Days of the 'bank job' are numbered

27 December 2013 Last updated at 07:34 ET By Dave Lee Technology reporter, BBC News

The number of robberies on British bank branches has dropped by 90% in the past decade, figures from the British Bankers Association suggest.

The BBA said there were 66 robberies in 2011, compared to 847 in 1992.

The drop has been attributed to a raft of innovative technologies making it extremely difficult for "traditional" robbery tactics to work.

"Banks are working hard to confine armed robberies to the world of TV dramas," BBA chief Anthony Browne said.

"Being caught up in a bank job is a terrifying ordeal for staff and customers that can scar lives for decades.

"It's great to see that the number of these crimes have fallen sharply in recent years. Anyone trying to rob a bank now faces much better CCTV, protective screens that can rise in less than a second and even special fog designed to disperse criminals.

Continue reading the main story

Fancy a bank account with $300,000 (£184,000) in it? If you know where to look and you don't mind dealing with cybercriminals then the going rate is just $300, a study of the hacking underworld suggests.

"Banks will continue to work closely with each other, post offices and the police to make such raids a thing of the past."

Disorientating fog

A similar trend has been noted in the US, where FBI figures for 2012 put the number of bank robberies nationwide at 3,870 - the lowest in decades.

In an effort to deter criminals and make branch workers safer, banks have made significant investments in security technology.

These range from simple barriers - which drop down when a panic button is pressed - to special "fog" that disorientates criminals.

"DNA" spray is another common deterrent - robbers are coated with a unique, traceable material that is extremely difficult to wash off skin and can prove that a suspect was at the premises of a robbery.

Combined, the measures mean the risks outweigh any potential gains - particularly as bank branches typically store less cash on the premises than in previous years.

Shift to online

However, while brute-force bank robberies are dropping, banks - and their customers - are still under threat from crime.

Official statistics from the Met Police confirm that business robberies were down 31% in London over the past decade, reports the BBC's business correspondent Joe Lynam, but some thieves have switched their focus to the vehicles that transport money between banks.

More significant is the growing rate of cyber-crime relating to banks and other financial transactions.

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Loretta Lynch, US attorney: "Instead of guns and masks, they used laptops and malware"

Recently, 40 million credit card details held by major US retail chain Target were compromised and are now being sold online. The attack, according to one security researcher, originated in Ukraine.

In a separate attack, criminals based in New York obtained $45m (£29m) by accessing a database of information used by cash machines. Seven men were charged in May.

Beyond bank details, hackers - the new generation of robbers - are also scooping up personal details and packaging them up to be sold on.

Full dossiers of information about an individual, including bank details, are routinely sold on the online black market for around $30, a recent study suggested.

Follow Dave Lee on Twitter @DaveLeeBBC

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Snowden says 'mission accomplished'

24 December 2013 Last updated at 11:34 ET

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Edward Snowden will deliver a Christmas message on UK TV, as Simeon Paterson reports

Former National Security Agency (NSA) contractor Edward Snowden, who leaked details of US electronic surveillance programmes, says he achieved his aim.

"In terms of personal satisfaction, the mission's already accomplished," he told the Washington Post.

"I already won," said Mr Snowden, whose extensive leaks have caused a reassessment of US surveillance policy.

The 30-year-old was interviewed in Russia, where he was granted temporary asylum on 1 August.

Mr Snowden fled the US in late May, taking a huge cache of secret documents with him. He faces espionage charges in the US.

Continue reading the main story

How intelligence is gathered

• Accessing internet company data
• Tapping fibre optic cables
• Eavesdropping on phones
• Targeted spying

"As soon as the journalists were able to work, everything that I had been trying to do was validated. Because, remember, I didn't want to change society. I wanted to give society a chance to determine if it should change itself," he told the newspaper.

"All I wanted was for the public to be able to have a say in how they are governed," Mr Snowden said.

Last week, a federal judge declared the mass collection of telephone data unconstitutional and a presidential advisory panel suggested reforms.

Both the judge and the panel said there was little evidence that any terrorist plot had been thwarted by the programme.

A few days later, in his end-of-year news conference, US President Barack Obama suggested there might be a review of surveillance by the NSA.

In light of "disclosures that have taken place" and public concerns about the programmes, there might be "another way of skinning the cat", he said.

However, he accused Mr Snowden of causing "unnecessary damage" by leaking documents.

President Obama said he would make a "definitive statement" in January about recommendations by the White House panel.

Continue reading the main story

"Start Quote

A child born today will... never know what it means to have a private moment to themselves, an unrecorded, unanalysed thought"

End Quote Edward Snowden

'Going in blind'

The NSA, accustomed to watching without being watched, faces scrutiny it has not endured since the 1970s, or perhaps ever, the Washington Post reports.

Mr Snowden told the newspaper he had no way of knowing whether the public would share his views.

"You recognise that you're going in blind... But when you weigh that against the alternative, which is not to act, you realise that some analysis is better than no analysis."

Later, the UK's Channel 4 revealed that Mr Snowden would deliver its "Alternative Christmas Message" on Wednesday - the broadcaster's answer to Queen Elizabeth II's message to the nation.

In his first TV interview since arriving in Moscow, Mr Snowden would talk about "why privacy matters", it said.

"A child born today will grow up with no conception of privacy at all. They'll never know what it means to have a private moment to themselves, an unrecorded, unanalysed thought," he was quoted as saying.

"The conversation occurring today will determine the amount of trust we can place both in the technology that surrounds us and the government that regulates it. Together we can find a better balance, end mass surveillance and remind the government that if it really wants to know how we feel, asking is always cheaper than spying."

More details of people and institutions targeted by UK and US surveillance were published last week by The Guardian, The New York Times and Der Spiegel.

The papers said the list of about 1,000 targets included an EU commissioner, humanitarian organisations and Israeli officials including a prime minister.

US technology giants including Google, Microsoft and Yahoo are taking steps to block the collection of data by their government.

In October, news that the NSA had monitored the phone of German Chancellor Angela Merkel triggered a diplomatic row between Berlin and Washington.

Brazil's President Dilma Rousseff was also angered by revelations that the NSA had hacked the computer network of Brazil's state-run oil company Petrobras to collect data on emails and telephone calls.

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Cash limits follow Target data theft

23 December 2013 Last updated at 11:28 ET

Debit card limits are being cut for two million Americans following a hack attack on US retailer Target.

Details of more than 40 million cards were stolen by thieves who compromised card swipe systems at Target's tills.

Bank JP Morgan Chase said it was reducing limits on all cards used at Target while thieves had been scooping up data.

Security researchers said the stolen card numbers had been seen on underground markets.

Card losses

The thieves managed to grab the key details for so many cards by getting malware onto the computer systems at the checkout desks in almost 1,800 Target stores in the US. It is still not clear how the thieves managed to get their malware onto the systems.

The thieves had access to card data read at the tills for almost three weeks, said Target in a statement released after it realised it had been under attack.

JP Morgan Chase said it had lowered daily spending limits to $300 (£183) and daily cash withdrawal limits to $100 on potentially vulnerable cards as a "precaution".

Reuters reported that other US banks are also believed to be putting stringent precautions in place that would help to spot if cards were being used fraudulently. In addition, Target said it would offer free credit monitoring for customers affected by fraud.

On 20 December, security researcher Brian Krebs said there was evidence that card numbers stolen in the Target attack had shown up on underground markets where such details are traded.

Writing on his blog, Mr Krebs said security investigators had first confirmed card details had been stolen from Target by buying a "dump" of credit card numbers and matching them to those known to have been used at stores during the breach.

A huge batch of numbers had shown up on one site that traded in good quality dumps, he said, adding that cards from non-US banks used at Target stores were now fetching premium prices.

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Royal pardon for codebreaker Turing

24 December 2013 Last updated at 07:48 ET

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Computer pioneer and codebreaker Alan Turing has been given a posthumous royal pardon, as Danny Shaw reports

Computer pioneer and codebreaker Alan Turing has been given a posthumous royal pardon.

