Apple to replace AT&T on Dow Jones

6 March 2015 Last updated at 16:42

Apple, the biggest US company by market value, will be included in the Dow Jones Industrial Average from 19 March.

It replaces AT&T, which first joined the US stock market barometer in 1916.

Despite being one of the most successful US firms, Apple was excluded from the Dow because its high stock price would have distorted the price-weighted index.

But a change in the structure of Visa shares, which is in the same sector, has made room for the iPhone maker.

Continue reading the main story

From 18 March, Visa shares will be split four-for-one, which reduces the weighting of the information technology sector in the overall index.

"As the largest corporation in the world and a leader in technology, Apple is the clear choice for the Dow Jones Industrial Average," said David Blitzer, chairman of the Index Committee at S&P Dow Jones Indices.

Apple's own seven-for-one stock split last June also helped pave the way for it to join the Dow Jones.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average is calculated by taking the sum of the share prices of its 30 stocks and dividing the total by a number known as the Dow Divisor.

The divisor is continually adjusted to accommodate structural changes to companies and to maintain continuity.

Dow Jones Fact File

• When Charles Dow launched the index in 1896 he said it was like putting sticks in the sand to measure the successive waves
• In 1933, at the height of the Great Depression, the Dow Jones enjoyed its best year, gaining 66%
• It experienced its worst year in 1931, when it dropped 52%
• The biggest one-day loss was on 19 October 1987, when it slid 22.6%
• The biggest one-day gain was on 15 March 1933, when it rose 15.3%
• Only two-thirds of the companies in the Industrial Average are industrial companies. The rest are financial, services and technology companies

Source: McGraw Hill Financial

As the Dow includes only 30 companies, critics argue it does not accurately reflect the broader market. The S&P index by contrast includes 500 stocks.

"This brings the Dow into reality and the 21st Century," said Richard Sichel, chief investment officer at Philadelphia Trust Co, referring to Apple's entry.

"It will make the Dow a more interesting index to watch, but also more volatile since it is replacing a nice, steady old name with an interesting and exciting tech and retail company."

All change

With a market value of around $736bn, Apple is the biggest US company measured by market capitalisation.

Since the launch of the iPhone in June 2007 its shares have risen 700%.

AT&T is worth $176.5bn and its exit from the Dow Industrials leaves Verizon as the only telecoms company on the index.

AT&T had an almost unbroken run on the Dow stock from 1916 with only a brief absence in 2004 to 2005.

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Amazon opens Alibaba shop in China

6 March 2015 Last updated at 11:52

Amazon, the US online retail giant, has opened another shop on rival Alibaba's Tmall marketplace in China.

Amazon is offering food, women's footwear, toys and kitchenware on the platform in an attempt to expand further into the huge Chinese market.

It launched a shop for its Kindle e-book reader on Tmall last year and has had an online presence in the country since 2011.

Tmall hosts nearly half of all Chinese business-to-consumer transactions.

"China's e-commerce industry is fast-growing and nobody wants to miss it," said Yang Xiao of e-commerce services provider HC International. "Amazon wants to add an additional distribution channel in China."

Tmall.com acts as a marketplace for online retailers and offers payment processing services for them as well. It does not sell its own products.

In 2004, Amazon bought Joyo.com, the Chinese books, music and video retailer, then rebranded the company as Amazon.cn in 2011.

But a presence on Tmall gives it a potentially valuable extra channel for reaching Chinese consumers.

Other Western retailers, such as Asos, Burberry and Inditex, which owns the Zara chain, have also set up shop on Tmall.

"We welcome Amazon to the Alibaba ecosystem and their presence will further broaden the selection of products and elevate the shopping experience for Chinese consumers on Tmall," an Alibaba spokeswoman said.

But in other areas Amazon and Alibaba are arch rivals.

This week, the Chinese online retail giant founded by Jack Ma, said it would open a data centre in Silicon Valley, further encroaching on Amazon's cloud computing business run by Amazon Web Services (AWS).

Alibaba's Aliyun division already competes with AWS in China and plans to offer cloud services to US firms.

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Facebook rant lands man in UAE jail

5 March 2015 Last updated at 13:06

An expat American has been arrested in the United Arab Emirates for comments he posted on Facebook while in the US.

