Created: 12 September 2007 | Watched by: 12 people | Comments: 0 comments

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  Big Brother is watching us all - BBC News 

  http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/programmes/from_our_own_correspondent/6995061.stm

  The US and UK governments are developing increasingly sophisticated gadgets to keep individuals under their surveillance. When it comes to technology, the US is determined to stay ahead of the game. "Five ... nine, five ten," said the research student, pushing down a laptop button to seal the measurement. "That's your height." "Spot on," I said. "OK, we're freezing you now," interjected another student, studying his computer screen. "So we have height and tracking and your gait DNA". "Gait DNA?" I interrupted, raising my head, so inadvertently my full face was caught on a video camera. "Have we got that?" asked their teacher Professor Rama Chellappa. "We rely on just 30 frames - about one second - to get a picture we can work with," he explained. Tracking individuals I was at the University of Maryland just outside Washington DC, where Professor Chellappa and his team are inventing the next generation of citizen surveillance. They had pushed back furniture in the conference room for   [More...] [Less...]

  First added: 23 September 2007, by: David Wiblin  [Report as spam]

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  Tags:  bbc, big brother, close circuit, government, surveillance , tracking individuals, uk, us   [More...] [Less...]

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  Internet crime 'is big business' - BBC News 

  http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/6998068.stm

  Internet crime is becoming a major commercial activity, according to a report by the security firm, Symantec. Its report into threats to internet security describes underworld auction sites where bank ... details and credit cards are on sale. Commercial software used by criminals to launch attacks on websites is also being traded, the report says. It also warns that criminals are using trusted sites like MySpace and Facebook to launch attacks on users' computers. Fake banking sites The BBC's technology correspondent Rory Cellan-Jones said: "Until recently young hackers who spread viruses or launched attacks on computer networks were bent on mischief rather than money making." However, this latest report suggests such attacks are now part of a multi-billion dollar criminal industry. It highlights online discussion boards where members buy and sell the kind of information that enables identity theft. Our correspondent said in recent days sellers on one of these sites were offering eve   [More...] [Less...]

  First added: 17 September 2007, by: David Wiblin  [Report as spam]

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  Tags:  bbc, crime, internet, security, underworld

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  BBC NEWS | Technology | Wi-fi security system is 'broken' 

  http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/7052223.stm

  More holes have been picked in the security measure designed to protect the privacy and data of wi-fi users. The latest attack lets criminals defeat firewalls and spy on where someone goes and what they ... do online. It comes after a series of other attacks that, experts say, have left the basic protection in wi-fi comprehensively "broken". But compatibility issues mean that many will have no alternative but to use the much weakened protection system. Lock picking The basic security measure in the technical specification for wireless networks, 802.11, is known as Wired Equivalent Privacy. WEP encrypts data flying back and forth between a computer and an access point to stop people spotting and stealing confidential information. It does this using an encryption key but numerous attacks have shown how easy it is to get hold of this key and unlock access to the wi-fi network or your data. "WEP as a security measure is so broken that your (and everyone else's) kid sister can easily circumvent   [More...] [Less...]

  First added: 20 October 2007, by: Chrisophe Gobel  [Report as spam]

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  Tags:  security, bbc, internet, network, privacy , web, wi-fi   [More...] [Less...]

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  BBC NEWS | Scotland | Edinburgh, East and Fife | Hand-held supercomputers 'on way' 

  http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/scotland/edinburgh_and_east/7055423.stm

  Experts at a Scottish university say they have paved the way for the creation of tiny supercomputers which could fit in the palm of the hand. Engineers at the University of Edinburgh studied the behaviour ... of wires which were 1,000 times thinner than human hair. They then created a tool which could help develop tiny microchips. German and Italian experts also worked on the project. Their findings will be published in the journal Science. It is hoped that the discovery will eventually lead to medical advances, as well as hand-held PCs and mobile phones as powerful as laptops becoming available on the high street. To create a powerful computer the size of a mobile phone, much smaller microchips with thinner wires are needed. The Edinburgh researchers teamed up with colleagues from the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology in Germany and the University of Rome, Italy, to look at how tiny wires behave when they are manipulated. With the help of computers, they found that wires on a nanoscale, m   [More...] [Less...]

  First added: 22 October 2007, by: Kris Sangani  [Report as spam]

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  Tags:  computing, nanotechnology, supercomputing, bbc, microchips , nanochips   [More...] [Less...]