Thursday 26 November 2009, 11:17 PM
Nasa hacker extradition to go ahead, minister says
Gary McKinnon's extradition to the US to face hacking charges is set to move forward, after home secretary Alan Johnson said he will not intervene.
McKinnon's supporters had asked the minister to halt the extradition on the grounds that it would be a breach of McKinnon's human rights. They argued that the move would be inhuman treatment under the European Convention, as the Londoner has been diagnosed with Asperger's Syndrome.
According to a report in the Daily Telegraph on Thursday, Johnson said he had carefully considered the fresh medical evidence presented to him, but had found that it was not "materially different" from that already considered by the high court and did not demonstrate a potential breach of McKinnon's human rights.
"As the courts have affirmed, I have no general discretion. If Mr McKinnon's human rights would be breached, I must stop the extradition. If they would not be breached, the extradition must go ahead," Johnson is quoted as saying.
The home secretary added that the US authorities had given him assurances that McKinnon's health and psychiatric needs would be met. He also said it was not likely that the hacker would be sent to a supermax prison.
McKinnon faces charges of hacking into US military computers, which could bring a sentence of up to 60 years.
McKinnon's mother, Janis Sharp, said in a Twitter post that her son's legal team will seek a judicial review of Johnson's decision within a week. She also expressed concern that the government might expedite the review to enable McKinnon to be sent to the US before Christmas.
McKinnon's supporters had asked the minister to halt the extradition on the grounds that it would be a breach of McKinnon's human rights. They argued that the move would be inhuman treatment under the European Convention, as the Londoner has been diagnosed with Asperger's Syndrome.
According to a report in the Daily Telegraph on Thursday, Johnson said he had carefully considered the fresh medical evidence presented to him, but had found that it was not "materially different" from that already considered by the high court and did not demonstrate a potential breach of McKinnon's human rights.
"As the courts have affirmed, I have no general discretion. If Mr McKinnon's human rights would be breached, I must stop the extradition. If they would not be breached, the extradition must go ahead," Johnson is quoted as saying.
The home secretary added that the US authorities had given him assurances that McKinnon's health and psychiatric needs would be met. He also said it was not likely that the hacker would be sent to a supermax prison.
McKinnon faces charges of hacking into US military computers, which could bring a sentence of up to 60 years.
McKinnon's mother, Janis Sharp, said in a Twitter post that her son's legal team will seek a judicial review of Johnson's decision within a week. She also expressed concern that the government might expedite the review to enable McKinnon to be sent to the US before Christmas.
Thursday 26 November 2009, 4:53 PM
Cosmic conundrum for Celtic computing
The BBC has a nice story for anyone who hopes that IT can bring economic benefits to disparate communities. Which it should, given that you can do anything online from anywhere on the planet - forcing people to huddle together is a relic of the industrial revolution.
The story, that Dumfries and Galloway council has given permission for "one of the biggest data centres in the world" to be built in south-west Scotland, is on the face of it all good news. There's not very much there at the moment - it's one of the UK's least populated areas - and if you're going to gobble electricity then you might as well do so in Scotland where the potential for non-carbon generation from hydroelectric, wind and wave power is top notich. And with sympathetic design and careful production, a data centre can be made to fit in wonderfully with landscape and environment.
But there are things you can't escape - extra infrastructure such as roads, car parks, shops and all the bits to keep humans mobile, warm, fed and happy. These need to be lit at night - and there's a lot of night in Scotland.
And that has implications. For Galloway has just become home to a Dark Sky Park, one of the very few in the world - places where light pollution is so low, the sky at night is displayed in its unblemished splendour. (I must admit to a personal bias here - I spent a few nights earlier this year at the Galloway Astronomy Centre, home of the biggest publicly accessible telescope in Scotland, and saw things you people would not believe. Seriously. How about a constellation of spy satellites, wider than the full moon, moving in perfect formation from horizon to horizon in a couple of minutes? Or a globular cluster of thousands of stars, filling the field of view like so much spilled salt?)