Helicopter mechanic Ryan Pate wrote the Facebook post while in Florida after arguing with employer Global Aerospace Logistics (Gal) over sick leave.

On returning to Abu Dhabi from Florida, he was arrested for breaking the country's strict cyber-slander laws.

His trial is due to start on 17 March and he could face up to five years in jail and a large fine if found guilty.

Legal fee

Mr Pate's dispute with his employer began in December last year when he sought to extend his holiday to see a doctor about a long-standing back injury. After being told he could not extend his leave, Mr Pate posted a rant about the Abu Dhabi-based firm on his Facebook page.

In the post, Mr Pate called Gal "backstabbers" and warned other contractors about working for the firm. He also complained about life in the UAE and used a racial slur against the region's people.

He returned to Abu Dhabi in order to resign but soon after arriving he was called by police who told him to report to a nearby police station. On attending he was shown screenshots of the Facebook message and told his employer had filed charges accusing him of breaking wide-ranging Emirates laws that ban slander.

The laws were introduced in late 2012 and make it an offence to use the net to mock or deride organisations and individuals.

Analysis: Jonathan Frewin, BBC Middle East business correspondent 2012 - 2014

This is the latest in a series of difficult cases for UAE authorities following the introduction of the country's 2012 Cyber-crimes law.

One involved the detention of a man who had filmed and uploaded a video of an Emirati government official attacking an Indian van driver. The attacker faced a fine of up to 10,000 dirhams (£1,800) and a year in jail. The uploader, charged with defamation for sharing a video of the attack, faced a possible penalty of two years in jail, and a 20,000 dirhams (£3,600) fine.

And whilst in this case many in the west may be surprised to see that someone could face imprisonment for what might be regarded as innocuous comments on Facebook about an employer, in Gulf culture, protection of reputation is seen as paramount, and enshrined by tough laws.

Now it has garnered international attention though, this new case poses yet another potentially embarrassing headache for the UAE government. However, the resolution of the road rage incident may offer a model. All charges were dropped, whilst the attacker lost his job.

Although Mr Pate will no doubt hope that he avoids the fate of another American who was caught up in the UAE's cyber-crimes law. Shezanne Cassim was convicted of defamation and spent a year in jail, for uploading a satirical video to YouTube.

"I never even entertained the fact that I would wind up in prison out here for something I put on Facebook in the United States," said Mr Pate.

Gal has yet to respond to requests for comment about the incident.

However, news about Mr Pate's arrest has begun to spread online and some people have posted comments on Gal's Facebook page criticising the way it has treated him.

In addition, Mr Pate's cause has been taken up by his congressman David Jolly who has contacted the US State Department and the UAE attorney general seeking to get the case quashed.

"It is deeply troubling that Mr Pate now faces judicial proceedings over an action that was done legally in his home country," said Mr Jolly.

Mr Jolly is also pushing for a meeting with the US ambassador to the UAE to get help with the case. Mr Pate's fiancee has begun an online effort to raise funds to pay his legal fees.

The US State Department said the American embassy in the country has helped Mr Pate get medical attention and legal advice. Mr Pate was arrested on 16 February and spent about 10 days in jail. He has now been released on bail prior to the trial later this month.

"I just want to apologise to everybody I dragged into this," Mr Pate said in an interview with a US newspaper. "It is embarrassing, and I never meant for this to happen. I let my emotions get the better of me."

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Millions at risk from 'Freak' bug

6 March 2015 Last updated at 13:05

Microsoft has issued a security warning about a bug that could let attackers spy on supposedly secure communications.

Called "Freak", the bug was found in software used to encrypt data passing between web servers and web users.

Initially the flaw was thought only to affect some users of Android and Blackberry phones and Apple's Safari web browser.

Microsoft's warning suggests millions more may be at risk of losing data.

The Freak flaw was discovered by encryption and security expert Karthikeyan Bhargavan and lets attackers force data travelling between a vulnerable site and a visitor to use weak encryption. This makes it easier to crack open the data and steal sensitive information.

Statistics gathered by a group set up to monitor the impact of the Freak flaw suggest about 9.5% of the web's top one million websites are susceptible to such attacks.

