Camera 'looks' through clothing

All objects emit terahertz radiation

A camera that can "see" explosives, drugs and weapons hidden under clothing from 25 metres has been invented.

The ThruVision system could be deployed at airports, railway stations or other public spaces.

It is based on so-called "terahertz", or T-ray, technology, normally used by astronomers to study dying stars.

Although it is able to see through clothes it does not reveal "body detail" or subject people to "harmful radiation", according to the designers.

"It is totally and utterly passive - it receives only," said a spokesperson for Thruvision.

The portable camera, which has already been sold to the Dubai Mercantile Exchange and Canary Wharf in London, will be shown off at the Home Office scientific development branch's annual exhibition later this week.

Body glow

Unlike current security systems that use X-rays, the ThruVision system exploits terahertz rays, or T-rays.

This electromagnetic radiation is a form of low level energy emitted by all people and objects.

These are able to pass through clothing, paper, ceramics and wood but are blocked by metal and water.

The system works by collecting these waves and processing them to form an image which can reveal concealed objects.

"If I were to look at you in terahertz you would appear to glow like a light bulb and different objects glow less brightly or more brightly," said the firm's spokesperson.

"You see a silhouette of the form but you don't see surface anatomical effects."

In addition, the system does not involve any of the "harmful radiation associated with traditional X-ray security screening", according to the firm.

The company has made previous versions of the camera, but the T5000, as it is known, is the first that works both indoors and out.

The system exploits technology originally developed at the government owned Rutherford Appleton Laboratory (RAL) in Oxfordshire.

"Astronomers use T-ray cameras that can see through dust and clouds in space, revealing what lies beyond," explained Dr Liz Towns-Andrews, of the Science and Technology Facilities Council which runs RAL.

Other terahertz systems, developed by companies such as TeraView, are used to probe the structure of pharmaceutical compounds.

Mardell's Europe Day in pictures Moon marvel

Source from: news.bbc.co.uk

Read More..

Users offered ad tracking choice

TalkTalk customers will get chance to decide if they want targeted ads

Broadband provider TalkTalk has confirmed that it will allow customers to 'opt in' to Phorm's controversial new advertisement system.

TalkTalk is one of three UK ISPs to sign up to the Webwise service which sees user's surfing habits tracked.

It has decided not to offer the service by default but rather to allow users to choose whether they want it.

It follows 1,000 people signing a Downing Street online petition saying the system breaches customer privacy.

"We will be endorsing and recommending take-up of the system but we want to ensure that customers make their own decision," said a spokesman for TalkTalk.

It believes that there is a two-fold benefit for customers.

"We feel customers will welcome the opportunity to get fewer irrelevant advertisements as well as benefit from the real-time anti-phishing alerts," he said.

Behavioural advertising

Fans of Top Gear website will get motoring ads

Phorm works by placing a cookie on a user's machine that contains a randomised identifying number. That cookie tracks websites visited and draws conclusions about a user's behaviour in order to target more relevant adverts.

So, for example, someone who often visits the Top Gear website is likely to be served motoring advertisements.

The controversy over the system surrounds the fact that ISPs are "selling" information about users on to a third party.

Phorm, the US company behind the system, is keen to stress that the data it collects is 100% anonymous and no profile of the user is ever created, so that no-one could "reverse engineer" the information in order to establish identity.

Campaigner Simon Davies was asked to assess its privacy measures as part of the work he does for privacy start-up 80/20.

He believed the system "advances the whole sector of protecting personal information by two or three steps", although he was not sure that the public was ready to buy into behavioural advertising.

The fact that TalkTalk has decided to let consumers choose whether they want to sign up to the service is likely to be a blow for Phorm, thinks Nate Elliott, an analyst with Jupiter Research.

"Ideally Phorm would like to have automatic access to all users but TalkTalk has gone for the safe option of opt-in which could limit the number of consumers," he said.

For ISPs desperate to retain customers entering the untested world of behavioural targeted advertisng is "scary"., said Mr Elliott.

"If ISPs do something that consumers see as a violation of their privacy then they will simply change provider."

Kent Ertegrul, chief executive of Phorm, told the BBC News website that he was confused about why the issue of opt-in versus opt-out was causing so much controversy.

"There is no way of not knowing that this is switched on. There is a clear choice offered to consumers and I am surprised that there has been so many questions about this. I find it a bit bizarre," he said.

For him the service is a win win for consumers.

"Having advertising behind it allows for better, cheaper broadband," he said.

BT will start a trial of the Webwise system this month and said that it would be offering it as an opt-in service in so far as it would be inviting 10,000 broadband customers to trial it.

"We will look at the findings of the trial before we make a decision on how to go about a more widespread deployment," said a spokesman.

He believes that the anti-phishing tools will attract customers concerned by online safety although he stressed that other security measures would still be in place for customers who did not want to use the system.

Automatic access

Google and Hitwise manage and manipulate data and people generally don't have an objection to that

He also said that triallists wishing to sign up to the system would have to agree to new terms and conditions. The details of this have not yet been finalised but it would not be a "material change", said the spokesman.

Virgin Media is also due to trial the system later in the year and is happy that it does not breach any existing privacy legislation.

"We have had a few customers get in touch with privacy concerns but these have been fairly comprehensively addressed by answers from Phorm," said a spokesman.

He believes the system sets a "new standard" in targeted advertising and is not convinced that there is any foundation for concern.

"Google and Hitwise manage and manipulate data and people generally don't have an objection to that," he said.

How the system was to be rolled out to Virgin Media customers was yet to be decided, he added.

"Deployment is months away but we will make sure that people know what it is about and exactly how it will work."

ISPs entering the lucrative world of online advertising could receive a big revenue boost. Proceeds from the advertising platform being set up by Phorm - known as the Open Internet Exchange - will be shared with any ISPs that sign up.