It addresses his 1952 conviction for homosexuality for which he was punished by being chemically castrated.

The conviction meant he lost his security clearance and had to stop the code-cracking work that had proved vital to the Allies in World War Two.

The pardon was granted under the Royal Prerogative of Mercy after a request by Justice Minister Chris Grayling.

'Appalling' treatment

"Dr Alan Turing was an exceptional man with a brilliant mind," said Mr Grayling.

He said the research Turing carried out during the war at Bletchley Park undoubtedly shortened the conflict and saved thousands of lives.

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Turing centenary

2012 saw a series of events that celebrated the life and work of Alan Turing. The events were held to mark the 100th anniversary of his birth

Turing's work helped accelerate Allied efforts to read German Naval messages enciphered with the Enigma machine. He also contributed some more fundamental work on codebreaking that was only released to public scrutiny in April 2012.

"His later life was overshadowed by his conviction for homosexual activity, a sentence we would now consider unjust and discriminatory and which has now been repealed," said Mr Grayling.

"Turing deserves to be remembered and recognised for his fantastic contribution to the war effort and his legacy to science. A pardon from the Queen is a fitting tribute to an exceptional man."

The pardon comes into effect on 24 December.

Turing died in June 1954 from cyanide poisoning and an inquest decided that he had committed suicide. However, biographers, friends and other students of his life dispute the finding and suggest his death was an accident.

Many people have campaigned for years to win a pardon for Turing.

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Dr Sue Black, a computer scientist, was one of the key figures in the campaign.

She told the BBC that she hoped all the men convicted under the anti-homosexuality law would now be pardoned.

"This is one small step on the way to making some real positive change happen to all the people that were convicted," she said.

"It's a disgrace that so many people were treated so disrespectfully."

Some have criticised the action for not going far enough and, 59 years after Turing's death, little more than a token gesture.

"I just think it's ridiculous, frankly," British home computing pioneer Sir Clive Sinclair told the BBC.

"He's been dead these many years so what's the point? It's a silly nonsense.

"He was such a fine, great man, and what was done was appalling of course. It makes no sense to me, because what's done is done."

'It's very wrong'

Lord Sharkey, a Liberal Democrat peer who wrote a private member's bill calling for a royal pardon in July 2012, said the decision was "wonderful news".

"This has demonstrated wisdom and compassion," he said. "It has recognised a very great British hero and made some amends for the cruelty and injustice with which Turing was treated."

Vint Cerf, the computer scientist known as one of the founding fathers of the internet, also welcomed the development.

"The royal pardon for Alan Turing rights a long-standing wrong and properly honours a man whose imagination and intellect made him legendary in our field," he told the BBC.

Technology entrepreneur Mike Lynch added: "Society didn't understand Alan Turing or his ideas on many levels but that was a reflection on us, not on him - and it has taken us 60 years to catch up."

Human rights campaigner Peter Tatchell said: "I pay tribute to the government for ensuring Alan Turing has a royal pardon at last but I do think it's very wrong that other men convicted of exactly the same offence are not even being given an apology, let alone a royal pardon.

"We're talking about at least 50,000 other men who were convicted of the same offence, of so-called gross indecency, which is simply a sexual act between men with consent."

Mr Tatchell said he would like to see Turing's death fully investigated.

"While I have no evidence that he was murdered, I do think we need to explore the possibility that he may have been killed by the security services. He was regarded as a high security risk," he said.

'Not entirely comfortable'

Glyn Hughes, the sculptor of the Alan Turing Memorial in Manchester, said it was "very gratifying" that he had finally been pardoned.

"When we set out to try and make him famous - get him recognised - it was really difficult to collect money," he said.

Continue reading the main story

Big screen

Turing's life is the subject of upcoming Hollywood movie The Imitation Game, which focuses on the cracking of the Enigma code. Starring Sherlock actor Benedict Cumberbatch as Turing, the film is due for release next year.

Channel 4's TV film Codebreaker, about the highs and lows of Turing's life, was aired in 2011.

And during the 2012 celebrations of the centenary of Turing's birth, a Welsh digital arts festival - the Abandon Normal Devices (AND) Festival - featured a laser image of Turing projected from Conwy Castle into the sky.

Although Turing was born in London, he had strong connections with north Wales.

The Italianate village of Portmeirion in Gwynedd was one of Turing's favourite places.

But it was in northern England where Turing spent the last six years of his life, working at Manchester University in various specialist fields including mathematical logic and philosophy.

"None of the big computer companies would stump up a penny for a memorial. They perhaps would now - we've come a very long way."

But he said he was "not entirely comfortable" that Turing had been pardoned while thousands of other gay men had not.

"The problem is, of course, if there was a general pardon for men who had been prosecuted for homosexuality, many of them are still alive and they could get compensation."

In December 2011, an e-petition was created on the Direct Gov site that asked for Turing to be pardoned. It received more than 34,000 signatures but its request was denied by the then justice secretary, Lord McNally, who said Turing was "properly convicted" for what was at the time a criminal offence.

Prior to that in August 2009, a petition was started to request a pardon. It won an official apology from the prime minister at the time, Gordon Brown, who said the way Turing was persecuted over his homosexuality was "appalling".

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Butterfly botnet 'mastermind' jailed

24 December 2013 Last updated at 06:25 ET

A hacker accused of masterminding one of the biggest ever botnets has been sentenced to just under 5 years in jail.

Matjaz Skorjanc was arrested in 2010 after a two-year investigation into malware that had hijacked about 12.7 million computers around the world.

The 27-year-old was found guilty of creating the Mariposa botnet software, assisting others in "wrongdoings" and money laundering.

His lawyer said he would appeal.

In addition to the 58-month jail term, Skorjanc was also ordered to pay a 4,000 euro ($4,100; £2,510) fine and give up a flat and car he was alleged to have bought with money he had received from a Spanish criminal syndicate.

The prosecutors in the case have said they also intended to challenge the Slovenian court's ruling because they had wanted a tougher jail sentence of seven-and-a-half-years.

The former medical student's ex-girlfriend Nusa Coh was also sentenced to eight months probation for money laundering.

Identity revealed

Mariposa is the Spanish for butterfly.

The botnet got its name because it was created with software called ButterFly Flooder that was alleged to have been written by Skorjanc and advertised on the net as a way to "stress test" computer networks and remotely control Windows and Linux PCs.

Computers in more than 190 countries were infected by Mariposa, which spread by a variety of methods including via instant messages, peer-to-peer file-sharing systems and removable storage devices.

Once installed its operators could command the compromised machines to carry out their instructions including sending back copies of data they stored.

The scale of the problem led the FBI to team up with European law enforcement agencies, the Georgia Tech Information Security Center and other security experts to track down the perpetrators.

This proved difficult to do because the hackers only connected to the net via a virtual private network (VPN), which hid their locations.

On 23 December 2009 the authorities managed to gain control of the botnet; which they believe rattled one of its operators, who went by the nickname Netkairo.

The operator subsequently managed to take back control of the infected computers and then used them to attack Defence Intelligence, a Canadian security firm helping the FBI.

However, in doing so Netkairo appeared to have revealed his identity by accidentally connecting to the botnet directly from his home computer rather than the VPN.

On 3 February 2010 the Spanish Civil Guard arrested Florencio Carro Ruiz, who they identified as Netkairo, and two other Spaniards.

Five months later the Slovenian police arrested Skorjanc, who they said had used the alias Iserdo and had written the code.

Officials said the botnet had been used to send spam emails, stage distributed denial of service (DDoS) attacks to overwhelm targets' servers with traffic, and harvest information including credit card details and log-ins.

"I think the sentence is significant and will be remembered as a milestone in the prosecution of cybercrimes," Keith Murphy, chief executive of Defence Intelligence told the BBC.