The monitoring group has also produced an online tool that lets people check if they are using a browser that is vulnerable to the flaw.

Vulnerable

Apple is expected to produce a patch for the flaw next week and Google has updated its version of Chrome for the Mac to remove its susceptibility to Freak. It has yet to say what action it is taking with Android.

In a security advisory note released on 5 March, Microsoft said every current version of Windows that uses Internet Explorer, or any non-Microsoft software that calls on a part of Windows called Secure Channel, was vulnerable to the Freak flaw.

Microsoft has issued advice about ways to remove the vulnerability from some of its software but said applying these fixes could cause "serious problems" with other programs. It said it was working on a separate security update to remove the vulnerability.

In its advisory, Microsoft said it had not received any information that suggested the attack was being actively exploited by cybercriminals.

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UK 'needs action' on driverless cars

6 March 2015 Last updated at 02:59 By Tom Espiner Business reporter

The government needs to work out how driverless cars will be introduced onto UK roads, an influential group of MPs has said.

Liability for crashes and how drivers will be trained and licensed need to be looked at now, according to the Commons transport committee.

People also need to be reassured about safety, it added.

The Department for Transport (DfT) said safety was its "first priority" and it was "working closely with industry".

A mixture of driverless, semi-autonomous and manual cars could be on UK roads well within the next ten years, according to evidence heard by the committee.

Yet, conflicts such as who is legally responsible in the event of a driverless car crash have yet to be resolved, committee chair and Labour MP Louise Ellman told the BBC.

"Who is liable? Is it the manufacturer of the vehicle, or the technology in it? Is it the driver?" she said.

Practicalities

Tech giants such as Google and Apple are busy looking into driverless car technologies.

Companies such as Google aim to collect data about how people drive. Insurance firms are already doing so.

But the public needs to be reassured about practicalities such as the safety of driverless cars on roads, and how data collected from the cars will be used, she said.

Businesses will need to be given incentives such as tax breaks to prevent the UK lagging behind leading countries such as the US, Japan, China, and Germany, she added.

A DfT spokesman said: "Public safety is our first priority as we adapt to advances in motoring technology.

"We have a comprehensive approach to ensure the UK is at the cutting edge of developments."

The spokesperson said the department was "working closely with industry" to promote driverless car technology, and added that it had a road investment strategy which includes "a major expansion of smart motorway technology."

'Nightmare scenario'

AA president Edmund King said: "The report rightly points to potential problems of a transition period on the roads.

"There is a potential nightmare scenario whereby robotic driverless cars are fighting for space with cars with humans behind the wheel and indeed semi-autonomous cars with no-one totally in control.

"We really need a safe vision for the future whereby all vehicles and all road users can coexist in harmony.

"This vision will entail government, manufacturers, insurers and indeed drivers agreeing the way ahead."

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'Nearly 50,000' pro-IS Twitter feeds

6 March 2015 Last updated at 03:56

There are at least 46,000 Twitter accounts operating on behalf of Islamic State (IS), a new US study claims.

The actual number, identified in the final three months of 2014, is probably much higher, says the report, co-authored by the Brookings Institution.

It said typical IS supporters were located within the militants' territories in Iraq and Syria.

Three-quarters of them tweet in Arabic and about one-in-five use English. They have on average about 1,000 followers.

Islamic State has become well known for its use of social media, especially Twitter, to propagate its message.

The study, called The Isis Twitter Census, was written by JM Berger of Brookings and Jonathon Morgan, a technologist.

Jihadists will exploit any kind of technology that will work to their advantage, said Mr Berger, but IS is much more successful than other groups.

Most of these IS accounts were created in 2014, suggesting that the numbers are climbing very steeply, despite more than 1,000 IS-related accounts being shut down by Twitter in the final months of 2014.

Mr Berger's report put a maximum estimate of pro-IS accounts at 90,000 but concluded that the "best" estimate was 46,000.

Even that lower figure would put their reach into the millions, said Aaron Zelin, an expert on jihadist groups, and a fellow of the Washington Institute.

But it would also include multiple accounts held by any one individual, he warned, a practice aimed at combating account terminations.

The top Twitter feeds associated with Islamic State, he said, would disseminate the message of those at the top - the military operations, the organisation's activities and videos featuring everyday life under IS rule.