It's not as bad as it might be - the Dark Sky Park is quite far from the site of the new data centre, and a plan to build 750 houses was junked. But light pollution is visible over a very wide area: it's not just that the park is dark, it's that the areas around are dark, too.
So, one hopes very much that the approval for the new centre includes provision for proper assessment of the light pollution and, if necessary, a requirement to minimise it. For it is perfectly possible to design low-impact public lighting without imposing Blitz-level blackouts: it's just that, until recently, nobody ever thought they should. Lighting can be effective and economic and not spill half its photons into the sky where they do no good and lots of harm.
The story, that Dumfries and Galloway council has given permission for "one of the biggest data centres in the world" to be built in south-west Scotland, is on the face of it all good news. There's not very much there at the moment - it's one of the UK's least populated areas - and if you're going to gobble electricity then you might as well do so in Scotland where the potential for non-carbon generation from hydroelectric, wind and wave power is top notich. And with sympathetic design and careful production, a data centre can be made to fit in wonderfully with landscape and environment.
But there are things you can't escape - extra infrastructure such as roads, car parks, shops and all the bits to keep humans mobile, warm, fed and happy. These need to be lit at night - and there's a lot of night in Scotland.
And that has implications. For Galloway has just become home to a Dark Sky Park, one of the very few in the world - places where light pollution is so low, the sky at night is displayed in its unblemished splendour. (I must admit to a personal bias here - I spent a few nights earlier this year at the Galloway Astronomy Centre, home of the biggest publicly accessible telescope in Scotland, and saw things you people would not believe. Seriously. How about a constellation of spy satellites, wider than the full moon, moving in perfect formation from horizon to horizon in a couple of minutes? Or a globular cluster of thousands of stars, filling the field of view like so much spilled salt?)
It's not as bad as it might be - the Dark Sky Park is quite far from the site of the new data centre, and a plan to build 750 houses was junked. But light pollution is visible over a very wide area: it's not just that the park is dark, it's that the areas around are dark, too.
So, one hopes very much that the approval for the new centre includes provision for proper assessment of the light pollution and, if necessary, a requirement to minimise it. For it is perfectly possible to design low-impact public lighting without imposing Blitz-level blackouts: it's just that, until recently, nobody ever thought they should. Lighting can be effective and economic and not spill half its photons into the sky where they do no good and lots of harm.
Wednesday 25 November 2009, 5:37 PM
Opera censors Chinese content
Opera has updated the Chinese version of its mobile browser to stop users accessing restricted content.
Opera Mini was updated on Friday from an international to a Chinese version, the BBC reported on Tuesday. This version no longer allows users to access Facebook, the BBC said.
Previously Opera Mini had run on Opera servers located outside the country, bypassing the Great Firewall of China, the BBC added.
Opera joins other search companies in censoring Chinese content. Microsoft's Bing censors Chinese search results even outside of China, according to Ars Technica, while Google set up Google.cn in 2006 partly to censor itself on behalf of the Chinese government, the BBC reported.
Opera Mini was updated on Friday from an international to a Chinese version, the BBC reported on Tuesday. This version no longer allows users to access Facebook, the BBC said.
Previously Opera Mini had run on Opera servers located outside the country, bypassing the Great Firewall of China, the BBC added.
Opera joins other search companies in censoring Chinese content. Microsoft's Bing censors Chinese search results even outside of China, according to Ars Technica, while Google set up Google.cn in 2006 partly to censor itself on behalf of the Chinese government, the BBC reported.
Tuesday 24 November 2009, 5:23 PM
Symantec website breached
Security company Symantec has said that one of its websites was successfully breached.
Romanian security researcher 'Unu' posted details of the breach in a blog post on Monday.
Unu claimed to have cracked the Symantec server using a blind SQL injection attack, and to have accessed customer information and passwords.
Symantec on Tuesday confirmed the crack.
