Europe plans to end mobile phone roaming charges

BBC News, 11 September 2013

Roaming charges can result in huge phone bills while abroad

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The European Commission is proposing to scrap mobile phone roaming charges across Europe as part of a raft of measures to reform the telecoms market.

The Commission described the reforms as "the most ambitious plan in 26 years of telecoms market reform".

It said the measures will reduce consumer charges and simplify red tape for mobile companies.

The proposals must be approved by the 28 EU members and European lawmakers before they can be put into effect.

Analysts say Europe is falling behind in broadband infrastructure, while telecoms companies struggle with declining revenues.

Under the plans, companies would be banned from charging for incoming calls from July 2014. All other roaming charges would be scrapped by 2016.

Mobile providers will then either have to charge customers the same prices for phone calls across the EU, or allow them to switch providers for the period they are abroad, without changing their Sim card.

'Full and fair access'

European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso said the proposed reforms were good for both customers and operators.

"Further substantial progress towards a European single market for telecoms is essential for Europe's strategic interests and economic progress," he said.

"For the telecoms sector itself and for citizens who are frustrated that they do not have full and fair access to internet and mobile services."

The plan also includes measures to harmonise regulation across all 28 EU member states.

The Commission said that currently the industry still operates on the basis of 28 national markets, rather than one unified market, meaning customers and companies face differing prices and rules.

But under the new proposals, companies will need one authorisation to operate in all countries, rather than 28 separate ones.

Harmonisations across countries will also increase certainty for stakeholders, encouraging more investment in mobile networks, the Commission said.

There are also plans for improved consumer rights, including the right to a 12-month contract, rather than longer terms, and to more consumer friendly, jargon-free contracts.

Customers should also have the right to walk away from contracts if they are not given the internet speeds promised in their contracts.

Saudi bans 'terrorist' propaganda on Internet

Google – AFP, 9 Sep 2013

Saudi internet surfers check their twitter accounts at a coffee shop in

Riyadh on February 9, 2012 (AFP/File, Fayez Nureldine)

RIYADH — Saudi Arabia said Monday it will outlaw the dissemination of information on the Internet for the benefit of "terrorist" groups, in line with a decision taken by Gulf Arab monarchies.

The official SPA news agency said the cabinet approved the "unified legislation against cybercrime," which the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) adopted in December.

The legislation targets those who "create sites and publish information on the Internet or a computer network for the benefit of a terrorist group to enable contacts among its leaders or its members, to promote its views or funding," said the agency.

It also prohibits "the dissemination of ideas that could affect public order or morality," said SPA, without providing further details.

Most members of the six-nation GCC -- Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates -- have tightened their laws against cybercrime in recent years.

Dutch media set up their own website for whistleblowers

DutchNews.nl, Monday 09 September 2013

Dutch national newspapers, broadcasters and news agencies have set up their own website for whistleblowers 'to make contact with the press in a secure environment'.

The Publeaks website will make it possible for people to leak protected documents to the press anonymously, the initiators said in a statement.

'The initiative is designed to protect whistleblowers, shed light on wrongdoings and encourage and support investigative journalism,' the initiators say in a press release.

Publeaks is based on the GlobaLeaks software package developed by the Hermes Center for Transparency and Digital Human Rights. The Publeaks organisation says it has no access to the leaked files, does not publish anything itself and has no means of identifying the informant.

The initiators include Nos, news agency ANP, website nu.nl, Pownews and all main newspapers apart from the Telegraaf. Users can tick which media source they would like to have access to their leaked documents.

NSA can reportedly access iPhone, Android and BlackBerry data

Deutsche Welle, 8 Sep 2013

The US National Security Agency has the ability to access data from iPhone, Android and BlackBerry devices, according to a German magazine. Smart phone content from emails to text messages has reportedly been monitored.

The NSA can access smart phone data including contacts, SMS traffic, notes and user location information, Der Spiegel reported Saturday, citing top secret agency documents seen by the newsmagazine.

Der Spiegel cited documents where experts boast about instances where the NSA can access a computer used by a person to synch their iPhone. Mini-programs, called "scripts," then allow at least 38 additional iPhone features to be accessed.

The NSA appears to also have had success accessing BlackBerry data, according to Der Spiegel. One internal document from 2009 said the agency can "see and read SMS traffic." When the company began changing the way it compressed data it temporarily made access to the information more difficult.