"It reflects that authorities have realised the damage that can be wrought by a piece of code, and are now starting to equate it to physical theft. The 'wild west' days of cybercrime are over, even in smaller countries."

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Google robot wins Pentagon contest

23 December 2013 Last updated at 08:26 ET

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Schaft won this round of Darpa's competition by a wide margin

A robot developed by a Japanese start-up recently acquired by Google is the winner of a two-day competition hosted by the Pentagon's research unit Darpa.

Team Schaft's machine carried out all eight rescue-themed tasks to outscore its rivals by a wide margin.

Three of the other 15 teams that took part failed to secure any points at the event near Miami, Florida.

Schaft and seven of the other top-scorers can now apply for more Darpa funds to compete in 2014's finals.

Continue reading the main story

1. Schaft (27 points)

2. IHMC Robotics (20 points)

3. Tartan Rescue (18 points)

4. MIT (16 points)

5. Robosimian (14 points)

6. Traclabs / Wrecs (11 points)

8. Trooper (9 points)

9. Thor / Vigir / Kaist (8 points).

12. HKU / DRC-Hubo (3 points)

14. Chiron / Nasa-JSC / Mojavaton (0 points)

Darpa said it had been inspired to organise the challenge after it became clear robots were only capable of playing a very limited role in efforts to contain 2011's Fukushima nuclear reactor meltdown in Japan.

"What we realised was ... these robots couldn't do anything other than observe," said Gill Pratt, programme manager for the Darpa Robotics Challenge.

"What they needed was a robot to go into that reactor building and shut off the valves."

In order to spur on development of more adept robots the agency challenged contestants to complete a series of tasks, with a time-limit of 30 minutes for each:

• Drive a utility vehicle along a course
• Climb an 8ft-high (2.4m) ladder
• Remove debris blocking a doorway
• Pull open a lever-handled door
• Cross a course that featured ramps, steps and unfastened blocks
• Cut a triangular shape in a wall using a cordless drill
• Close three air valves, each controlled by a different-sized wheel or lever
• Unreel a hose and then screw its nozzle into a wall connector

More than 100 teams originally applied to take part, and the number was whittled down to 17 by Darpa ahead of Friday and Saturday's event.

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Humanoid robots drove cars, climbed ladders - and often fell - in the competition sponsored by the US Department of Defense

Some entered their own machines, while others made use of Atlas - a robot manufactured by another Google-owned business, Boston Dynamics - controlling it with their own software.

One self-funded team from China - Intelligent Pioneer - dropped out at the last moment, bringing the number of contestants who took part at the Homestead-Miami Speedway racetrack to 16.

Continue reading the main story

Schaft's 1.48m (4ft 11in) tall, two-legged robot entered the contest the favourite and lived up to its reputation.

It makes use of a new high-voltage liquid-cooled motor technology that uses a capacitor, rather a battery, for power. Its engineers say this lets its arms move and pivot at higher speeds than would otherwise be possible, in effect giving it stronger "muscles".

The machine was developed by a spin-off from the University of Tokyo's Jouhou System Kougaku lab, which Google recently revealed it had acquired.

The team scored 27 points out of a possible 32, putting it seven points ahead of second-placed IHMC Robotics, which used Atlas.

Scores were based on a system that awarded three points for completing a task's primary objectives, and then a bonus point for doing so without any human intervention.

Schaft's robot behaved nearly perfectly, but lost points because "the wind blew a door out of their robot's hold and because their robotic creation was not able to climb out of a vehicle after it successfully navigated an obstacle course," reported the Japan Daily Press.

'Reality check'

Videos posted online by Darpa illustrate that the robots remain much slower than humans, often pausing for a minute or more between actions while they carried out the calculations needed to make each movement.

Several proved unsteady on their feet and were only saved from falls by attached harnesses.

Three of the teams which entered self-designed machines - including Nasa's Johnson Space Center and its robot Valkyrie - failed to complete any of the challenges.

The event was described as a "reality check" by Jyuji Hewitt, who attended on behalf of the US Army's Research, Development and Engineering Command.

But Darpa's Mr Pratt added that the competition, and the finals that will be held in December, would help bring forward a time the machines could be used in real-world situations.

"Today's modest progress will be a good next step to help save mankind from disasters," he said.

The top eight teams can now apply for up to $1m (£611,000) of Darpa investment before the finals to improve their robots' skills. The winner will get a $2m prize.

Lower scorers in last weekend's round can stay in the contest but will have to fund their own efforts,

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Twitter's Dorsey to join Disney

24 December 2013 Last updated at 05:38 ET

Twitter founder, Jack Dorsey, has been nominated as an independent board director at Walt Disney.

Shareholders will be able to vote on his selection at the company's annual meeting on 18 March.

Aged 37, Mr Dorsey would become the youngest member of Disney's board, the majority of whom are in their 50s.

Over the last few years he has been running Square, a company which offers credit card payments service for small businesses.

"Jack Dorsey is a talented entrepreneur who has helped create groundbreaking new businesses in the social media and commerce spaces," said Robert Iger, Disney's chairman and chief executive.

"The perspective he brings to Disney and its board is extremely valuable."

Twitter sold shares on the stock market for the first time in November and Mr Dorsey's near 5% stake in Twitter is worth around $1bn.

He founded Twitter along with Ev Williams, Biz Stone and Noah Glass.

Mr Dorsey sent Twitter's first tweet in 2006: "just setting up my twttr".

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Cryptolocker 'infects 250,000 PCs'

24 December 2013 Last updated at 08:38 ET By Leo Kelion Technology reporter

A virulent form of ransomware has now infected about quarter of a million Windows computers, according to a report by security researchers.

Cryptolocker scrambles users' data and then demands a fee to unencrypt it alongside a countdown clock.

Dell Secureworks said that the US and UK had been worst affected.

It added that the cyber-criminals responsible were now targeting home internet users after initially focusing on professionals.

The firm has provided a list of net domains that it suspects have been used to spread the code, but warned that more are being generated every day.

Ransomware has existed since at least 1989, but this latest example is particularly problematic because of the way it makes files inaccessible.

"Instead of using a custom cryptographic implementation like many other malware families, Cryptolocker uses strong third-party certified cryptography offered by Microsoft's CryptoAPI," said the report.

"By using a sound implementation and following best practices, the malware authors have created a robust program that is difficult to circumvent."

Ransom dilemma

The first versions of Crytpolocker appear to have been posted to the net on 5 September.

Early examples were spread via spam emails that asked the user to click on a Zip-archived extension identified as being a customer complaint about the recipient's organisation.

Later it was distributed via malware attached to emails claiming there had been a problem clearing a cheque. Clicking the associated link downloaded a Trojan horse called Gameover Zeus, which in turn installed Cryptolocker onto the victim's PC.

By mid-December, Dell Secureworks said between 200,000 to 250,000 computers had been infected.

It said of those affected, "a minimum of 0.4%, and very likely many times that" had agreed to the ransom demand, which can currently only be paid in the virtual currencies Bitcoin and MoneyPak.

Top 10 infected countries	Number of infected systems identified using test "sinkhole" servers between 9-16 December	Percentage of total
Source: Dell SecureWorks
US	1,540	23.8%
Great Britain	1,228	19.0%
Australia	836	12.9%
France	372	5.8%
Brazil	309	4.8%
Italy	204	3.2%
Turkey	182	2.8%
Spain	145	2.2%
China	138	2.1%
Canada	135	2.1%

"Anecdotal reports from victims who elected to pay the ransom indicate that the Cryptolocker threat actors honour payments by instructing infected computers to decrypt files and uninstall the malware," added the security firm.

"According to reports from victims, payments may be accepted within minutes or may take several weeks to process."

However, Trend Micro, another security firm, has warned that giving into the blackmail request only encouraged the further spread of Cryptolocker and other copycat schemes, and said that there was no guarantee of getting the data back.