"A SQL injection vulnerability was identified at pcd.symantec.com," said the company in a statement. "Symantec has remediated the website vulnerability, resulting in little to no customer impact. The website facilitates customer support for users of Symantec's Norton-branded products in Japan and South Korea only. This incident did not affect Symantec customers anywhere else in the world. The incident pertained only to customer support in Japan and South Korea and did not affect the safety and usage of Symantec's Norton-branded consumer products at all. Symantec is still investigating the incident has no further details to share at this time."
Romanian security researcher 'Unu' posted details of the breach in a blog post on Monday.
Unu claimed to have cracked the Symantec server using a blind SQL injection attack, and to have accessed customer information and passwords.
Symantec on Tuesday confirmed the crack.
"A SQL injection vulnerability was identified at pcd.symantec.com," said the company in a statement. "Symantec has remediated the website vulnerability, resulting in little to no customer impact. The website facilitates customer support for users of Symantec's Norton-branded products in Japan and South Korea only. This incident did not affect Symantec customers anywhere else in the world. The incident pertained only to customer support in Japan and South Korea and did not affect the safety and usage of Symantec's Norton-branded consumer products at all. Symantec is still investigating the incident has no further details to share at this time."
Monday 23 November 2009, 1:15 PM
Campaigners criticise '£10bn NHS IT overspend'
The National Health Service's flagship IT project has been criticised by a tax campaign group for running billions of pounds over budget.
The NHS National Programme for IT (NPfIT) has overspent by £10.4bn, the Taxpayers' Alliance said in a statement on Friday.
"These [government] projects are so poorly planned at the outset," Taxpayers' Alliance policy analyst John O'Connell told ZDNet UK on Friday. "NPfIT costs have spiralled out of control."
O'Connell said that the original government costing for NPfIT had been £2.3bn, but that this figure subsequently ballooned to over £12.5bn in a 2008.
A spokesperson for Connecting for Health, which administrates NPfIT, told ZDNet UK on Friday that the £2.3bn figure had originally been put forward in 2002 as projected costs over three years.
The spokesperson added that the Taypayer's Alliance had been "incorrect to pull that figure of £2.3bn out and say that was the projected cost of the entire programme."
However, when NPfIT was first started in 2002, ZDNet UK has found there were no public projected cost figures for the programme.
The Connecting for Health spokesperson told ZDNet UK on Friday that £2.3bn over three years was first put forward in the Comprehensive Spending Review (CSR) for 2002. This is not correct. CSR 2002 makes no mention of this figure.
When challenged by ZDNet UK to give documentary evidence that the £2.3bn figure was for three years, the spokesperson pointed to a document from February 2004. Aside from being two years after NPfIT started, this document, New NHS IT, states that the £2.3bn was over the first three years, but makes no reference to any government documents from 2002, apart from the 2002 Wanless report, which recommended a doubling of NHS IT funding at the time.
E-Health Insider reported in January 2003 that the £2.3bn was for the first three years of the project, calling the news "long-awaited official confirmation" of the figure.
The NHS National Programme for IT (NPfIT) has overspent by £10.4bn, the Taxpayers' Alliance said in a statement on Friday.
"These [government] projects are so poorly planned at the outset," Taxpayers' Alliance policy analyst John O'Connell told ZDNet UK on Friday. "NPfIT costs have spiralled out of control."
O'Connell said that the original government costing for NPfIT had been £2.3bn, but that this figure subsequently ballooned to over £12.5bn in a 2008.
A spokesperson for Connecting for Health, which administrates NPfIT, told ZDNet UK on Friday that the £2.3bn figure had originally been put forward in 2002 as projected costs over three years.
The spokesperson added that the Taypayer's Alliance had been "incorrect to pull that figure of £2.3bn out and say that was the projected cost of the entire programme."
However, when NPfIT was first started in 2002, ZDNet UK has found there were no public projected cost figures for the programme.
The Connecting for Health spokesperson told ZDNet UK on Friday that £2.3bn over three years was first put forward in the Comprehensive Spending Review (CSR) for 2002. This is not correct. CSR 2002 makes no mention of this figure.