Below that, said Mr Zelin, you have people who are not directly connected to IS but who retweet its communications.

What you don't often find, he says, is evidence of direct recruitment of fighters.

"Recruitment is not overt on Twitter. Most of that happens on applications like Kik, WhatsApp and Skype, which are peer-to-peer. What they are doing publicly on Twitter is to draw people in."

Twitter can sometimes be used as an initial means of contact between a radicalised person and someone who could recruit them, says Mr Zelin, but the conversation would very quickly migrate to direct messages or other platforms.

Islamic State, he notes, has made social media a central part of its strategy, and the age of its supporters coincides directly with the young demographic that uses social media.

The threat of these new technologies in the hands of IS was this week underlined by the new US Pentagon chief, Ashton Carter.

"This is a social media-fuelled terrorism group in a way we haven't seen yet," he told senators in Washington.

"People who are very distant from any battlefield, from any experience of radicalism, are suddenly becoming enticed through social media."

Thousands of foreign fighters have joined the battlefields of Iraq and Syria, mostly from neighbouring countries in the Middle East.

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CBE for wind-up radio inventor

6 March 2015 Last updated at 15:12

The inventor of the wind-up radio says being appointed CBE by the Queen was "like catching up with an old mate".

Trevor Baylis, 77, who has fought for theft of ideas to be made a criminal offence, was honoured for services to intellectual property in a ceremony at Windsor Castle.

Also honoured was ex-Cheltenham Racecourse director Edward Gillespie, appointed OBE for services to racing.

Both were named among others in the 2015 New Year's Honours list.

Mr Baylis, from Twickenham, south-west London, is best-known for the Baygen clockwork radio, which he invented in 1991 while watching a documentary about Aids in Africa that proposed using educational radio programmes to tackle the virus's spread.

He was previously awarded the OBE for his radio design.

But he has said he received almost none of the profits because others took advantage of patent laws to sell versions of his invention.

He now advises inventors on developing their ideas, and campaigns to make theft of intellectual property a "white-collar crime".

Curriculum call

Speaking after the ceremony, he said: "I don't want people to think that inventors have to have a Viennese accent, broken glasses and have got to be a genius.

"We are all inventors, irrespective, and it should be part of the national curriculum. I am pushing and pushing so that kids have a good chance to bring their ideas to market.

"It is amazing how invention can change so many people's lives, both socially and commercially, but we should take them seriously.

"We must protect them. We want UK Plc to be behind them."

He also recounted the discussion he had with the Queen during the ceremony, about one of his radios.

"She said, 'I have still got one of your old radios, Trevor.' I said, 'Oh, I'm so pleased about that. Is it still working?' and she said, 'Yes.'"

Racecourse development

Mr Gillespie, 62, was Cheltenham director for 32 years until he stood down in 2012.

He said he was "extremely honoured, thrilled and pleased for the hundreds and thousands of people for whom Cheltenham is a massive part of their pleasure and leisure".

Speaking of his conversation with the Queen, he said: "She asked me whether I missed the race course, having been there for so long, and we had a brief conversation about the investment going on at the moment in the new grandstand being built, and happily the fact that her diary arrangements on Friday will hopefully allow her to watch the Gold Cup on television."

Also being honoured was Heather Shepherd, of the National Flood Forum, appointed MBE for services to the community, particularly those at risk of flooding.

Andrew Wallis, curator of the Guards Museum in London, was appointed MBE for services to the commemoration of national heritage and charity.

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Dozens arrested in cybercrime raids

6 March 2015 Last updated at 12:23

The UK's National Crime Agency has arrested 56 suspected hackers as part of a "strike week" against cybercrime.

In total, 25 separate operations were carried out across England, Scotland and Wales.

Those arrested are suspected of being involved in a wide variety of cybercrimes including data theft, fraud and virus writing.

One raid the BBC witnessed targeted a man suspected of involvement in a 2012 hack attack on web giant Yahoo.

Stolen data

The week-long series of operations was co-ordinated by the NCA's National Cyber Crime Unit (NCCU) as well as specialist officers from regional organised crime squads and the Metropolitan Police.