Safety steps

Dell suggested PCs be blocked from communicating with the hundreds of domains names it had flagged as being linked to the spread of Cryptolocker, and it suggested five further steps the public and businesses could take to protect themselves:

• Install software that blocks executable fields and compressed archives before they reach email inboxes
• Check permissions assigned to shared network drives to limit the number of people who can make modifications
• Regularly back-up data to offline storage such as Blu-ray and DVD-Rom disks. Network-attached drives and cloud storage does not count as Cryptolocker can access and encrypt files stored there
• Set each PC's software management tools to prevent Cryptolocker and other suspect programs from accessing certain critical directories
• Set the computer's Group Policy Objects to restrict registry keys - databases containing settings - used by Cryptolocker so that the malware is unable to begin the encryption process

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Cheques to be paid in via smartphone

25 December 2013 Last updated at 21:19 ET

Plans have been announced to allow bank customers to pay cheques into their account by taking photos on their smartphones.

Rather than go to the bank in person, customers will be able to photograph the cheque, and send it electronically.

The government is to launch a consultation on the idea, with a view to making the necessary legal changes.

The technology will also allow cheques to be cleared in two days, rather than the six it takes at the moment.

Banks say the new transfer method will be more convenient, and more secure.

"Moving into a virtual world will actually create a more secure customer experience than the paper experience today," said Antony Jenkins, the chief executive of Barclays.

Such photos would not be stored on the phone itself, so there should be no security risk if a phone was stolen.

Continue reading the main story

I think people are going into branches less and less, particularly as a result of mobile banking"

End Quote Antony Jenkins Chief executive, Barclays

Similar technology was introduced in the United States nine years ago, following the attack on the World Trade Centre.

A new law known as Check 21 was passed, to enable banks to process cheques electronically, rather than having to transport paper versions across the country.

Cheques

The government believes a change in the law in the UK would also promote the continuing use of cheques.

The UK Payments Council was originally planning to abolish all cheque payments by 2018, but was forced to change its mind after public opposition.

"We want to see more innovation so that customers see the benefits of new technologies," said Sajid Javid, the financial secretary to the Treasury.

"We want cheques to have a crucial role in the ongoing success of the UK," he added.

In 2012, 10% of all payments by individuals were made by cheque, and 25% of payments by businesses.

The industry says most younger account-holders already use electronic systems of payment, and rarely use cheques.

However all customers will still be able to pay in cheques by posting them to their bank, or by visiting their bank directly.

Branch closures

Barclays is planning to launch a pilot programme for paying in cheques via phone from April 2014.

It hopes to launch a service for all its customers later in the year.

But the new technology is likely to raise further questions about the size of the branch network, as customers turn to banking via PCs and mobiles.

Last month Barclays announced 1700 further job losses in its High Street branches, as a direct result of mobile technology.

In the year to July 2013 it closed 37 branches, and it has hinted at more closures to come.

"I think people are going into branches less and less, particularly as a result of mobile banking, and that's going to accelerate the process," Antony Jenkins told the BBC.

The bank is in the process of moving eight of its branches into stores operated by Asda.

A spokesman said customers would always be able to pay their cheques in at a branch if they wanted to.

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Classic 70s and 80s games go online

27 December 2013 Last updated at 09:21 ET

Classic video games from the 1970s and 1980s have been put online by the Internet Archive and can be played within a web browser for nothing.

The collection has launched with games from five early home consoles, including the Atari 2600 and Colecovision.

The games do not have sound, but will soon, the Internet Archive said.

"In coming months, the playable software collection will expand greatly," archivist Jason Scott wrote.

"Making these vintage games available to the world, instantly, allows for commentary, education, enjoyment and memory for the history they are a part of."

The other machines included are the Atari 7800, the Magnavox Odyssey (known as the Philips Videopac G7000 in Europe) and the Astrocade.

Well-recognised titles such as Pacman, Space Invaders and Frogger are all in the archive - with more consoles and games expected soon.

Nostalgic urges

Unlike today's titles, which are stored on disks or even simply downloaded directly to a console, many older machines would use bespoke cartridges to store games.

As the consoles fell into disrepair and became ever more scarce, playing these games has become difficult.

For many years, communities of gamers have created ROMs - read-only memory - images of games. These files can be played on a normal PC by using an emulator.

However, in many cases, gaming in this way can be illegal - particularly when the games involved are made by the likes of Nintendo and Sega, which clamp down on such activity, deeming it a form of counterfeiting.

But older games such as the ones found on the Internet Archive fall into something of a legal grey area.

Publishers and developers often turn a blind eye as, with the games no longer available to buy, the ROMs mean the titles are still able to be played by many.

Yet with smartphone gaming on the rise, publishers are now in a position where these old titles can be revived, cashing in on the timeless quality of the games, as well as fans' nostalgic urges.

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Google hit by Spanish privacy fine

20 December 2013 Last updated at 06:04 ET

Google has been fined 900,000 euros (£751,000) for breaking Spanish data protection laws.

The fine is the maximum it is possible to levy on a firm that has broken the nation's privacy laws.

It was imposed after Google changed its privacy policy and started combining personal information across its online services.

Google said it had co-operated with the Spanish inquiry and would act once it had seen the agency's full report.

Biggest fine

Google changed its privacy policy in March 2012 and began the process of combining the data that people surrendered when they used its many services.

The change led many European data protection authorities to look into Google's privacy policy. The investigation carried out by Spain's privacy watchdog has now led to it imposing a fine - the maximum possible under Spanish law.

Google collected information across almost 100 services, said the Spanish data protection agency, but had not obtained the consent of people to gather information nor done enough to explain what would be done with the data.

The "highly ambiguous" language Google employed on its privacy policy pages made it hard for people to find out what would happen to their data, said the agency in a statement. Google also kept data for too long and made it far too hard for people to delete data or manage the information they surrendered.

The 900,000 euro fine is made up of three separate penalties of 300,000 euros each for breaking different parts of Spanish privacy laws.

Google said it had worked closely with the Spanish data agency during its investigation and said it would await publication of the full report before taking any action.

The search giant could also face further action from other European data protection bodies. In late November, the Netherlands data protection authority said Google's 2012 policy change also broke its laws. France is also believed to be contemplating levying a fine over Google's data handling policies.

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Ex-Microsoft manager faces charges

20 December 2013 Last updated at 04:13 ET

Former Microsoft manager Brian Jorgenson, and his friend Sean Stokke, have been charged with insider trading by the US securities regulator.

The Securities and Exchange Commission alleged that Mr Jorgenson, 32, tipped off Mr Stokke, 28, about Microsoft news before it was made public.

Mr Stokke traded on the information and the two shared in the profits, the regulator said.

It said they made $393,125 (£240,000) in profits over 18 months.

According to SEC documents filed in Seattle, the two men have admitted that "they knew it was illegal for them to trade on the basis of material non-public information".

Jenny Durkan, a US attorney, added in a statement: "For every stock market winner, there is a loser, and trading on confidential inside information is a cheater's way of gaining at the expense of others."

Continue reading the main story

They knew that Microsoft's earnings were going to fall well short of analysts' consensus estimates and bought Microsoft options"

End Quote US Securities and Exchnage Commission

The commission said the two traded shares based on insider information between April 2012 and October this year.

It said the first trade was carried out ahead of Microsoft's announcement in April 2012 that it would invest $300m in Barnes & Noble's e-reader and digital media business.

The regulator alleged that the pair purchased Barnes & Noble call options ahead of the announcement, "which they sold for almost $185,000 in illicit profits".

'Conceal their fraud'

In July this year, they traded in advance of Microsoft's fourth-quarter earnings.

"They knew that Microsoft's earnings were going to fall well short of analysts' consensus estimates and bought Microsoft options," the regulator said, adding that they made profits of over $195,000 when they sold the options.