Some analysts predict that the deal could generate millions of pounds annually for BT and other ISPs but not everyone is so optimistic.

"Our figures show that only 10% of online advertisers currently use behavioural targetted ads," said Mr Elliott.Mardell's Europe Day in pictures Moon marvel

Source from: news.bbc.co.uk

Read More..

Wiki boss 'edited for donation'

Jimmy Wales founded Wikipedia Photo: Gus Freedman

Wikipedia creator Jimmy Wales has been accused of agreeing to edit a page on the online encyclopaedia in exchange for a donation.

Former Novell chief scientist Jeffrey Merkey says he donated $5,000 to the Wikimedia Foundation in exchange for changes to his Wikipedia entry.

Mr Merkey says Mr Wales agreed to "use his influence" to remove libellous remarks in the entry.

In response, Mr Wales has called the allegations "nonsense".

The edit history of the page does show changes made by Jimmy Wales and that the page was "protected", so that no further edits can be made by the public.

Jay Walsh, a spokesman for Wikipedia, told the Daily Telegraph that the allegation was "absolutely false" .

"Jimmy never made this offer, and of course this is a practice the Wikipedia Foundation would never condone," he told the newspaper.

Writing on a Wikimedia mailing list, Mr Merkey reprinted a statement he said he had released to the Associated Press news agency.

It said: "Wales agreed that in exchange for a substantial donation and other financial support of the Wikimedia Foundation projects, Wales would use his influence to make Merkey's article adhere to Wikipedia's stated policies with regard to internet libel 'as a courtesy' and place Merkey under his 'special protection' as an editor."

Mr Wales responded on the mailing list: "Of course I would never offer, nor accept any offer, whereby a donation would buy someone special editorial treatment in the encyclopaedia."

He said he had routinely helped people whose Wikipedia entry contained false or damaging information, adding: "Donations have no bearing on that at all."

Mr Wales added: "I encourage anyone who is tempted to believe this story to consider the source."

The Wikimedia Foundation describes itself as a "non-profit charitable organization dedicated to encouraging the growth, development and distribution of free, multilingual content."

The foundation operates Wikipedia, one of the most popular websites in the world.Mardell's Europe Day in pictures Moon marvel

Source from: news.bbc.co.uk

Read More..

Phorm: Your questions answered

The controversial online advertising company Phorm has come under fierce criticism for its tool that tracks users' online surfing habits.

Q: What transparency is there? How can I check that Phorm is doing exactly what it claims it is doing? If I opt out, how can I assure myself that the opt out means just that - my data is not being harvested at all?

A: The claims we make as regards our systems, policies and procedures are regularly audited by the privacy audit department of Ernst & Young. But perhaps more importantly, our ISP partners take their customers' privacy very seriously and they have conducted immense due diligence on our technology and internal controls.

Q: Given Phorm's history (as 121media) in the murky world of adware and spyware, how can we trust it today? Why should we trust it?

A: It's true that we have a background in adware, not spyware. Part of the reason we decided to get out out the adware business was because we realised it was very difficult for people to distinguish between the two. We also think that we should be judged on our transparency and our actions. Firstly, when we realised the desktop model was taking us away from our core vision for the business of personalising the internet, we took the unprecedented step of shutting the desktop business down: voluntarily, transparently and under no pressure from anyone else. It was our choice and one that meant we cut ourselves off from revenues of $5-6 million a year in order to concentrate on developing a network based solution, where we find ourselves today.

Q: What fees (or other gifts/gratuities) were paid to Simon Davies and Gus Hosein when they were "invited" to assess Phorm's privacy protection measures? Does Phorm, or any of its directors, agents or employees have any interests in 80/20 Thinking

A: Phorm, its directors, agents or employees have no interests whatsoever in 80/20 Thinking. 80/20 Thinking is a consulting business founded and run by Managing Director Simon Davies, who is also a director of Privacy International, one of the leading privacy advocacy bodies. Phorm has retained 80/20 Thinking to conduct a Privacy Impact Assessment on its technologies, systems and policies and we will work with them on an ongoing basis throughout the year. We chose 80/20 Thinking because Simon Davies has spent the best part of thirty years championing consumer privacy and railing against infringements. We wanted our systems and policies to be open to the kind of unforgiving scrutiny Simon brings.

And yes, 80/20 Thinking does charge for its services, as conducting audits takes time and resources.

A: No, we do not modify web pages or inject ads. We only serve ads to the websites we partner with. In order to participate, websites have to insert a tag into their own page. If you have opted out, will still see ads as you browse - just as you do today - but they won't be from the OIX and they won't be relevant to your browsing.

Q:Would they consider hiring an external agency to audit the provisions for opt-out?

A: Yes. We already have an external auditor -- Ernst & Young, and 80/20 Thinking is conducting a Privacy Impact Assessment, but we would welcome suggestions for additional auditing.

A: Most people have a separate login if they are sharing a computer and they will therefore have a separate random number. But also, advertisers using our system can choose to show ads based on the page they are visiting, recently visited, or a longer term basis. Only the last of these would be affected if the computer and the login were share, so this scenario if possible but not that likely. If the person really wants to hide a surprise, they can switch webwise off!

Q: I would like to better understand the strict demarcation of ownership of equipment to be installed in the ISP to really understand the full content of the stream received at the point of entry to equipment under the control of Phorm. Bloggers purporting to be from BT claim that this is the FULL browsing (http - port 80) stream with IP addresses obfuscated in some way. Is this true? And if so, what safeguards over employee recruitment do Phorm have since they will be in an extremely powerful and trusted position, being able to read 10m peoples' web traffic.

A: No, this is not true. IP addresses are not passed in any form, even obfuscated, to Phorm. All that is passed is a limited digest of page data from each navigation. This data is never stored on disk and is immediately deleted from memory as soon as a product category match has been made.