West Midlands police arrested a 23-year-old man in Sutton Coldfield who is believed to have been involved in breaking into the network of the US defence department in June 2014.

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Rory Cellan-Jones joined police on one of the cybercrime raids

The biggest operation saw the arrest of 25 people in London and Essex suspected of using the net to steal money, launder cash and carry out other frauds.

The hackers behind that attack stole contact information for about 800 people and data on the network's internal architecture was also pilfered.

Eyewitness: Rory Cellan-Jones, Technology correspondent

I was with one of the teams from the National Crime Agency as they carried out an arrest this week at a flat in north London. One group had tracked the suspect, a 21-year-old student, all the way back from university 40 minutes away.

The arrest had some of the drama of a classic police operation - "Go! Go! Go!" came the command over the walkie-talkie as we approached the suspect's flat. But no doors were kicked in, and there were no shouts of "You're nicked!" The priority was to make sure any computers were seized before they could be shut down or their data encrypted.

Teams arrived with equipment to gather data, and found a laptop and a desktop computer, both of them online. One officer was employed simply keeping her finger on the laptop's trackpad to make sure it didn't go to sleep. Later, police cyber-specialists would spend many hours examining exactly what was on the two computers.

The action also resulted in the arrest of people thought to be part of some well-known hacking groups.

In Leeds, a suspected member of the Lizard Squad group was arrested, and in London a 21-year-old man was taken into custody on suspicion of being part of the D33Ds Company hacking collective.

The D33Ds group is believed to have been behind a 2012 attack on Yahoo that stole more than 400,000 email addresses and passwords subsequently published online.

Phishing gangs

Investigations about suspects in Sutton Coldfield, Leeds and Willesden were aided by forensic information provided by the FBI.

The other actions targeted alleged phishing gangs, intellectual property thieves, users of financial malware, companies that offer hosting services to crime groups, and many people who took part in so-called DDoS [distributed denial of service] attacks in an attempt to knock websites offline.

One 21-year-old man from County Durham allegedly knocked out the Police Scotland website mounting such a DDoS attack.

"Criminals need to realise that committing crime online will not render them anonymous to law enforcement," said Andy Archibald, deputy director of the NCCU.

"It's imperative that we continue to work with partners to pursue and disrupt the major crime groups targeting the UK."

In addition, this week the NCA coordinated visits to 70 firms to inform them about how vulnerable their servers were to attack and how they could be used by cyberthieves to send out spam or act as proxies for other attacks.

The strike week also involved four forces setting up pop-up shops to give advice to the public about staying safe online and to get their devices checked to make sure they are free of malware and other digital threats.

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Smart meters energy scheme 'at risk'

7 March 2015 Last updated at 07:23

Plans to install energy saving smart meters in every UK home and business by 2020 are at risk of veering off track, an influential group of MPs has warned.

Smart meters could save about £17bn and put an end to estimated bills.

But the Energy and Climate Change Committee said a key piece of the £11bn programme's infrastructure was behind schedule.

The Department of Energy and Climate Change (DECC) said it had designed the scheme to maximise value for money.

The committee said the project was in danger of becoming a costly mistake, with a series of "technical, logistical and public communication issues" resulting in delays.

'Time running out'

The MPs said the government needed to get a firm grip on smart metering to avoid future embarrassment.

Committee chairman Tim Yeo said: "Time is running out on the government's plan to install smart meters in each of the UK's 30 million homes and businesses by 2020.

"Smart meters could generate more than £17bn in energy savings for the country yet a series of technical and other issues have resulted in delays to the planned roll-out."

He added: "This committee first looked at this programme in 2013, highlighting issues which we urged the government to address.

"While some progress has been made since then, it's not enough.

"The energy industry told us that it needs the government to enable industry wide solutions, rather than the less efficient alternative of letting each energy supplier develop its own solution."

'Steer industry'

Mr Yeo said the government was at a crossroads with its smart-metering policy.

"It can continue with its current approach and risk embarrassment through public disengagement on a flagship energy policy, or it can grip the reins, and steer the energy industry along a more successful path which brings huge benefits for the country," he said

Smart meters will eventually allow consumers to know exactly how much electricity each appliance uses, in order to encourage more efficiency.