They also traded ahead of the Microsoft's first-quarter earnings in October this year, which the commission said they knew "would exceed analysts' consensus estimates".

"This time, in an effort to conceal their fraud, instead of trading directly in Microsoft options, they traded in options of the Technology Select Sector SPDR Fund, which held Microsoft common stock," it alleged.

They made almost $13,000 in profits from the trade.

According to the Associated Press news agency, Mr Jorgenson's attorney, Angelo Calfo said his client accepted he "made a really bad decision, and he's prepared to take his medicine".

Microsoft said it had "zero tolerance for insider trading. We helped the government with its investigation and terminated the employee".

Mr Stokke had previously worked with Mr Jorgenson at an asset management company.

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Verizon to publish data requests

20 December 2013 Last updated at 06:47 ET

US mobile operator Verizon says it will reveal the number of requests for customer information it received from law enforcement agencies this year.

The move follows leaks about mass surveillance programmes run by the National Security Agency from fugitive ex-NSA contractor Edward Snowden.

Shareholders asked Verizon to disclose its dealings with the NSA last month.

The company says it will publish total requests received in criminal cases, as well as details on other legal demands.

This will include court orders, subpoenas and warrants.

Continue reading the main story

The aim of our transparency report is to keep our customers informed about government requests for their data and how we respond to those requests"

End Quote Randal Milch Verizon

'Transparency'

But Verizon, the second-largest US telephone company by revenue, says it is still working with the US government to establish the amount of information it can legally reveal about the number of national security letters it received. The letters are legal orders allowing the government to demand financial and phone records without prior court approval.

The report will also not publish "information about other national security requests received by the company".

"The aim of our transparency report is to keep our customers informed about government requests for their data and how we respond to those requests," Randal Milch, executive vice-president of public policy at Verizon, said in a statement.

"Verizon calls on governments around the world to provide more information on the types and amounts of data they collect and the legal processes that apply when they do so."

Much of the information it plans to reveal is already on available on an ad hoc basis, but the report - to be published in early 2014 and updated twice a year - aims to make it more consistently available, Mr Milch said.

More freedom

Several major internet companies, including Google, Microsoft, Apple, Facebook and Yahoo, already publish periodic reports disclosing the number of requests from federal agencies and police departments for personal data.

They have called for more freedom to disclose information on national security-related requests. Eight firms formed an alliance called Reform Government Surveillance earlier this month.

Verizon says its report will detail requests "to the extent permitted by applicable US and foreign laws and regulations".

Apple, Microsoft, Yahoo, Google and Facebook have all confirmed they have complied with orders to hand over data relating to "national security matters" to the US authorities.

However, they have been forbidden from saying exactly how many requests they received or details about their scope.

A White House panel has recommended significant curbs on the National Security Agency's electronic surveillance programme following a ruling from a federal judge finding it unconstitutional.

Mr Snowden, an ex-US contractor granted temporary asylum in Russia, leaked documents to the media highlighting the various methods used by agencies to gather information.

The leaks have pointed to agencies collecting phone records, tapping fibre-optic cables that carry global communications and hacking networks.

That has lead to concern among users over how much customer information companies have been sharing with authorities.

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Crowd-funded Lego car powered by air

19 December 2013 Last updated at 11:06 ET By Jane Wakefield Technology reporter

Please turn on JavaScript. Media requires JavaScript to play.

A car made from Lego blocks and powered by compressed air

An air-powered car built of Lego, that can reach a top speed of around 20km/h (12mph) has hit the roads of Melbourne.

It was built by an Australian entrepreneur and a Romanian technologist who used more than 500,000 pieces of Lego to complete the car.

The crowd-funded project began with a tweet asking people to invest in an "awesome" start-up.

Four air-powered engines and 256 pistons, all built of Lego bricks, enable the car to move.

Everything bar the wheels is made from Lego.

Co-founder Steve Sammartino told the BBC that he was "neither a car enthusiast nor a Lego enthusiast".

"What I am is a technology enthusiast and I wanted to show what is possible when you crowd-fund an idea and use young talented people," he said.

"I met this crazy Romanian teenager on the web and we came up with the idea but I knew that I couldn't afford to fund it," he added.

So he sent out a late-night tweet which read: "Anyone interested in investing $500 - $1,000 in a project which is awesome and a world first tweet me. Need about 20 participants."

Forty Australians offered cash and the Super Awesome Micro project, as it is dubbed, was born.

It took 18 months and a lot more money to build, said Mr Sammartino.

Continue reading the main story

Using Stickle Bricks in the crumple zones would have made for much better crash performance"

End Quote Matt Saunders Deputy road test editor

The car was constructed in Romania by him and his business partner Raul Oaida and then shipped to Australia where large parts of it needed to be rebuilt.

"We drove it in a suburb of Melbourne. The engine is fragile and the biggest fear was a giant Lego explosion impaling passers-by," Mr Sammartino told the BBC.

For the time being he has no plans on expanding the fleet.

"I've been up to my neck in Lego for four weeks and my fingers are still sore so I'm not keen on building another one just at the moment," he told the BBC.

"This can't have been an easy thing to make, let alone to make move. The engine in particular must have required some innovative thinking," said Matt Saunders, deputy road test editor of Autocar magazine.

"It doesn't look too comfortable though, and I wouldn't want to drive it very far. Or into anything by accident. Using Stickle Bricks in the crumple zones would have made for much better crash performance," he added.

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Microsoft boss gives cow via Reddit

19 December 2013 Last updated at 12:49 ET

Microsoft chairman Bill Gates has donated a cow as part of Reddit's Secret Santa gift exchange programme.

He bought the $500 (£305) cow from charity Heifer International on behalf of a Reddit user known as NY1227 with whom he had been paired.

In a note accompanying the gift, Mr Gates said the cow would be given to a family in need.

In addition, Mr Gates donated an unnamed amount of cash to Heifer International to help its work.

Mr Gates' participation in the gift-swapping scheme came to light via the reports that many members of Reddit write about their experience with the programme. In 2012, more than 44,000 people took part in Reddit's Secret Santa programme.

Redditor NY1227 wrote about opening her gift package and her gradual realisation that it had been sent by the Microsoft co-founder. A note and a picture in the package confirmed that the gift came from Mr Gates.

As well as the donated cow and cash for the charity, Mr Gates included a stuffed toy cow and a National Geographic travel book in the package for NY1227. In the write-up about her gift, NY1227 thanked Mr Gates for his generosity and for matching it so well with her interests and the items she had put on her Secret Santa wish list.

All participants in the gift-swapping programme write a list of items they would like to receive as gifts.

However, NY1227 did feel moved to apologise for one item on her list that Mr Gates did not provide.

"Sorry for the apple ipad on my wishlist," she wrote, "that was really awkward."

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Target card heist hits 40 million

19 December 2013 Last updated at 15:17 ET

Payment details from up to 40 million credit cards could have been stolen after they were used in the stores of US retail giant Target.

The retailer said it was investigating after discovering that thieves had gained access to its payment systems.

The data breach began around 29 November, known as Black Friday, one of the busiest shopping days of the year.

The attackers are believed to have been scooping up credit card details for almost three weeks.

"We take this matter very seriously and are working with law enforcement to bring those responsible to justice," said Target boss Gregg Steinhafel in a statement.

In addition, he said, the company was working with a data forensics firm to work out how the theft occurred.

Data-stealing code

Target said the thieves had taken credit card numbers, names, expiration dates and security codes for the cards.

It urged people who shopped at its stores in the vulnerable period to check credit card records and query unusual activity.

"We regret any inconvenience this may cause," said Mr Steinhafel.

Security researcher Brian Krebs, writing about the breach, said sources at credit card payment processing firms had told him the thieves had installed data-stealing code on to card-swipe machines at tills in all 1,797 Target stores.

It is not yet clear how the attackers managed to get their malicious program on to point-of-sale equipment in the stores.