Q: The same report also mentions detailed (but anonymous) logs that will be removed from the closed loop onto Phorm servers and kept for up-to 14 days. Why do they need these logs since the very thing that impressed 80/20 was the lack of need to store detailed personal information nor remove it from the closed loop

A: The logs mentioned in the E&Y audit report concern system health and error logs, not anything to do with users.

Q: Do phorm intend to resell any data, such as "clickstream" trends, perhaps even split by demographic, and if so, are they aware of the possibility that this data would be "de-anonymized" as reported on techcrunch and numerous sites with the AOL and Netflix "anonymous" releases.

A: Clickstream data is never stored. Therefore is cannot be sold on or 'deanonymised'. The AOL / Netflix situation cannot occur because the clickstream data has been deleted in real time as the page loads.

Q: Even if you do opt out your web traffic will still be intercepted and analysed, you just wont see the ads. Is this true?Q: Plus how will Phorm serve you the "correct" ads unless the traffic they have analysed can be traced back to your computer / IP address. Either Phorm are connected or they aren't, in which case the system can't work. Just replacing the IP with a "unique ID" doesn't make Phorm unconnected if there is a direct relationship between the two.Q: You maybe able to select to opt out of the adverts however BT will still be passing your personal and private information to Phorm, this will include the content of all emails you view online that are not covered by a secure connection (SSL).

Q: What safeguards are there to ensure that in the future Phorm doesn't alter or add to the amount and types of information/data is passed to and

The keynote is transparency: we will communicate any changes and our claims will continue to be subject to external scrutiny by formal audit, partner due diligence, customer vigilance and media interest.

Q: Does the opt out from Phorm satisfy the Data Protection act's provision that individuals can write to the Data Controller of the ISP in writing

The ISP will not be passing any personal information to Phorm. We do not tie into their authentication systems or use any subscriber information.

Q: And does the service ever modify information you receive via http that might not be a web-page, i.e. is it possible for it to accidentally break

We operate a whitelist of user-agents corresponding to major browsers (e.g. Firefox, IE, Opera). Other user-agents are ignored.

A: This isn't inconsistent. The Profiler is owned by the ISP. If someone opts out no data is passed from the ISP to Phorm.

Q: However, I would like to know who provides the software for the "Profiler" and if it's not written by the ISP, how does the ISP check that it does what it's meant to?

A: Phorm provides the software for the profiles, just like Cisco, for example, provides software for an ISP router. The ISP can see exactly what data is being passed in and out of its systems and has complete control over it.

Q: I still want answers to my cookie question. Part II Section 11 "Right to prevent processing for purposes of direct marketing". Is this direct marketing - well as is clear to all concerned there HAS to be some link between the profile and the target computer else the ads would not get served. Opt out by cookie is insufficient in my mind.

A: It's important to understand there are two distinctly separate processes in the Phorm system: data capture and ad serving. The data capture system only stores one item of information on your computer -- a random number. The random number is the only thing that distinguishes your browser from the millions of others on the internet. It does not contain any information about you or your computer. The only person able to make that connection is you, as you have that cookie in your browser.

As you browse your browsing behaviour is matched against pre-defined advertiser categories for everyday products eg travel or sport.

No urls, browsing histories or IP addresses are retained and the raw data used to make the match is deleted in real time - by the time the page loads. There is, in essence, no data other than the categories and the random number stored in the system and so it's impossible to know (or indeed reverse engineer from that) who you are or where you've been.

In the ad serving phase, when your computer requests an advert from the OIX (because a website has included our tag in their page), the browser sends the random number and the categories are used to deliver the targeted ad, not the details of your browsing, or anything about you or your computer.

If you clear your cookies regularly or if you'd like to ensure that Webwise is permanently switched off, simply add "www.webwise.net" to the Blocked Cookies settings in your browser.

Mardell's Europe Day in pictures Moon marvel

Source from: news.bbc.co.uk

Read More..

Open Rights Group questions Phorm

The Open Rights Group has published its concerns

Campaign body the Open Rights Group (ORG) has called for further detail on the workings of ad system Phorm.Compliance?

Mardell's Europe Day in pictures Moon marvel

Source from: news.bbc.co.uk

Read More..

Cassini testing for water on one of Saturn's moons

LOS ANGELES, California (AP) -- Three years after gigantic geysers were spied on an icy Saturn moon, the international Cassini spacecraft is poised to plunge through the fringes of the mysterious plumes to learn how they formed.

An unmanned probe will sweep through geysers on one of Saturn's moons to measure the chemical makeup.

Wednesday's flyby will take Cassini within 30 miles of the surface of Enceladus at closest approach.

The unmanned probe will be about 120 miles above the moon as it sweeps through the edge of the geysers and measures their chemical makeup.

The carefully orchestrated event will take Cassini "deeper than we've been before," mission scientist Carolyn Porco of the Space Science Institute said in an e-mail.

Scientists long believed Enceladus, the shiniest object in the solar system, was cold and still because it resides hundreds of millions of miles from the sun. But recent evidence shows the Arizona-size satellite is geologically active, with a significant atmosphere and a relatively warm south pole.

In 2005, Cassini surprised scientists when it snapped images of geyser-like eruptions of ice particles and water vapor spewing from the south pole. The dramatic images effectively put Enceladus (en-SELL'-uh-duhs) on the short list of places within the solar system most likely to have conditions suitable for extraterrestrial life.

Scientists generally agree the presence of water, organic compounds and a stable heat source are needed to support primitive life.

Previous measurements by Cassini showed the eruptions were frequent, with gases and particles venting from the surface at about 800 mph and forming plumes hundreds of miles high.

The source of the geysers is a mystery, but some theorize reservoirs of liquid water below the surface are likely supplying the ice and vapor seen in the plumes.

Until now, scientists have not been able to measure the plumes' makeup in detail. Using its particle analyzers, Cassini will calculate the density, size and speed of the various gases and particles. The spacecraft's cameras will also image the moon during the flyby.