"But in March 2010, the department responsible declared it had regained access to BlackBerry data and celebrated with the word, 'champagne,'" Der Spiegel reported.

The documents seen by the newsmagazine also state the NSA has successfully accessed BlackBerry email data, a system previously thought to be very secure.

When questioned by Der Spiegel, BlackBerry officials said: "It is not for us to comment on the media reports regarding alleged government surveillance of telecommunications traffic."

The Canadian company stressed that it had not created a "'back door' pipeline to our platform."

Der Spiegel said the NSA documents indicated the smart phone snooping was not a mass-collection effort but rather targeted spying done without the knowledge of the phone manufacturers.

dr/av (AFP, dpa, Reuters)

Snowden leaks: US and UK 'crack online encryption'

BBC News, 6 September 2013

A man types on a computer keyboard in Warsaw in this
February 2013 illustration file picture

US spy leaks

• UK terror laws: Schedule 7
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US and UK intelligence have reportedly cracked technology used to encrypt internet services such as online banking, medical records and email.

Disclosures by leaker Edward Snowden allege the US National Security Agency (NSA) and the UK's GCHQ are hacking key online security protocols.

The encryption techniques targeted are used by popular internet services such as Google, Facebook and Yahoo.

The NSA is said to spend $250m (£160m) a year on the top secret program.

It is codenamed Bullrun, an American civil war battle, according to the documents published by the Guardian in conjunction with the New York Times and ProPublica.

The British counterpart program is called Edgehill, after the first major engagement of the English civil war, say the documents.

'Behind-the-scenes persuasion'

The reports say the UK and US intelligence agencies are focusing on the encryption used in 4G smartphones, email, online shopping and remote business communication networks.

US leaker Edward Snowden has
been granted asylum in Russia

Under Bullrun, it is said that the NSA has built powerful supercomputers to try to crack the technology that scrambles and encrypts personal information when internet users log on to access various services.

The NSA also collaborated with unnamed technology companies to build so-called back doors into their software - something that would give the government access to information before it is encrypted and sent over the internet, it is reported.

As well as supercomputers, methods used include "technical trickery, court orders and behind-the-scenes persuasion to undermine the major tools protecting the privacy of everyday communications", the New York Times reports.

The US reportedly began investing billions of dollars in the program in 2000 after its initial efforts to install a "back door" in all encryption systems were thwarted.

'Gobsmacked'

During the next decade, it is said the NSA employed code-breaking computers and began collaborating with technology companies at home and abroad to build entry points into their products.

The documents provided to the Guardian by Mr Snowden do not specify which companies participated.

The NSA also hacked into computers to capture messages prior to encryption, and used broad influence to introduce weaknesses into encryption standards followed by software developers the world over, the New York Times reports.

When British analysts were first told of the extent of the program they were "gobsmacked", according to one memo among more than 50,000 documents shared by the Guardian.

NSA officials continue to defend the agency's actions, claiming it will put the US at considerable risk if messages from terrorists and spies cannot be deciphered.

But some experts argue that such efforts could actually undermine national security, noting that any back doors inserted into encryption programs can be exploited by those outside the government.

It is the latest in a series of intelligence leaks by Mr Snowden, a former NSA contractor, who began providing caches of sensitive government documents to media outlets in June.

Mr Snowden, whom the US wants to extradite, has been granted temporary asylum in Russia.

A smartphone solution for sore eyes in Kenya

Google – AFP, Irene Wairimu (AFP), 4 Sep 2013

A man is being tested near Kenya's lakeside town of Naivasha,

on August 28, 2013 (AFP/File, Tony Karumba)

NAIVASHA, Kenya — Simon Kamau, 26, has been in almost constant pain since he was a playful three-year-old and accidentally pierced his eye with a sharp object, but smartphone technology now offers hope.

His family live in an impoverished part of rural Naivasha in Kenya's Rift Valley region and could not afford the 80-kilometre (50-mile) journey to the nearest specialist hospital, leaving the young Kamau blind in one eye ever since.

Today, 23 years later, Kamau has a chance to better his quality of life thanks to a team of doctors from the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine armed with an innovative, low cost, smartphone solution.

"Kenya was a natural test location," the project's team leader, Dr Andrew Bastawrous, told AFP. "For a country with a population of more than 40 million, there are only 86 qualified eye doctors, 43 of whom are operating in the capital Nairobi."