The thieves stole data between Thanksgiving and 15 December, said Target.

The US Secret Service, which has official responsibility for investigating financial fraud, told Reuters it was looking into the breach.

The largest ever credit card breach at a US retailer took place in 2007 when cyber-thieves managed to steal information related to almost 46 million credit and debit cards from TJ Maxx and Marshalls.

The thieves amassed the huge cache of data over an 18 month period after penetrating the retailers' computer network.

I am a British ex-pat living in the US. My wife and I regularly shop at Target and typically use a credit card as payment - whether online or in the store. My wife also has a store credit card through Target. This news is very disconcerting as I know we have shopped at Target at least a couple of times during the reported period. Our credit company (American Express) has been very good at identifying anomalies in the past and dealing with fraudulent transactions, so between us and the company checking activity on the cards I am hopeful we will not be caught out. Russell Hitchen, St Petersburg, Florida

It's becoming apparent that the system of handing a card with personal and financial details to a store clerk is outdated as it seems the criminals have more technological savvy than those who are supposed to protect us from this kind of fraud. We shop at Target all the time but in the future we will pay cash until the problem is resolved. If ever... Peter O'Brien, Monroe, New Jersey

Target is my go to store for everything. So concerned after reading this news piece. Have to go though my credit card statement to make sure I see don't see any anomalies. Fariha, Fremont, California

I did shop at Target during that time and this just isn't that surprising to me. Isn't that sad? I have already had my credit card number stolen twice this year, despite being careful. I've begun monitoring my credit card transactions on a daily basis because this has just become so common. Amy Kolinko, Dublin, Ohio

Interestingly enough, I work for a credit card processing company. I also happened to shop at Target over the course of Black Friday. My thoughts, as we move into a world where electronic payment methods are becoming more widely used, we must take a step back and evaluate why they are so convenient in the fist place. This convenience is obviously coming at a cost, and that cost is our privacy. This goes into the broader discussion of how the web has been used and is currently used to illicit intimate details of individuals. Getting back to the matter at hand, Target should have definitely invested more money in its security infrastructure, but at what point is security considered to be adequate? Will the 'hackers' always be one step ahead? Time can only tell, but my guess, this is an ongoing threat that will never truly be resolved completely. Omar Khalid, Astoria

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Artificial worm starts to wriggle

20 December 2013 Last updated at 09:49 ET

A project to create artificial life has hit a key milestone - the simulated creature can now wriggle.

The Open Worm project aims to build a lifelike copy of a nematode roundworm entirely out of computer code.

This week the creature's creators added code that gets the virtual worm wriggling like the real thing.

The next step is to hook the body up to a simulation of the worm's brain to help understand more about how and why it moves.

Swim speed

The Open Worm project started in May 2013 and is slowly working towards creating a virtual copy of the Caenorhabditis elegans nematode. This worm is one of the most widely studied creatures on Earth and was the first multicelled organism to have its entire genome mapped.

The simulated worm slowly being built out of code aims to replicate C. elegans in exquisite detail with each of its 1,000 cells being modelled on computer.

Early work on the worm involved making a few muscle segments twitch but now the team has a complete worm to work with. The code governing how the creature's muscles move has been refined so its swaying motion and speed matches that of its real life counterpart. The tiny C. elegans manages to move around in water at a rate of about 1mm per second.

"Its movement closely resembles published literature on how C. elegans swims," project leader John Hurliman told the New World Notes blog.

The immediate next step for the project is to plug in the system used to model how nerve fibres in the worm fire to get muscle segments twitching and propelling the whole creature forward.

Soon the Open Worm creators hope to make a virtual version of C. elegans available online so people can interact with it via a web browser.

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Blackberry agrees Foxconn tie-up

20 December 2013 Last updated at 09:50 ET

Struggling smartphone maker Blackberry has agreed a five-year deal with Foxconn, the big Taiwan-based maker of electronic products and components.

The two companies will initially work on the development of a new smartphone.

Blackberry also announced on Friday a third-quarter loss of $4.4bn (£2.7bn), including a big write-down of assets.

The firm once dominated the smartphone market, but has seen its fortunes fall in recent years and last month abandoned an attempt to find a buyer.

Blackberry recently appointed an interim chief executive, John Chen, following the collapse of a planned sale to its biggest shareholder, Fairfax Financial Holdings.

"It's an absolutely essential deal for Blackberry," Ben Wood, mobile analyst at research firm CCS Insight, told the BBC.

"Foxconn gives them the scale they need to be competitive, particularly in the Far Eastern markets, such as Indonesia - Blackberry's biggest market."

'Determination'

Blackberry has been hit by the success and popularity of smartphones launched by rivals such as Apple and Samsung. Its attempts to boost its market share have not yielded the desired results.

"This partnership demonstrates BlackBerry's commitment to the device market for the long-term and our determination to remain the innovation leader in secure end-to-end mobile solutions," said Mr Chen.

"Partnering with Foxconn allows BlackBerry to focus on what we do best - iconic design, world-class security, software development and enterprise mobility management - while simultaneously addressing fast-growing markets leveraging Foxconn's scale and efficiency that will allow us to compete more effectively."

Foxconn is the world's largest manufacturer of electronic products and components, and already has extensive links with Apple as the maker of the iPad and iPhone.

Meanwhile, Blackberry's quarterly results continue to underline the company's struggle to regain financial stability. Excluding the one-time items and writedowns, the loss was $354m.

Revenue fell to $1.19bn from $2.73bn as increased uncertainty about the company's fate led to further sales erosion.

A new line of devices that run on BlackBerry 10 software has failed to win back market share.

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'Angry' singer 'H' in Google row

20 December 2013 Last updated at 10:42 ET By Dave Lee Technology reporter, BBC News

Lawyers for Steps singer Ian "H" Watkins have approached Google after his image appeared next to stories about convicted paedophile Ian Watkins.

The "furious" singer's management said lawyers were "taking immediate steps to urgently rectify the position".

He was said to be "astonished" that his photo was still being linked to "the appalling crimes of the Lostprophets singer".

Google said it was looking into "layout" issues with its pages.

Mr Watkins won a court apology earlier this week after website E! Online used his picture on a story about the abuse case.

Unlike typical news websites, Google News is not managed by a human editor, instead using complex algorithms to determine the importance and relevance of stories posted on news websites around the world.

Google's algorithm appeared to be unable to differentiate between the two cases, taking a picture - from a BBC News article about the E! apology - and pairing it with a separate article by CBS News about the abuse.

A Google spokesman added: "For some specific searches Ian H Watkins' picture is appearing in our results because he is relevant to the story, having received a court apology.

Continue reading the main story

We are looking into the issue he raises"

End Quote Google spokesman

"We are looking into the issue he raises."

'Angry and upset'

"A publisher's intention is irrelevant to the question of liability for defamation," said Emma Woollcott, media lawyer at Mishcon de Reya.

"What matters is what the ordinary person would understand by what they read.

"If electronic algorithms connect two pieces of information and defamatory inferences arise, there may be potential for liability, even if the connection is inadvertent."

US-based CBS News, which incorrectly received criticism from several users on Twitter because of the mix-up, said it had never had an image of "H" in its system - and was therefore confident it had not made an error.

After being alerted to the problem by one of his fans, Ian 'H' Watkins tweeted angrily about the issue on Thursday, saying: "I can't actually tell you how angry and upset I am right now.... ;0("

He shared a screenshot showing the results of a search for "ian watkins cbs news".

Follow Dave Lee on Twitter @DaveLeeBBC

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Murdoch buys Irish social media firm

20 December 2013 Last updated at 12:32 ET

Rupert Murdoch's media company NewsCorp has bought Storyful, an Irish "social media news agency".

The Dublin-based firm has been acquired for $25 million (£15.3m).

Storyful specialises in licensing and distributing social media content to major news organisations such as the Wall Street Journal and BBC.