Of particular interest is whether the plumes contain ammonia, which can keep water in liquid form and would bolster the theory that liquid water lies beneath.

"There's not much for us ... to do regarding the upcoming flyby except to hold our breaths and cross our fingers," John Spencer of the Southwest Research Institute in Boulder, Colorado, wrote on the Cassini blog.

The close encounter poses little danger to Cassini because the plume particles are small compared with the dust-size debris the spacecraft is used to flying through while orbiting Saturn, scientists said.

The Cassini mission is a collaboration between NASA and the European and Italian space agencies.

Copyright 2008 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

Source from: edition.cnn.com

Read More..

The high cost of a good reputation

Auction site eBay doesn't trust sellers to behave honestly. Bill Thompson isn't surprised.

At the moment I've got 100% positive feedback but the number of transactions is so small that it doesn't really signify.

However, heavy sellers and those who make a substantial proportion of their income from the site care deeply about the reports they get from other buyers and sellers.

Their concerns about negative feedback are well-grounded: In 2002 Paul Resnick and his colleagues did a proper randomised control experiment to assess the value of an eBay reputation, looking to see how much people would bid for articles from sellers with different scores.

They found that sellers with established reputations can expect about 8% more revenue than new sellers marketing the same goods.

The move is being seen by some as a clear indication that the brave new world of online communities is faltering

Cheerleaders for crowdsourcing, hive minds and the wisdom of the crowds like to point to eBay as an example of a working online community where little intervention is needed, a "self-governing nation-state" that essentially manages itself, according to Thomas Friedman in The World Is Flat.

Unfortunately, however, like many other communities that seem to be happy and relaxed but are in turmoil just beneath the surface, eBay is more like the fictional murder-prone village of Midsomer than the perfect market.

Buyers and sellers seem to be engaged in a war of attrition where negative feedback is one of the main weapons, and now eBay has announced that sellers will no longer be able to leave negative feedback on buyers, hoping that this will help to rebalance things.

Both sides in a transaction get to leave feedback on the site, but it seems that sellers are threatening to leave negative comments on buyers' profiles if they say anything at all critical, knowing that this will make it harder for them to trade in future.

When Bill Cobb, eBay's head of North American operations, announced the changes he admitted that "the biggest issue with the system is that buyers are more afraid than ever to leave honest, accurate feedback because of the threat of retaliation".

The way eBay works has been likened to a colony of bees

But eBay probably reckons that it can weather the storm and that its users will adapt to the new dispensation since the costs of setting up on another auction site are so high.

The move is being seen by some as a clear indication that the brave new world of online communities is faltering.

In the Financial Times Patti Waldmeir was sad that "the company has basically admitted that the cybersouk model does not work: buyers did not tell the truth about sellers, and sellers did not tell the truth about buyers. And in a market where traders lie, the trust that is so central to online commerce cannot flourish".

This seems to be an excessive response to the change, which is more about rebalancing the system than ditching the very idea of customer feedback.

eBay already relies strongly on external legal systems to support its business.

The company's "level of integration with and dependence on law enforcement is remarkable", as Jack Goldsmith and Tim Wu point out in their excellent book Who Rules the Internet, so taking some of the feedback elements away from the customers is not itself a radical shift.

Research shows a bad reputation can dent sales

We could see the development of policing in the 18th century as a similar process, one that reinforces community bonds by taking certain sanctions away from individuals and vesting them in the group as a whole.

In this light eBay's move marks a growing maturity, not a failure of nerve.

After all, as Nick Carr point out, no system managed by humans can be perfect or last forever.

"Sometimes, we're inspired by fellow-feeling", he says. "Other times, we act selfishly or with prejudice or we try to game whatever system we're part of. And the more times we're confronted with other people acting selfishly, or fraudulently, the more we retreat into self-interest ourselves."

eBay's reputation system did well for many years, and even with the changes in place it is far from useless for sellers or buyers.

Perhaps we should applaud the senior team for following Clinton, Obama and McCain, the front-runners for the US presidency, in being bold and embracing change instead of lambasting them for leaving a broken system in place just because they are afraid of the reaction.

Source from: news.bbc.co.uk

Read More..

Google bets on Android future

Gaming and surfing on Google Android

But the company is going much further. At the end of 2007 it lifted the lid on Android, an open mobile operating system that is being used to power a new generation of devices under the Open Handset Alliance, a group which involves firms like HTC and chip designer ARM.

Android is the creation of Andy Rubin, Google's director of mobile platforms.

He believes that a lack of openness in the mobile phone space has stifled innovation to date.

"What Android enables for third party developers is the kind of programming we see on the internet," he says.

"What it enables is agility and rapid innovation and the same kind of innovation that happens on the internet."

Android was developed by former robot maker Andy Rubin

Mr Rubin says that by opening up the phones - from the operating system, released under open source, to the drivers and the application framework - developers will have more freedom to innovate, and more scope also.

But if you talk to Symbian and Microsoft, two companies that also build mobile operating systems, both claim to be open also.

Mr Rubin says: "There's a distinction we have to make - and it's an important one - between open source and open APIs (Application Programming Interfaces).

"APIs are essentially documentation, they're the way that somebody like Symbian or Microsoft will allow third party developers to develop for their platform.

"Open source is a mechanism by which the source code of the operating system is actually for free and that way the carriers and OEMs are not really locked into a single vendor, nobody really owns this.

"It means they are free to take it into the direction that's important to them; they can fix bugs, add enhancements so in the end the consumer has a better experience."

Mr Rubin believes this will lead to greater variety of mobile experiences - driven not by the rules and regulations of an operating system but by the ideas of developers.

In essence, it could lead to greater variety of phones and of what those phones are capable.

Google has formed the Open Handset Alliance, with manufacturing partners like HTC and chip designers like ARM.