Mary Wambui (R) is being tested with a

 smartphone visual-test application, in 

Kianjokoma village, on August 28, 2013

(AFP/File, Tony Karumba)

The equipment used in the study, which has been running for five years and is now in its final stages, is a smartphone with an add-on lens that scans the retina, plus an application to record the data.

The technology is deceptively simple to use and relatively cheap: each 'Eye-Phone', as Bastawrous likes to call his invention, costs a few hundred euros (dollars), compared to a professional ophthalmoscope that costs tens of thousands of euros and weighs in at around 130 kilogrammes (290 pounds).

Bastawrous said he hopes the 'Nakuru Eye Disease Cohort Study', which has done the rounds of 5,000 Kenyan patients, will one day revolutionise access to eye treatment for millions of low-income Africans who are suffering from eye disease and blindness.

With 80 percent of the cases of blindness considered curable or preventable, the potential impact is huge.

Data from each patient is uploaded to a team of specialists, who can come up with a diagnosis and advise on follow-up treatment. The results are also compared to tests taken with professional equipment to check the smartphone is a viable alternative.

Bastawrous says his 'Eye-Phone' has proved its worth, and can easily and accurately diagnose ailments including glaucoma, cataracts, myopia and long-sightedness.

Treatments range from prescription glasses and eye drops to complex surgery that is conducted once every two weeks at a hospital in Nakuru, the nearest big town. So far, up to 200 of the 5,000 people involved in the study have had surgery to correct various eye ailments.

Mary Wambui gets her eyes examined

at her home in Kianjokoma village, on 

August 28, 2013 (AFP/File, Tony Karumba)

Kamau is among those expecting to receive surgery on his blind eye. While doctors say he is unlikely to recover his full vision because the injury was so long ago, they can at least stop the pain and swelling caused by the additional strain on his functioning eye.

"I can hardly do manual work around the farm. Once the sun shines, my eyes water and I feel a lot of pain," said Kamau, who lives on a small farm with six family members.

Neighbour Mary Wambui, 50, has had eye problems for 36 years but gave up on finding treatment because existing medical care was far too expensive. Instead, she settled for home remedies like placing a cold wet cloth over her eyes when the pain became unbearable.

"I was treated at the Kijabe Mission hospital but the follow-up visits became too expensive. I had to pay bus fares and then queue in the waiting room for the whole day, and then go back home without seeing a doctor," she recalled.

She said Bastawrous' project, in which the tests were carried out at her home, was a welcome relief.

"I do not like the feel of hospitals. Their process is long, laborious and costly but with this phone, I got to know of my diagnosis with just a click," she said.

Bastawrous says the success of the smartphone meant it could soon be replicated in other poor areas of Kenya. He said the arid Turkana area, one of Kenya's poorest regions, was next on the list.

Nokia to sell phone unit to Microsoft for 5.44 bn euros

Google – AFP, Raine Tiessalo (AFP), 3 Sep 2013

A sign points to the headquarters of Finnish mobile phone manufacturer

Nokia, in Espoo, on September 3, 2013 (Lehtikuva/AFP, Sari Gustafsson)

HELSINKI — Beleaguered Finnish company Nokia announced on Tuesday the sale of its mobile phone unit to Microsoft for 5.44 billion euros ($7.17 billion), bringing to an end its days as a phone maker.

Nokia will grant the US software giant a 10-year non-exclusive licence to its patents and will itself focus on network infrastructure and services, which it called "the best path forward for Nokia and its shareholders."

The company also announced the immediate departure of chief executive Stephen Elop, who was hired from Microsoft in 2010 to turn the company around.

He will be replaced in the interim by Risto Siilasmaa, Nokia's chairman of the board.

Nokia dominated the mobile phone market for 14 years, until it was overtaken by Samsung in 2012 as the top-selling brand, as it struggled to establish winning business models and mobile devices.

A Nokia Lumia 1020 smartphone is seen

 in New York, on July 11, 2013 (AFP/File, 

Timothy Clary)

Rumours of a Nokia sale have swirled in recent months.

Amid increasing competition from Apple and Samsung, Nokia dramatically changed its strategy in February 2011 when Elop warned the company was "standing on a burning platform" and needed to shift course immediately.

The shake-up involved phasing out Nokia's Symbian platform in favour of a partnership with Microsoft, introducing handsets powered by Windows Phone software.