"We believe that journalism in the age of social media needs to be open, innovative and collaborative," Storyful founder Mark Little said.

Mr Little set up the company in 2010. He had previously been a presenter on Irish TV network RTE.

Storyful's business is in verifying online video authenticity, and also licenses usage rights to broadcasters for popular viral video.

The company will remain at its current location in Dublin, and will act as a standalone company.

Robert Thomson, chief executive of News Corp, added: "Storyful has become the village square for valuable video, using journalistic sensibility, integrity and creativity to find, authenticate and commercialise user-generated content."

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Copycat ransomware racks up victims

13 December 2013 Last updated at 08:02 ET

Malicious programs that demand a ransom to restore files that they have encrypted are starting to proliferate.

Security company IntelCrawler has discovered malware called Locker that demands $150 (£92) to restore files.

The cyber-thieves behind Locker were trying to emulate the success of CryptoLocker that has racked up thousands of victims this year.

However, IntelCrawler said, flaws in the malicious program suggest it might be easier to defeat than CryptoLocker.

IntelCrawler said it first saw "large-scale distribution" of several different versions of Locker early this month. So far, the malware has managed to snare people across the US, Europe and Russia. It is spread via infected files placed on compromised websites and through booby-trapped files disguised as MP3s.

Unscramble

Analysis by Andrey Komarov, of IntelCrawler, shows that when Locker infects a machine, it deletes files leaving only encrypted copies behind and also drops a small file containing a unique ID number and contact details for Locker's creators.

The file also warns that no key will be given to any victim who harasses or threatens the malware's creators.

Those who want to get their data back are encouraged to use the contact details and, once the ransom is paid, each victim gets a key to unscramble files.

However, help could be at hand for anyone hit by Locker, said Mr Komarov, as IntelCrawler had managed to penetrate the network the cyber-thieves were using to monitor victims. This helped the company extract the universal keys used to scramble target files.

"Our researchers are working on the universal decryption software in order to help the victims," said Mr Komarov.

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YouTube culls hundreds of game clips

12 December 2013 Last updated at 09:16 ET

Major games publishers have offered their support to fans who have had gameplay clips removed from YouTube due to "illegitimate" copyright claims.

Changes in the way Google-owned YouTube scans videos had caused a spike in clips being taken down.

But Capcom, Blizzard and Ubisoft all said they wanted footage of their games to remain online.

Gameplay videos are extremely popular on YouTube, with some channels having millions of subscribers.

The clips, which sometimes are more than an hour long, typically show an adept gamer playing portions of popular titles.

Technically, uploading footage is a breach of copyright. However, many publishers see the clips as a useful and effective means of promotion for their games. The creators of the videos sometimes use advertising to make money from their efforts.

Due to the sheer volume of clips uploaded, Google uses a system known as Content ID to seek out videos that contain copyrighted material.

"We recently enabled Content ID scanning on channels identified as affiliates of MCNs [Multi Channel Networks]," YouTube said.

"This has resulted in new copyright claims for some users, based on policies set by the relevant content owners."

The move has meant hundreds of gaming videos have been flagged in the past few days.

'Illegitimate flags'

But publishers worried about a potential backlash from vocal fans moved quickly to make it clear they had not been behind the spike in take-downs.

"If you're a YouTuber and are receiving content matches with the new changes, please be sure to contest them so we can quickly approve them," tweeted Blizzard, publisher of the Diablo series.

Capcom wrote: "YouTubers: Pls let us know if you've had videos flagged today. These may be illegitimate flags not instigated by us. We are investigating."

Ubisoft pointed out to users that take-down requests may be due to the music used in the clips, rather than the game footage.

"If you happen to be hit with claims on any of your Ubisoft content, it may be that some of the audio is being auto-matched against the music catalogue on our digital stores," the company explained in a statement.

Another developer, Deep Silver, also said it had not called for removal of footage.

Gameplay videos, and the legality of making them, has become an increasingly controversial issue between gamers and rights holders.

Earlier this year, Nintendo announced it would take a share of advertising revenue generated from gameplay clips - a decision described as "backwards" by some of the company's fans.

The company defended the move, saying it was necessary to ensure content could be shared across social media, and that the alternative was to block it altogether.

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Bots 'take up 61% of web traffic'

12 December 2013 Last updated at 08:42 ET By Leo Kelion Technology reporter

If you are visiting this page the chances are that you are not a human, at least according to research.

A study by Incapsula suggests 61.5% of all website traffic is now generated by bots. The security firm said that was a 21% rise on last year's figure of 51%.

Some of these automated software tools are malicious - stealing data or posting ads for scams in comment sections.

But the firm said the biggest growth in traffic was for "good" bots.

These are tools used by search engines to crawl websites in order to index their content, by analytics companies to provide feedback about how a site is performing, and by others to carry out other specific tasks - such as helping the Internet Archive preserve content before it is deleted.

Fuzzy data

To generate its report, Incapsula said it observed 1.45 billion bot visits over a 90 day period.

The information was sourced from 20,000 sites operated by its clients.

Dr Ian Brown, associate director at Oxford University's Cyber Security Centre - which was not involved in the study - said the figures were useful as an indication of the growth in non-human traffic, even if they were not accurate to the nearest decimal place.

"Their own customers may or may not be representative of the wider web," he told the BBC.

"There will also be some unavoidable fuzziness in their data, given that they are trying to measure malicious website visits where by definition the visitors are trying to disguise their origin."

Impersonator bots

Despite the overall growth in bot activity, the firm said that many of the traditional malicious uses of the tools had become less common.

It said there had been a 75% drop in the frequency spam links were being automatically posted. It suggested this was in part down to Google's efforts to make it harder to carry out the practice.

It also said it had seen a 10% drop in hacking tool bot activities, including the use of code to distribute malware, to steal credit cards and to hijack and deface websites

However, it noted that there had been an 8% rise in the use of "other impersonator bots" - a classification including software that masquerades as being from a search engine or other legitimate agent in order to fool security measures.

It said these bots tended to be custom-made to carry out a specific activity, such as a DDoS attack - forcing a server to crash taking a website or service offline by flooding it with traffic - or to steal company secrets.

Activity by "good bots", it added, had grown by 55% over the year. It suggested this might be because the legitimate services were sampling the net more frequently. This might, for example, allow a search engine to add breaking news stories to its results more quickly.

Dr Brown noted that these extra visits were likely to put website operators under more strain, meaning they would have to buy more computer servers to handle the extra traffic. But he played down the risk.

"While the trend will increase the costs of website operators, I think that, at this scale, it's something they can cope with," he added.

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Instagram adds direct messaging

12 December 2013 Last updated at 11:55 ET By Dave Lee Technology reporter, BBC News

Photo and video sharing app Instagram has added direct messaging to its service in a nod to the success of rivals such as Whatsapp and Snapchat.

Instagram Direct lets users send a picture or video to up to 15 people, without it appearing to the public.

Only someone a user "follows" on the service could send them a direct image, founder Kevin Systrom explained.

He dismissed suggestions that the app may soon add a Snapchat-style "disappearing" photograph option.

But the new Instagram features do borrow various popular aspects from its rival:

• images and video can be sent to individuals or a group
• the sender is notified when the content has been viewed
• small amounts of text can accompany the message

Only images and video from people a user already followed on Instagram would be automatically shown, Mr Systrom said, but other users could send content that would appear only when the recipient agreed to view them.

Continue reading the main story

More recent successes in the social networking space have been around private interaction"

End Quote Jack Kent Analyst

He added that Instagram would not monitor messages for explicit or offensive content - but that the usual reporting methods would apply to private messages as well as those shared publicly.

Mr Systrom did not elaborate on whether the feature would be used to deliver advertising directly to user's private inboxes.

IHS mobile analyst Jack Kent told the BBC that making money from the feature would be a secondary concern to Instagram - which is owned by Facebook - at this stage.