At the Mobile World Congress earlier this month the first reference handsets running Android were on show.

The first Android phones are expected in the second half of 2008

The browser was responsive and driven by both touch and a mini-track ball.

Google Maps supported Street View, the ability to see stills of real world locations, which has not been seen on a mobile device before.

Mr Rubin says Android is running on a phone powered by a 300Mhz chip, which puts the device in the mid-range of smartphones.

"A lot of applications we are seeing on phones today, in some of the newest and most powerful phones, are doing internet style web browsing.

There should be nothing that users can access on their desktop that they can't access on their cell phone

"But that is just one of the components of the internet we need to bring to cellphones. There should be nothing that users can access on their desktop that they can't access on their cellphone.

Mr Rubin points out that not all net experiences are available through the browser.

"Applications like Google Earth and YouTube have specific functionality that hasn't yet effectively been brought to mobile.

"Up until Android that wasn't possible on the phone - you could only access functionality given to you by the operating system."

The iPhone is a great 1.0 product said Mr Rubin

This is not Mr Rubin's first foray into overturning the "natural order" of things.

A former roboticist and Apple engineer, he created Web TV, and the device which led to the pioneering Sidekick handset.

"One of my passions throughout my whole career is consumer products; making things my mom would use.

"That need wasn't satisfied doing robotics. that was behind the scenes factory stuff."

So what does he make of Apple's first phone to the market?

"It's a great 1.0 product; I use one.

"Apple has that great balance of being both a hardware and software firms so they have a lot of flexibility.

"One of the things that is a challenge for them is having an incredible footprint worldwide - there are different types of communications standards, regulatory issues, and different language issues.

"I'm hoping that doesn't limit them."

With about three billion people using mobile phones worldwide and the number of devices that can access the net climbing rapidly, the future of the web is definitely mobile. And with no one company dominating the mobile arena as yet, the race is very much on.

Texan tango 'Troops chased me' Bound for Baghdad

Source from: news.bbc.co.uk

Read More..

Private data, public interest?

The use of material taken from personal profiles on social networks by newspapers is to be the subject of a major consultation undertaken by industry watchdog the Press Complaints Commission (PCC).

This comes in the wake of increasingly numbers of newspaper stories that include images and text taken from sites like Bebo, MySpace and Facebook.

But the subjects of press reports are not always happy with the use of content they have uploaded.

Tim Toulmin, director of the PCC, in an interview with BBC Radio 4 says the organisation was getting complaints from people about material, "that is being republished when they themselves are the subject of news stories".

Mr Toulmin says it would be useful to establish principles to guide the press in their use of social network content.

"It's down to the PCC to set the boundaries in a common sense way about what sort of information it is acceptable to re-publish," he says.

To that end the PCC has commissioned research by Ipsos MORI into public attitudes.

The newspaper watchdog wants to discover if people are aware that material they upload could be used in newspaper reports.

Public or private?

There has been some public resentment of the use of social networks by the press.

People may post less information if they knew it journalists might use it

More recently in the UK, media interest in the spate of suspected suicides among young people in Bridgend has lead some in that community to express concern about the way social network profiles were being used by journalists.

Bridgend Welsh Assembly Member Carwyn Jones, said: "It does raise questions of the sensitivity of publishing those photographs for the world to see."

Local MP, Madeleine Moon went further saying that some in the community had complained of reporters posing as young people on social networking sites in order to obtain quotes.

Ms Moon, who has spoken with the PCC, stressed she had no evidence to substantiate these claims, but she did feel that there was a clear need for guidelines for the press.

But the wider issue of how reporters should use information taken from social networks is far from clear-cut.

Taking a photo from a social networking site is, some argue, a less traumatic way of obtaining images and personal detail, than a reporter visiting the home of a grieving family. Digital door-stepping can be much less intrusive than the real thing.

Mr Toulmin says the matter is one of degree: journalists do have a right to use publicly accessible content and the public have responsibilities when they post it.

And many who publish to social networks, in Mr Toulmin's view, do not regard that information as private but actively want to share the information.

He said: "Half the charm is accumulating as many people as possible to be their friends...there will then be an argument about the extent to which you yourself are concerned about people knowing that information."

Similarly if information is already in the public domain there would be little point in denying the press access.Clear case

Mr Toulmin also believes any new guidelines should not prevent the press reproducing content clearly in the public interest to publish.

The PCC has already ruled to this effect. It supported the right of a local newspaper to enter an online community undercover and to republish an image found there, because the complainant, a police officer, was the subject of a criminal investigation.

Some papers covering the Virginia Tech shootings used information from social sites

"They will I think be forced to go further in educating people," he says.

Guidance from the PCC will only apply to newspapers.

With the most popular blogs surpassing the circulation of many local papers, and competing effectively for advertising revenue, this is not a small concern.

Mr Toulmin acknowledges this is important, but adds: "The press do have obligations over and above those that govern the online community."

But not everyone in the media shares that view: Bob Satchwell of the Director of the Society of Editors thinks the press should be subject to no greater regulation than the public.

Says Mr Satchwell: "Traditional media is already regulated in various ways; broadcasting by the statutory regulation, the press by the PCC, so there are far greater constraints on traditional journalists and media than there are on the wider public, so called 'citizen journalists' and bloggers."

However, there are some restrictions that apply to all who use social network content.

The British Journal of Photography in a recent article concludes that publication of images on social networks does not automatically grant rights to republish photograph elsewhere.

In the end copyright law may resolve part of this issue, if the deliberations of the PCC do not.Texan tango 'Troops chased me' Bound for Baghdad

Source from: news.bbc.co.uk

Read More..

Web desktop targets 'cybernomads'

Many in developing world rely on computer centres

A virtual desktop aimed at users who access the web via cybercafes is attracting interest from organisations set up to bridge the digital divide

Offered by Luxembourg-based start-up Jooce, it is being billed as a way of personalising any computer.