Nokia bet its future on its new Lumia smartphones, aiming to rival Apple's iPhone and Samsung's Galaxy.

But Tuesday's announcement marks the end of Nokia's days as an independent phone manufacturer.

Some 32,000 Nokia employees are expected to transfer to Microsoft once the deal is concluded, including approximately 4,700 people in Finland, the company said.

The operations affected by the transfer generated approximately 14.9 billion euros in 2012, or almost 50 percent of Nokia's net sales, it added.

Of the total purchase price of 5.44 billion euros, 3.79 billion relates to the purchase of Nokia's devices and services business, and 1.65 billion relates to the mutual patent agreement and future options.

Nokia will book a gain on the sale of some 3.2 billion euros, which would "clearly strengthen our financial position and it will provide a solid basis for future investment in Nokia's continuing businesses," Siilasmaa said.

Last month, Nokia finalised the purchase of German engineering giant Siemens' 50-percent stake in Nokia Siemens Networks (NSN) for 1.7 billion euros.

NSN, which is specialised in high-speed mobile broadband, was set up as a joint venture between the two companies in 2007, a partnership that expired in April. The unit has posted stronger earnings than Nokia's mobile phone business.

NSN posted a net profit of 8.0 million euros in the second quarter of this year, compared to Nokia's net loss of 227 million euros in the same period.

The sale to Microsoft is expected to be completed in the first quarter of 2014, pending approval by Nokia shareholders and regulatory authorities, Nokia said.

Microsoft chief executive Steve Ballmer meanwhile told reporters in a conference call that Windows Phone was "the fastest growing smart platform today, growing by 78 percent last year."

"Today's agreement will accelerate our success in smartphones," he added.

World's thinnest keyboard unveiled by Cambridge tech firm

Makers of popular Beats headphones and Nike Running gadgets aims for world-beating lightweight add-on for tablets or phones

The Guardian, Jemima Kiss, Monday 2 September 2013

The world's thinnest keyboard, which has been unveiled by Cambridge-based
CSR at the IFA consumer electronics event in Berlin. Photograph: Picasa/PR

The company behind the wireless Beats headphones and Nike Running gadget has unveiled the world's thinnest keyboard, with a flexible, wireless touchscreen just half a millimetre thick.

Cambridge-based CSR, which specialises in wireless technology, showcased a prototype of the product at the IFA consumer electronics event in Berlin, but it will be 12 months before it will be available to buy.

Paul Williamson, CSR's director of low power wireless products, said the final form factor depended on how manufacturers bring the keyboard to market, although its primary use is likely to be as a lightweight, complementary external keyboard for tablet devices. "This is a working prototype and a glimpse forward rather than something people will be buying this year," he said.

"We might see lots of shapes and sizes, some as small as iPad Mini or a larger, more rigid form for a desktop PC, which could be curved, in any colour way, transparent or fitted with a leather folio."

Developed in partnership with Cambridge Inkjet Technology, the interface for the product is printed out and can be customised. That could mean printing bespoke keyboards in different languages with ease, or customised keyboards for functions such as video editing and for customers who would like personalised patterns or messages on their own keyboard.

The keyboard's touchscreen could also be used under a piece of paper to transcribe notes made with a pen and sync them to a computer.

CSR's research has led to wireless products that enable music streaming in the popular Beats headphones, the performance-tracking tool the Nike+ SportWatch and the Jambox speaker.

Founded in 1999, CSR is one of a cluster of successful, research-focused tech companies clustered around Cambridge and "Silicon Fen" who have recently discussed introducing a "Made in Cambridge" badge to promote their products.

"The audio experience you're getting from Beats headphones exists because we developed it, put it out there and now it is used on a global scale," said Williamson.

"People don't recognise that that kind of innovation is developed by a small number of very bright people here, and the pool of engineering talent and expertise here deserves a bit more credit than the app economy drive in the periphery of London."

Yahoo ceases China news and community services

BBC News, 2 September 2013

The Yahoo portal in China contains a farewell message citing adjustments
to its operations strategy as the reason for the change.

  

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Yahoo's news and community services have shut down in China, following the closure of its email service last month.

The Yahoo China home page now redirects users to a site run by Alibaba, which manages Yahoo's Chinese operation.

In a farewell message which appears before the redirect, the firm says it is "adjusting its operations strategy".