When challenged by ZDNet UK to give documentary evidence that the £2.3bn figure was for three years, the spokesperson pointed to a document from February 2004. Aside from being two years after NPfIT started, this document, New NHS IT, states that the £2.3bn was over the first three years, but makes no reference to any government documents from 2002, apart from the 2002 Wanless report, which recommended a doubling of NHS IT funding at the time.
E-Health Insider reported in January 2003 that the £2.3bn was for the first three years of the project, calling the news "long-awaited official confirmation" of the figure.
Saturday 21 November 2009, 12:03 AM
Large Hadron Collider up and running again
The world's biggest particle accelerator, the Large Hadron Collider, is in operation again after more than a year of repairs.
The European Organisation for Nuclear Research, Cern, said in a statement on Friday that particle beams are once again circulating in the LHC, and that a clockwise circulating beam was established at 10 PM local time.
According to the Cern Twitter feed, an anticlockwise beam was also successfully injected, and both beams have completed many thousands of turns of the LHC.
"The LHC is up and running regularly. Operators are adjusting and testing obedient beams," according to the Cern Twitter feed.
The particle accelerator, which is in an underground location spanning the French-Swiss border, was started up for the first time in September 2008. However, it was decommissioned after only nine days in operation because a fault in a copper splice caused an explosion. Since then, Cern has been working to investigate, repair and eliminate the fault, and to get the LHC cooled to operational temperatures.
"The LHC is a far better understood machine than it was a year ago," said Cerns director for accelerators, Steve Myers, in the statement. "We've learned from our experience, and engineered the technology that allows us to move on."
The aim of the LHC, which has taken 15 years and 10bn to build, is to conduct particle collision experiments that could shed light on fundamental questions about the origins and nature of the universe.
The European Organisation for Nuclear Research, Cern, said in a statement on Friday that particle beams are once again circulating in the LHC, and that a clockwise circulating beam was established at 10 PM local time.
According to the Cern Twitter feed, an anticlockwise beam was also successfully injected, and both beams have completed many thousands of turns of the LHC.
"The LHC is up and running regularly. Operators are adjusting and testing obedient beams," according to the Cern Twitter feed.
The particle accelerator, which is in an underground location spanning the French-Swiss border, was started up for the first time in September 2008. However, it was decommissioned after only nine days in operation because a fault in a copper splice caused an explosion. Since then, Cern has been working to investigate, repair and eliminate the fault, and to get the LHC cooled to operational temperatures.
"The LHC is a far better understood machine than it was a year ago," said Cerns director for accelerators, Steve Myers, in the statement. "We've learned from our experience, and engineered the technology that allows us to move on."
The aim of the LHC, which has taken 15 years and 10bn to build, is to conduct particle collision experiments that could shed light on fundamental questions about the origins and nature of the universe.
Friday 20 November 2009, 5:12 PM
Climate research centre compromised
One of the UK's leading climate change research centres has had a security breach.
The Climate Research Unit at the University of East Anglia (UEA) suffered a compromise of information, a UEA spokesperson said on Friday.
"We are aware that information from a server used for research information in one area of the university has been made available on public websites," said the spokesperson in a statement. "Because of the volume of this information we cannot currently confirm that all of this material is genuine."
"This information has been obtained and published without our permission and we took immediate action to remove the server in question from operation," the spokesperson continued.
"We are undertaking a thorough internal investigation and we have involved the police in this enquiry."
At the time of writing, the UAE spokesperson declined to comment further. It was unclear whether the breach was internal or external.
Professor Phil Jones, who is involved with climate research at the facility, was not available for comment at the time of writing.
Sophos senior technology consultant Graham Cluley blogged on Friday that details of over 1000 emails and 3800 documents were leaked onto a Russian FTP server:
"A 61MB zip file containing information stolen from one of the world's leading climate research centres, was posted onto an anonymous FTP server in Russia, accompanied by a note saying:
'We feel that climate science is, in the current situation, too important to be kept under wraps'," wrote Cluley.
The Climate Research Unit at the University of East Anglia (UEA) suffered a compromise of information, a UEA spokesperson said on Friday.