Jooce is targeting the estimated 500 million people who log on to the internet from a cybercafe every day.

Its free web-based desktop could prove valuable for those who can't afford their own PC, said experts.

Jooce offers users the functionality they would get from their personal computer on any machine, allowing them access to files, e-mail, instant messaging, storage and other applications.

"It's a platform that will make it much easier for the world's cybernomads to manage their digital lives," said Jooce founder Stefan Surzyck.

"The one thing that has been missing is a place on the internet where these people can properly manage their online lives - their very own private space online," he said.

A public desktop - known as a Joocetop - is also available to allow friends to access and share files. A dedicated e-mail client is also in development.

Bandwidth issues

Jooce offers a personal desktop on any computer

Eloisa San Mateo is a regional IT coordinator for the Philippines National Computer Centres - government-sponsored cybercafes set up to provide net access for those in remote areas.

She sees potential for Jooce as a storage device for those who use the centres but has some concerns.

"It seems to require a lot of memory and while the performance of Jooce on high-end computers is very good, when it is run on lower spec machines with poor bandwidth it takes too long," she said.

She is currently running workshops to give locals a feel for the system and is looking to install it on machines over the next six months.

Meddia Mayanja is a senior program officer of Telecentre.org, an organisation that offers advice to telecentres in Africa, Asia and Latin America.

He sees new technologies such as Jooce as crucial if publicly-funded net access centres are going to remain relevant and useful to the audience they intend to serve.

"It is one of many applications that add value to users," he said.

Jooce is also working with the ITU (International Telecommunications Union) to bolster its telecentre programme - a network of cyber kiosks across the developing world.

In India, it is partnering with charity Mission 2007 and ISP Tatatel to support their digital divide activities.

It is also seeing big interest from China.

Heavy-weight backer

Jooce is one of many companies which offer so-called web-based operating systems.

Companies such as Global Hosted Operating System (g.ho.st), desktoptwo and startforce also offer net-based desktops allowing users to access files and applications from any browser.

Michael Gartenberg, an analyst with JupiterResearch, believes the concept of a web OS is a misleading one.

"WebOS is a buzzword but it has little that technically represents an operating system and is more about aggregating functionality," he said.

"It is a crowded market but it is interesting that people are more and more looking to have their digital personas linked into online universes," he said.

Jooce has been in public beta testing for one month and in its first week of operation had 60,000 sign up for a free account.

It has a heavy-weight backer in the form of Mangrove - the venture capital firm that provided the initial funding for voice-over-IP platform Skype.

Online technology news site CNET.com has nominated Jooce as a finalist in its 2008 Webware 100 awards.Texan tango 'Troops chased me' Bound for Baghdad

Source from: news.bbc.co.uk

Read More..

Legal aid for whistle-blower site

Whistle-blowing site Wikileaks is getting legal help to fight an attempt to keep it offline.

Freedom of speech and digital rights groups plan to argue on its behalf at a legal hearing on 29 February.

The hearing will decide whether to continue a court order that removed links to some of the Wikileaks sites from the net's address books.

The order was sought by Swiss bank Julius Baer after internal documents were placed on Wikileaks.

Speech test

The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) and the Electronic Frontier Foundation are planning to "intervene" for Wikileaks at the continuation hearing.

The rights groups claim the order that knocked Wikileaks offline in the US raises "serious First Amendment concerns".

"Blocking access to the entire site in response to a few documents posted there completely disregards the public's right to know," said ACLU attorney Ann Brick in a statement.

The order granted for Julius Baer by US district judge Jeffrey White ordered Dynadot - the company that hosts the Wikileaks website in America - to remove all mentions of the site from its address books.

Anyone in the US trying to find Wikileaks would have to consult this address list to find the website.

The bank took the action in mid-February because, it is understood, the documents hosted could have had an impact on a separate case being heard in Switzerland.

Julius Baer said the case had nothing to do with free speech.

"This action has been brought solely to prevent the unlawful dissemination of stolen bank records and personal account information of its customers," lawyers for the bank wrote in court papers.

"Many of those documents have also been altered and forged," said the legal filing.

However, the attempt to get the documents removed spurred many other sites to host them and Wikileaks' sites in other countries were largely unaffected by the ruling.

The US site itself was also reachable by those that knew its numerical net address rather than just its English name.

In total, 18 organisations have pledged support for Wikileaks in documents filed to the US court that will hear the legal argument.Texan tango 'Troops chased me' Bound for Baghdad

Source from: news.bbc.co.uk

Read More..

EU extends net safety programme

The Safer Internet programme educates children about net dangers

The European Commission is spending 55m euros (42m) on making the net a safer place for children.Action plan

Texan tango 'Troops chased me' Bound for Baghdad

Source from: news.bbc.co.uk

Read More..

Browsers go head-to-head

The top two browsing programs of net users got a big update this month as Microsoft released Internet Explorer 7 (IE7) and Mozilla unleashed Firefox 2.0. Here we take a quick spin through some of the features to be seen in the new versions.

Microsoft's IE7 program is the beefier of the two browsers with the download package weighing in at 14.8 megabytes (MB). By contrast Firefox is a svelte 5.4MB. However, neither should tax a broadband connection.

Differences start to show up once the software is downloaded. Once it is done installing, IE7 demands a re-start before you can use it. Firefox installs without that need. It's a minor difference and a minor inconvenience for those that choose Internet Explorer.

Both take about the same amount of time to install and get started-up but once they are running more subtle differences start to become apparent.

At first glance Firefox 2.0 looks more familiar as its main page layout hardly differs from earlier versions.

But IE7 does look changed because, for a start, the grey menu bar is hidden. It can be resurrected by hitting the "alt" key but you might be surprised by how much you need to call on it when you can't find it.

Hidden information

With IE7 Microsoft has brought tabs to its browser but both deal with them in slightly different ways.

