pursuing additional measures to ensure that people continue to have a safe experience on Facebook."

Last week, a hacker group called Lizard Squad had hinted it was responsible for the Facebook, Instagram and Tinder going down.

Facebook denied it was hacked, saying the access issues were "not the result of a third party attack".

Follow @BBCNewsbeat on Twitter, BBCNewsbeat on Instagram and Radio1Newsbeat on YouTube

23.43 | 0 komentar | Read More

Broadband funds unbalanced, MPs say

3 February 2015 Last updated at 10:38

A voucher scheme which helps companies access faster broadband should be extended to rural areas, MPs have said.

The current system, which allows businesses in cities to claim up to £3,000 to improve their internet access, was described as "unbalanced".

The Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Committee also asked whether broadband rollout targets would be met and if minimum speeds were high enough.

The government said £1.7bn was being invested in rural broadband.

The government's ambition is to provide 95% of the UK with superfast broadband - defined as speeds of 24Mbps - or higher by 2017, with the rest having a minimum speed of 2Mbps.

The distribution of broadband is overseen by Broadband Delivery UK (BDUK), part of the Department for Culture, Media and Sport.

'On track'

The MPs complained that "the allocation of funding between urban and rural areas is greatly unbalanced" and called for a date to be set for universal superfast access.

The report states: "Rural areas are lagging behind.

"Those in poorly connected areas are sometimes asked to pay twice: once through their taxes... and potentially again from their own pockets if the BDUK programme does not reach them."

It recommended the introduction of the voucher scheme for those who live in areas with no access to fixed-line broadband or where they are unable to access a minimum of 2Mbps broadband.

"The vouchers should subsidise the cost of satellite broadband access for those eligible."

'Outdated'

The environment committee also condemned the 2Mbps target for homes not reached by superfast broadband by 2017 as being at least five times too slow.

The committee chair, Conservative MP Anne McIntosh, said: "This is a minimum speed commitment to the public and it must reflect modern technological demands. It is not high enough."

She said 10Mbps would be a more suitable target and would need to be regularly reviewed to ensure the UK did not slip behind other European countries.

On this point a DCMS spokesman said work was "already in place to take superfast speeds to the final 5%", and it aimed to get every home in the UK up to the minimum speed of 2Mbps by the end of 2015 - two years ahead of schedule.

The spokesman added: "Government and local authorities are investing £1.7bn in taking superfast broadband to rural communities across the UK who would otherwise be left behind.

"This is significantly more than what we have made available to cities, and reflects the importance this government places on taking faster and more reliable broadband to rural areas."

The report also pointed out potential problems with the European Union's farm subsidy programme - known as the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) - applications for which, since the start of the year, have been online only.

"CAP payments offer a prime example of the wider government policy to make services 'digital-by-default'," it said.

"This policy has clear ramifications when broadband access is limited or non-existent."

The committee also highlighted a previous warning from BT that the deadline of delivering superfast broadband to 95% of homes and businesses by 2017 could slip to 2018 - but both a government spokesman and BT said the original target remained "on track".

23.43 | 0 komentar | Read More

'Revenge porn' site owner convicted

3 February 2015 Last updated at 13:56

A man who ran a so-called "revenge porn" site has been convicted of identity theft and extortion.

Kevin Bollaert ran one site to which people submitted compromising pictures, usually of their ex-partners, and another that charged the subjects to have the pictures taken down.

He faces up to 20 years in prison after being convicted on 27 charges. He was not tried under revenge porn laws.

His lawyer had described his actions as gross and offensive, but not illegal.

"It ruined my life and I'm still going through it," one victim told the court in California.

She said she had been thrown out of her home after nude photos of her had been posted

She added: "I lost my family. They think that I brought shame on them. My reputation is ruined."

The woman was one of more than two dozen named as victims in the case.

Blackmail

Some testified they had suffered humiliation and fear when their private photos had been posted.

Prosecutor Tawnya Austin told jurors the victims had also been harassed by people who had tried to contact them through Facebook or by email.

Bollaert, 28, admitted knowing the pictures had been private and posted without the consent of his victims. He described the business as essentially a blackmail scheme.

He ran UGotPosted.com, on which the pictures were posted, and changemyreputation.com, which he used to extort money from his victims - whom he told to pay up to $350 (£232) a time to remove a picture.

He insisted that the site's users had posted the pictures, not him, and he was not convicted under California's revenge porn laws.

Abuse

About 10,000 pictures were posted on the site, which required users to include the victim's full name. It also displayed contact details, including links to their Facebook and Twitter profiles, as well as details of their places of work and other personal information.

According to court documents, Bollaert is said to have made "around $900 (£596) per month from advertising on the site, and records obtained from his changemyreputation.com PayPal account indicate that he received payments totalling tens of thousands of dollars".

Revenge porn is so called because, while the pictures may sometimes be taken consensually, they are then uploaded without consent by an abusive ex-partner. In some cases, the pictures are also stolen - sometimes as a result of a hack.

An amendment to the Criminal Justice and Courts Bill making it a specific offence in the UK was introduced in 2014 and is expected to come into force this year.

The San Diego County Superior Court jury was unable to reach verdicts on two charges of identity theft and conspiracy, and a judge declared a mistrial on those counts on Monday.

Bollaert's lawyer Emily Rose-Weber argued in court that her client may have conducted an immoral business that had taken advantage of "human weakness", but he had not broken the law by allowing others to post the explicit photos.

"It's gross, it's offensive, but it's not illegal," she said.

23.43 | 0 komentar | Read More