Installing a smart meter will not cost consumers anything upfront and there will be no additional charges - although the costs of infrastructure like electricity meters are already incorporated into power bills, according to Smart Energy GB.

The DECC said one million consumers had already benefited from having a smart meter.

Claire Maugham, director of communications at smart meter advocacy group Smart Energy GB, told BBC Radio 5 live that the rollout of smart meters was "well underway" in the UK and the people who have them are "more confident in looking around for the right tariff and the right supplier... and they're much more happy with the whole experience of buying gas and electricity".

However, she said that the rollout of smart meters needed more independent oversight, and that people may need more support getting to grips with the technology once it is installed in their homes.

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Police mugshot files 'alarm' MPs

7 March 2015 Last updated at 01:51 By Kevin Rawlinson BBC News

MPs want stricter regulation of how police use biometric technologies.

The Commons Science and Technology Committee said it was "alarmed" that police in England and Wales had collected the mugshots of innocent and guilty people alike.

Last month, BBC Newsnight revealed police were holding 18 million images to use with facial recognition tech.

The government said the technology had an "important role" but images had to be used "in accordance with the law".

Committee chairman Andrew Miller said the MPs were not opposed to the use of biometric technologies to combat crime.

"But we were alarmed to discover that the police have begun uploading custody photographs of people to the Police National Database and using facial recognition software without any regulatory oversight - some of the people had not even been charged."

The MPs said there had been a "worrying" lack of government oversight and regulation of the use of biometrics by public bodies.

They highlighted a 2012 High Court ruling that the police's policy on retention of mugshots at that time was "unlawful" - but that nothing had changed as a result.

The MPs recommended that the police's maintenance of its database and associated use of facial recognition technology should be brought into the jurisdiction of the Biometrics Commissioner, Alastair MacGregor QC.

The commissioner has previously expressed concern about the implications of the police's system for privacy and civil liberties.

The committee also called on the government to open a public debate about how public bodies used biometric data.

It said it was "inexcusable" that a government report into the risks and benefits of using the data had not yet been published, despite being due in 2013.

According to campaign group Big Brother Watch, the committee's report highlights how the current use of biometrics could erode the public's "already fragile opinion of the technology".

A spokesman said: "It is unacceptable for innocent people to be treated in the same way as those who have been found to be guilty of a crime. [The police] database, as it stands, does just that.

"The fact that two years have passed since the retention of these photographs was ruled illegal and nothing has yet been done to rectify it, is totally unacceptable."

A BBC Newsnight report on 3 February revealed that the database maintained by forces in England and Wales included photos of people who had never been charged with a crime, as well as those of people acquitted.

The images were uploaded without Home Office approval, the programme reported.

'Intrusive technologies'

But privacy groups say the Home Office itself needs to do more to control surveillance.

Jim Killock, the executive director of the Open Rights Group, said: "It's incredibly easy for surveillance powers to grow just because technology gets easier.

"That's what the Home Office doesn't like to tell you when they demand new surveillance laws - intrusive technologies deliver more police powers all on their own. Surveillance needs regulating and oversight rather than extra help to grow."

His comments were echoed by Privacy International executive director Dr Gus Hosein.

Dr Hosein said people should assume the Home Office was "hoping that secret deployment of surveillance techniques will go unnoticed. Fortunately, on this occasion, Parliament is demanding more of them".

Mr Miller acknowledged that biometrics involved "risks and raise important ethical and legal questions relating to privacy and autonomy".

However, he insisted that they could play a key role in people's lives.

"As we struggle to remember ever more passwords and pin numbers in everyday life, the potential benefits of using biometric technologies to verify identity are obvious."

Lord Bates, the minister for criminal information, defended the use of mugshots and facial recognition technology, saying it played an "important role".

But, he said, the images should be used in accordance with the law.

He said the government needed to find a balance between public protection and civil liberties and said it was reviewing how police use custody images.

Ch Con Mike Barton, of the Association of Chief Police Officers, said that, while DNA and fingerprints were covered by existing legislation, the management of custody images was not.

"Police have used existing guidance on the 'Management of Police Information (MoPI)' to agree principles upon which we review, retain and delete these images. This varies dependent on factors such as age and the type of crime," he said.

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