With IE7 a blank tab is always available but with Firefox the new tab only appears, and takes up some screen space, when you open one up.

IE7 has a neat feature that lets you see thumbnails of all of the tabs you have open at any one time, letting you leap to the one you need with a click.

However, it seems to take a moment longer than Firefox 2.0 to close tabs when you are done with them.

Opening up quite a few webpages in each browser shows up another quirk. Firefox 2.0 seems to do a better job of using the text that webpages use to describe themselves.

Often in IE7, the only information you get about a webpage you have open but hidden on the bottom taskbar is "http://" - the rest of the title is obscured.

Again, a minor difference and a minor niggle.

Searching a webpage is still more elegant in Firefox 2.0 than IE7.

Calling up the search function in Firefox prompts the appearance of a text box tied to the bottom of the page and typing your search term in that takes you to the first appearance of that word or phrase on the page - provided it is there, of course.

In IE searching calls up a floating box in which you have to type your text and then click or hit a key to find the term or phrase.

Feeding frenzy

One of the very useful inclusions in Firefox 2.0 is a live spell checker that watches over your metaphorical shoulder as you type text into any field on any webpage. It is possible to add a similar function to IE7 but only via an add-on.

It will be interesting to see how many people download and install it.

When it comes to RSS - the system that feeds updates of webpages to those interested - Firefox 2.0 does a slightly better job of making it easy to subscribe to new feeds.

With only a click it was possible to add a feed to popular blog-following sites such as Bloglines to IE7 and Firefox

Firefox and Internet Explorer 7 also benefit from thousands of plug-ins, or add-ons - that can be installed to add more functionality to the browser.

These range from RSS readers to Instant Messaging clients, Voice over IP programs, and mini iTunes controls - all accessed from inside the web browser page.

Finally, both IE7 and Firefox 2.0 have introduced systems that warn users when they are about to visit a site that is known to be used by phishing gangs. These pages are made to look like that of a bank to trick people into handing over confidential information.

Firefox handles this by updating a locally held list of known phishing sites every time you use the browser.

Microsoft's IE7 checks in via the web to make sure a site is safe to visit. In the short tests run by the BBC news website, IE7 occasionally took longer to load a page as it carried out a check to see if it was a phishing site.

Despite these minor differences, Firefox 2.0 and IE7 are now broadly comparable - something that could not be said of IE6 and Firefox. But it will be up to users to choose which one best meets their needs.Texan tango 'Troops chased me' Bound for Baghdad

Source from: news.bbc.co.uk

Read More..

Web icon set to be discontinued

Netscape lost ground to Microsoft's internet Explorer

The browser that helped kick-start the commercial web is to cease development because of lack of users.

Netscape Navigator, now owned by AOL, will no longer be supported after 1 February 2008, the company has said.

In the mid-1990s the browser was used by more than 90% of the web population, but numbers have slipped to just 0.6%.

In particular, the browser has faced competition from Microsoft's Internet Explorer (IE), which is now used by nearly 80% of all web users.

"While internal groups within AOL have invested a great deal of time and energy in attempting to revive Netscape Navigator, these efforts have not been successful in gaining market share from Microsoft's Internet Explorer," said Tom Drapeau on the company's blog.

Browser wars

Netscape was developed by Marc Andreessen, co-author of Mosaic, the first popular web browser.

Mosaic was written while Mr Andreessen was a student at the National Center for Supercomputing Applications at the University of Illinois in 1992.

Firefox was created by many of the Navigator developers

After graduation he set up Netscape Communications Corporation and began development of the Navigator browser. The first version was released in 1994.

It was quickly a success and dominated the browser market in the mid-1990s.

But other companies followed its success, notably Microsoft, which bundled its Explorer software with its operating systems.

This culminated in a highly-publicised legal battle, which saw Microsoft accused of anti-competitive behaviour.

Although the settlement saw Netscape gain many concessions from Microsoft including the ability to exploit IE code, it has been unable to gain back its market share.

The demise of Navigator was compounded in 2003 when AOL, which bought Netscape in 1998, made redundant most of the staff working on new versions of the browser.

Many of the staff moved to the Mozilla Foundation which develops the popular Firefox browser. This browser has a 16% share of the browser market.

Fade away

Although a core team has continued to work on the secure browser - it is currently on version nine - AOL has decided to finally pull the plug.

"After 1 February, there will be no more active product support for Navigator nine, or any previous Netscape Navigator browser," wrote Mr Drapeau.

"We feel it's the right time to end development of Netscape branded browsers, hand the reins fully to Mozilla and encourage Netscape users to adopt Firefox," he said.

Users of the browser will no longer receive security or software updates after the date.

Old versions of the browser will still be available for download, but will no longer be supported.

Microsoft is expected to launch a new version of IE in 2008, whilst the third version of Firefox is currently available as a beta, or test version.Texan tango 'Troops chased me' Bound for Baghdad

Source from: news.bbc.co.uk

Read More..

Final goodbye for early web icon

Netscape's demise A web browser that gave many people their first experience of the web is set to disappear.Web window

Firefox uses the same technology as Navigator developers

Netscape is a wonderful browser, and it will be so in the future Future return?

Flock is designed to take advantage of web 2.0 sites

Texan tango 'Troops chased me' Bound for Baghdad

Source from: news.bbc.co.uk

Read More..

Review: Nikon D300 solid as a little tank

(CNET) -- When you build the follow-up to a hot camera, how do you turn up the heat? When Nikon shipped the D200 a couple of years ago, its combination of speed and photo quality blew away the limited competition, and provided a powerful, relatively inexpensive alternative to Nikon's then top-of-the-line D2X.

The D300 faces a far more crowded field. Not only does it take on its venerable and now lower-priced predecessor, but also a cluster of far-from-shabby dSLRs just at or below its price: the Canon EOS 40D, the Sony Alpha DSLR-A700, the Olympus E-3, and the Pentax K20D.