"We are aware that information from a server used for research information in one area of the university has been made available on public websites," said the spokesperson in a statement. "Because of the volume of this information we cannot currently confirm that all of this material is genuine."
"This information has been obtained and published without our permission and we took immediate action to remove the server in question from operation," the spokesperson continued.
"We are undertaking a thorough internal investigation and we have involved the police in this enquiry."
At the time of writing, the UAE spokesperson declined to comment further. It was unclear whether the breach was internal or external.
Professor Phil Jones, who is involved with climate research at the facility, was not available for comment at the time of writing.
Sophos senior technology consultant Graham Cluley blogged on Friday that details of over 1000 emails and 3800 documents were leaked onto a Russian FTP server:
"A 61MB zip file containing information stolen from one of the world's leading climate research centres, was posted onto an anonymous FTP server in Russia, accompanied by a note saying:
'We feel that climate science is, in the current situation, too important to be kept under wraps'," wrote Cluley.
Thursday 19 November 2009, 5:01 PM
Reports: Mandelson to create file-sharing offence
The government intends to create a new offence of downloading copyrighted material without consent, according to reports that refer to a letter sent by business secretary Lord Mandelson to the leader of the House, Harriet Harman.
The news of the proposed statutory amendment to the 1988 Copyright, Designs and Patents Act a technique that would allow the change to be pushed through without debate came ahead of Friday's publication of the Digital Economy Bill, which is expected to make it possible to disconnect unlawful file-sharers.
The Guardian reported late on Thursday that:
The proposed alteration to the Copyright Act would create a new offence of downloading material that infringes copyright laws, as well as giving new powers or rights to "protect" rights holders such as record companies and movie studios and, controversially, conferring powers on "any person as may be specified" to help cut down online infringement of copyright.
The changes proposed seem small but are enormously wideranging, given both the breadth of even minor copyright infringement online, where photographs and text are copied with little regard to ownership, and the complexity of ownership.
On Boing Boing, Cory Doctorow wrote that he had been passed the letter from someone close to the government. He said the changes would allow the secretary of state to unilaterally create jail terms for unlawful file-sharers, and allow rights holders music companies and film studios, among others to force ISPs to turn over their customers' personal details.
Both Boing Boing and The Guardian noted that Mandelson was concerned about file transfer sites such as YouSendIt, which are generally used for privately passing large files between users. According to the reports, Mandelson wants such services to be unable to keep transfers private.
ZDNet UK has asked Mandelson's Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS) for confirmation that the letter has been correctly described in reports, but had received no comment at the time of writing.
Open Rights Group head Jim Killock told ZDNet UK on Thursday that the leaked details "should make people angry".
"We're extremely disturbed by what we're reading and we want clarification as quickly as possible to understand exactly what's being proposed," Killock said. "It's very clear that Mandelson's instincts on how to deal with copyright in the digital age are not very good. People should be concerned and should be writing to their MPs now."
Killock said that file-sharers should be "persuaded, not bullied, into changing their habits".
Meanwhile, Thursday's reports have prompted an outpouring of anger on Twitter grouped under the subject #webwar that could see a march on Parliament in protest at Lord Mandelson's proposed changes.
The news of the proposed statutory amendment to the 1988 Copyright, Designs and Patents Act a technique that would allow the change to be pushed through without debate came ahead of Friday's publication of the Digital Economy Bill, which is expected to make it possible to disconnect unlawful file-sharers.
The Guardian reported late on Thursday that:
The proposed alteration to the Copyright Act would create a new offence of downloading material that infringes copyright laws, as well as giving new powers or rights to "protect" rights holders such as record companies and movie studios and, controversially, conferring powers on "any person as may be specified" to help cut down online infringement of copyright.
The changes proposed seem small but are enormously wideranging, given both the breadth of even minor copyright infringement online, where photographs and text are copied with little regard to ownership, and the complexity of ownership.