"When you look at Facebook's wider strategy with new services and features, the first goal isn't necessarily monetisation," he said.

"It's building on maintaining scale. With these new features, it's about maintaining and growing the audience."

Messenger threat

Instagram was bought last year by Facebook for $1bn (£629m), at a time when it shared only photographs, often with "artistic" filters applied.

Gradually, the app has grown - the most significant addition being the option to share 15-second video clips, emulating Twitter's short video service, Vine.

It has also added advertising into users' feeds.

But it is instant messaging that has Instagram and Facebook looking over their respective shoulders.

According to reports, one of the most popular apps, Whatsapp, has grown to boast 350 million active users worldwide - compared with Instagram's 150 million.

Other competitors, such as Viber and Kik, have also gained rapid popularity. Snapchat, an app in which messages "self destruct" after 15 seconds or less, reportedly turned down a $3bn takeover offer from Facebook.

Furthermore, some studies have suggested that teenagers are moving away from Facebook, frustrated that a social network that was once dominated by their peers now attracts their parents.

Mr Kent said Thursday's Instagram announcement was all about maintaining and growing an audience by incorporating features users are have started to use elsewhere.

"Instagram so far has been built on public profiles," he said. "But more recent successes in the social networking space have been around private interaction."

Twitter, which has had direct messaging since its inception, recently expanded its offering to allow the private sending of images and other media.

Follow Dave Lee on Twitter @DaveLeeBBC

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German 'porn users' told to pay up

12 December 2013 Last updated at 13:36 ET

Thousands of Germans are reported to have been sent letters asking them to pay a fee for porn they are alleged to have streamed illegally online.

Law firm Urmann (U+C) is acting on behalf of Swiss copyright protection firm the Archive, and is asking for one-off payments of 250 euros (£210).

It confirmed to the BBC that the letters have been sent but would not say how many.

A growing number of affected people are claiming to be wrongly accused.

According to a German news site, more than 10,000 people are affected.

The German case is one of the first to target people accused of streaming rather than downloading pornography.

In this case U+C is targeting users who, they claim, have viewed content from porn-streaming site Redtube.

The law firm was unwilling to speak about its work to the BBC. Neither was the Archive available for comment.

In a twist, its campaign appears to have been taken up by cybercriminals who are sending out fake emails purporting to come from U+C but containing malicious software.

It led the law firm to issue a warning on its website urging people not to open the emails.

"Fake warnings on behalf of U+C have been sent by email. This email does not come from the law firm. Warnings on behalf of our clients are shipped exclusively by mail," it said.

Real evidence

The practice of law firms pursuing alleged copyright infringers has become a growing concern in recent years.

"In previous cases like this, we've seen some people pushed into paying up when they may have done nothing wrong," said Peter Bradwell of the Open Rights Group.

"It can seem more expensive or embarrassing to challenge the accusation.

"If a company wants to write to people it claims have infringed their copyright, a court needs to at least make sure the evidence they have is of a high standard and that letters being sent are fair and easy to understand."

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Bitcoin start-up raises $25m funding

12 December 2013 Last updated at 22:54 ET

Coinbase, a start-up that lets people trade Bitcoins, has raised $25m (£15m) in venture capital funding - the largest by a Bitcoin start-up.

Bitcoin, a virtual currency, has been attracting a lot of interest and its value surpassed $1,000 recently.

Backers of the currency, which is not controlled by regulators, have been pushing for its increased usage.

Coinbase said it will use the funding to "educate the market, and promote the mainstream adoption of Bitcoin".

"We are nearing a tipping point for broad adoption of Bitcoin - what we at Coinbase believe to be one of the most important shifts in the global economy in our lifetime," the firm said in a blogpost.

Mixed response

Confidence in Bitcoins has grown after a US Senate committee described it as a "legitimate financial service" at a meeting in October.

However, on Friday, the European Banking Authority (EBA) warned about the potential risks of using Bitcoins.

Continue reading the main story

Bitcoin is often referred to as a new kind of currency.

But it may be best to think of its units being virtual tokens rather than physical coins or notes.

However, like all currencies its value is determined by how much people are willing to exchange it for.

To process Bitcoin transactions, a procedure called "mining" must take place, which involves a computer solving a difficult mathematical problem with a 64-digit solution.

For each problem solved, one block of bitcoins is processed. In addition the miner is rewarded with new bitcoins.

This provides an incentive for people to provide computer processing power to solve the problems.

To compensate for the growing power of computer chips, the difficulty of the puzzles is adjusted to ensure a steady stream of about 3,600 new bitcoins a day.

There are currently about 11 million bitcoins in existence.

To receive a bitcoin a user must have a Bitcoin address - a string of 27-34 letters and numbers - which acts as a kind of virtual postbox to and from which the bitcoins are sent.

Since there is no registry of these addresses, people can use them to protect their anonymity when making a transaction.

These addresses are in turn stored in Bitcoin wallets which are used to manage savings.

They operate like privately run bank accounts - with the proviso that if the data is lost, so are the bitcoins owned.

"In particular, consumers should be aware that exchange platforms tend to be unregulated and are not banks that hold their virtual currency as a deposit," the EBA said.

"Currently, no specific regulatory protections exist in the European Union that would protect consumers from financial losses if a platform that exchanges or holds virtual currencies fails or goes out of business."

China, the world's second largest economy, has also banned its banks from handling Bitcoin transactions, saying they had no legal status and should not be used as a currency.

At the same time, there have been concerns that the rise in Bitcoin's value has been triggered by speculators looking to cash in on its popularity.

Alan Greenspan, former US Federal Reserve chairman, has called the rapid rise a "bubble".

'Easier for consumers'

Despite these concerns, some establishments across the globe have started to accept Bitcoins as a form of payment, just like cash or credit cards.

Coinbase said the number of people who use its Bitcoin wallet had doubled to more than 600,000 in the past two months and almost 10,000 new people were signing up every day.

It said it was also working with 16,000 merchants to provide Bitcoin payments.

"We are making it easier for consumers to buy, merchants to sell, and developers to build," the firm said.

Chris Dixon, of venture capital fund Andreessen Horowitz - which led the Coinbase funding, said in a blogpost that the Bitcoin platform could be used to develop new technologies.

He said the potential applications of Bitcoins include "machine-to-machine payments to reduce spam" and offering "low-cost financial services to people who, because of financial or political constraints, don't have them today".

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Twitter scraps blocking changes

13 December 2013 Last updated at 02:34 ET

Twitter has reversed changes it made to how people block other users, less than a day after they were introduced.

The changes allowed blocked users to continue to see tweets and interact with accounts that had blocked them, leading to an outcry.

Twitter said it was reverting to old rules, under which users are not able to follow an account once blocked.

Blocking is used by people to stop trolls and rude online commentators from interacting with them.

"We have decided to revert the change after receiving feedback from many users - we never want to introduce features at the cost of users feeling less safe," Michael Sippey, Twitter's vice-president of product, said in a blogpost.

"Any blocks you had previously instituted are still in effect."

Continue reading the main story

Some users worry just as much about post-blocking retaliation as they do about pre-blocking abuse"

End Quote Michael Sippey Twitter

'Post-blocking retaliation'

There have been calls for Twitter to do more to counter cyberbullying following a number of high-profile cases of trolling, where users of the social networking site were bombarded with threats and abuse.

The firm recently introduced a "report Tweet" button to try to combat the problem.

Mr Sippey said that Twitter's initial decision to change the way blocking works was a further attempt to prevent abuse, by ensuring that users did not know they had been blocked by someone.

He said blocked users - and sometimes even their friends - often retaliated against the people who had blocked them, resulting in increased bullying.

"Some users worry just as much about post-blocking retaliation as they do about pre-blocking abuse," he explained.

He added that Twitter "will continue to explore features designed to protect users from abuse and prevent retaliation".

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