Nikon's offering a body-only box of the D300 as well as two kits: one with a DX 18mm-135mm f/3.5-5.6G ED AF lens (27mm-202.5mm equivalent with the camera's 1.5x crop factor) and one with a DX 18-200mm f/3.5-5.6G ED VR lens (27mm-300mm equivalent). I tested the latter kit, and also used the camera with two non-DX lenses: a preproduction version of the 14-24mm 2.8G ED and the 24-70mm f/2.8G ED IF.

For the most part, Nikon sticks with the tried-and-true body design and interface of the D200, with its intelligently laid out controls. The dust- and weatherproof body weighs a hair over 2 pounds, and feels as solid as a little tank.

The viewfinder is bigger and brighter, with 100 percent coverage. There are a few behaviors I'm not fond of, like the hard to manipulate metering dial (discussed in my more-detailed analysis of the design) and occasionally problematic AF-mode navigation (discussed below), but find the camera's operation comfortable and fluid. Nikon carries over the ultraflexible user-settings menus, which consists of two banks--shooting settings and custom settings--with four nameable slots each.

Though the DX-format (23.6x15.8 mm), 12-megapixel CMOS sensor is new, the D300 otherwise retains the raft of features that made the D200 so powerful, plus some high-profile enhancements. Most notably, the D300 increases to 51 AF points with 15 cross-type sensors, which contributes to the camera's new 3D-tracking 51-point Dynamic Area AF mode, and replaces the Group Dynamic AF of its predecessor. Essentially, the D300's 1,005-point 3D color matrix meter does double duty, feeding a low-resolution digitized version of the scene to the new Multi-Cam 3500DX AF module for tracking analysis. (You can see an interesting video simulation of it on YouTube.)

Based on the description (and the suggested use in the manual), the 3D tracking mode seems like an optimal solution for shooting well-defined subjects--those with strong color contrast relative to the background and which occupy a large percentage of the scene--that remain within the frame. And in shoots at a local dog run, it worked best for portrait-type situations, where it tracked the dogs' wildly moving heads while they themselves remained relatively stationary within the frame. However, for shots where the subject moves too quickly to keep in the viewfinder--as happens with most of the other dog-run shots--Nikon suggests using the 51-point dynamic AF without the 3D tracking. That works relatively well. (You can also choose 21-point or nine-point without 3D.)

Unfortunately, if you need to switch quickly between those two AF options, as I do in the aforementioned scenario, you're out of luck. There's no direct-access control and you can't assign the selection to one of the three custom buttons; the closest you can get is to add it to My Menu, or waste an entire custom setting bank for that one feature. For me, since the 51-point without 3D is the more generally useful of the two modes, the 3D tracking will just be woefully underutilized, and might as well not be there at all. And frankly, I miss the AF-group visual feedback provided by the D200.

The same goes for the D300's Live View shooting. Like the 40D, it supports autofocus, but the D300 uses the typical too-many-mirror-flips implementation that makes it far less useful than it could be. There's actually a flow chart in the manual explaining the series of steps it takes to shoot in Live View--with a tripod it can use contrast AF, which doesn't require the constant mirror flippage. It is neither complicated, nor the shooting experience one should expect.

Like Canon, Nikon has a lot invested in lens-based optical-image stabilization technology, so the D300 lacks the in-body sensor-shift stabilization that Sony, Pentax, Olympus, and Panasonic offer. That's not a big deal if you already have an investment in Nikon's VR lenses or don't really use/care about stabilization. But if you do care about it and making your first dSLR purchase, or contemplating shifting from another brand, then don't discount its importance; the fact that the two kits require a choice between VR and non-VR lenses foreshadows future lens choices you'll have to make.

Other boosts over the D200 include an upgrade to a 3-inch LCD with a 170-degree viewing angle, a stop higher on the sensitivity scale to an effective ISO 100-6,400, the addition of a 14-bit raw mode, and an HDMI connector for optimal HDTV output. Before going into production, Nikon dropped the Virtual Horizon capability (which did make it into the D3). Nice features carried over from the D200 include built-in wireless flash control; selectable 6mm, 8mm, 10mm, or 13mm center-spot for center-weighted metering; and a shutter-speed range of 1/8,000 to 30 seconds. (For a complete list of the D300's features and capabilities, check out the PDF manual.)

There's nothing to complain about with the D300's shooting speed--though it delivers average performance for its class, the D300 does belong to a pretty zippy class of cameras, and it outpaces the D200 on a few tasks. CNET Labs' tests indicate that it wakes up and shoots near instantly, in about 0.1 second. Under good, high-contrast lighting, it focuses and shoots in just under half a second, rising to 0.9 second in dimmer conditions.

Typically, it captures consecutive frames in the same half second, edging up to 0.6 second with the built-in flash enabled. And it delivers a quick 5.8 frames per second for high-speed burst shooting. (We tested without the optional battery grip, which brings the speed closer to 7fps.) Nikon traditionally delivers excellent low-light focus performance in its dSLRs, and the D300 is no exception. Even shooting a black cat sitting in the shadows of a dimly lit apartment proved no problem.

As for photo quality, the D300 delivers great results, with a visibly superior noise profile to the D200 as well as to the Sony DSLR-A700 (which uses the same sensor). At their best, photos are sharp, with excellent exposures, accurate colors, and broad tonal ranges. Flash with the SB-800 Speedlight unit especially showed off how well the metering system works, with none of the harsh, overexposed look that I frequently get on the most difficult shots. (For more details on the photo quality, click through the slide show.)

Although the lack of in-body stabilization can be a big liability for certain users, and its interface not quite as streamlined as I'd like, these negatives are more than offset by the great performance and class-leading photo quality delivered by the Nikon D300--earning it an Editors' Choice.

Source from: edition.cnn.com

Read More..