On Boing Boing, Cory Doctorow wrote that he had been passed the letter from someone close to the government. He said the changes would allow the secretary of state to unilaterally create jail terms for unlawful file-sharers, and allow rights holders music companies and film studios, among others to force ISPs to turn over their customers' personal details.
Both Boing Boing and The Guardian noted that Mandelson was concerned about file transfer sites such as YouSendIt, which are generally used for privately passing large files between users. According to the reports, Mandelson wants such services to be unable to keep transfers private.
ZDNet UK has asked Mandelson's Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS) for confirmation that the letter has been correctly described in reports, but had received no comment at the time of writing.
Open Rights Group head Jim Killock told ZDNet UK on Thursday that the leaked details "should make people angry".
"We're extremely disturbed by what we're reading and we want clarification as quickly as possible to understand exactly what's being proposed," Killock said. "It's very clear that Mandelson's instincts on how to deal with copyright in the digital age are not very good. People should be concerned and should be writing to their MPs now."
Killock said that file-sharers should be "persuaded, not bullied, into changing their habits".
Meanwhile, Thursday's reports have prompted an outpouring of anger on Twitter grouped under the subject #webwar that could see a march on Parliament in protest at Lord Mandelson's proposed changes.
Thursday 19 November 2009, 12:55 PM
Ion-toting Eee 1201N to hit UK in January
Asus has confirmed its long-rumoured Eee PC 1201N, the first in the company's line of netbooks to use Nvidia's Ion graphics platform.
The 1201N will also be one of the first netbooks to include Intel's new dual-core Atom 330, which should boost the processing power of small, cheap subnotebooks.
An Asus spokesman told ZDNet UK on Thursday that an official UK announcement regarding the 1201N would be made within the next day or so, while the exact release date, specification and pricing is worked out.
However, the spokesman said, the netbook would definitely launch in "early to mid January". Although the precise UK spec is yet to be finalised, the spokesman said, confirmed features include a 12-inch screen, HDMI output and 2GB of RAM.
Ion is a platform that combines Intel's Atom processor with Nvidia's graphics processor, so as to make it possible to run high-definition graphical content smoothly on low-powered systems.
The 1201N will also be one of the first netbooks to include Intel's new dual-core Atom 330, which should boost the processing power of small, cheap subnotebooks.
An Asus spokesman told ZDNet UK on Thursday that an official UK announcement regarding the 1201N would be made within the next day or so, while the exact release date, specification and pricing is worked out.
However, the spokesman said, the netbook would definitely launch in "early to mid January". Although the precise UK spec is yet to be finalised, the spokesman said, confirmed features include a 12-inch screen, HDMI output and 2GB of RAM.
Ion is a platform that combines Intel's Atom processor with Nvidia's graphics processor, so as to make it possible to run high-definition graphical content smoothly on low-powered systems.
Thursday 19 November 2009, 11:44 AM
YouTube UK launches full-length TV shows
YouTube, Google's main online video repository, has made full-length episodes of shows such as The IT Crowd and Who's Line Is It Anyway? available to UK viewers.
YouTube's Shows section was launched on Thursday. According to a statement from YouTube, the section is already populated with around 5,000 videos from more than 60 partners, including Channel 4's 4oD service, ITN and al-Jazeera.
"The YouTube community has always enjoyed the vibrant range of video on the site, from amateur make-up videos to professional TV highlights and everything inbetween," YouTube director of video partnerships Patrick Walker said in the statement.
"The Shows section of the site will make it easier for users to discover videos from the biggest names in British broadcasting, and help our content partners reach new audiences and generate new revenues."
YouTube's Shows section was launched on Thursday. According to a statement from YouTube, the section is already populated with around 5,000 videos from more than 60 partners, including Channel 4's 4oD service, ITN and al-Jazeera.
"The YouTube community has always enjoyed the vibrant range of video on the site, from amateur make-up videos to professional TV highlights and everything inbetween," YouTube director of video partnerships Patrick Walker said in the statement.
"The Shows section of the site will make it easier for users to discover videos from the biggest names in British broadcasting, and help our content partners reach new audiences and generate new revenues."
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