It also implies that its staff will be working on Alibaba content instead and thanks users for their support.

Yahoo has yet to comment.

The company faces big competition in the Chinese market.

Social media services such as the Twitter-like platform offered by Weibo are hugely popular in China despite being openly censored.

Yahoo has a significant stake in Alibaba, the business-to-business online retailer which has been licensed to run its Chinese services.

Some analysts suggest that Alibaba's own services have benefited from its relationship with Yahoo.

"China Yahoo has been under Alibaba for many years. Its most valuable properties have been dismembered and used," anlayst Li Zhi from Analysys International told IT World.

"Alibaba already has no need for a China Yahoo that's been squeezed dry."

MediaGuardian lists digital consumer as most powerful industry figure

Annual ranking reflects mobile and social media's transformation of sector long dominated by moguls, editors and celebrities

MediaGuardian 100 2013: full coverage

The Guardian, Jason Deans, Sunday 1 September 2013

Google's CEO, Larry Page, was second in MediaGuardian's list, which also
 included Twitter, Facebook, Apple and Amazon bosses in the top 10.
Photograph: Reuters

The digital consumer – listed as "you" - tops MediaGuardian's annual ranking of the UK's 100 most powerful industry figures this year, reflecting the extent to which mobile and social media are transforming an industry traditionally dominated by moguls, editors and celebrities.

The Woolwich murder, Boston bombings and more recently the Syrian chemical weapons massacre demonstrated the extent to which ordinary members of the public, using smartphones and social media, are shaping coverage of major news stories these days.

"You" also reflects how online consumers – interacting, sharing content and shopping via mobile devices – are driving the UK digital economy, which is growing at more than 10% a year and which it is estimated by Boston Consulting Group will be worth £225bn by 2016. "Both as the audience and creators of content, it's all about people power," the MediaGuardian 100 panel concluded.

However, following the revelations by the NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden about the communications monitoring activities of the US and UK security agencies, the digital age's potential to empower also comes with a sense of exposure and growing prospects of surveillance.

The selection of tweeters, posters and electronic shoppers marks a break with tradition for the list, which is in its 13th year. Lord Hall, the BBC's director general, is the highest traditional new entry in the 2013 MediaGuardian 100, published on Monday, reflecting the power that the boss of Britain's national broadcaster has at an organisation whose former leadership was decimated by the Savile scandal. Sheryl Sandberg, Facebook's chief operating officer and author of Lean In: Women, Work and the Will to Lead, is the highest placed woman on a list dominated by the representatives of large tech companies. Google's Larry Page, at No 2, heads the group, which also includes Twitter's Dick Costolo (4), Sandberg (5), Apple's Tim Cook (6) and Amazon's Jeff Bezos (7), fresh from his surprise acquisition of the Washington Post.

Rupert Murdoch returns to the top 10 – having been excluded for the first time the year before – following a year in which his media empire tried to put the phone hacking scandal behind it by separating its publishing businesses from its film and TV assets at 21st Century Fox.

New entries include recently appointed BBC1 controller Charlotte Moore, former Labour culture secretary James Purnell, who joined the BBC as director of strategy, new Sun editor David Dinsmore and Mishal Husain, who is to become the Radio 4 Today programme's second woman presenter. Broadchurch star Olivia Coleman and writer Chris Chibnal also make their MediaGuardian 100 debut.

Clare Balding, who has capitalised on her star turn as a London 2012 Olympics and Paralympics host with several new TV and radio presenting jobs, is one of this year's highest climbers; while David Karp, 27, who sold his blogging site, Tumblr, to Yahoo for $£1.1bn, is the youngest on the list

Departures include Dame Marjorie Scardino, the former long serving chief executive of Financial Times owner Pearson, ex Sun editor Dominic Mohan, and The Apprentice host and entrepreneur Lord Sugar..

Related Articles:

"The Recalibration of Awareness – Apr 20/21, 2012 (Kryon channeled by Lee Carroll) (Subjects: Old Energy, Recalibration Lectures, God / Creator, Religions/Spiritual systems  (Catholic Church, Priests/Nun’s, Worship, John Paul Pope, Women in the Church otherwise church will go, Current Pope won’t do it),  Middle East, Jews, Governments will change (Internet, Media, Democracies, Dictators, North Korea, Nations voted at once), Integrity (Businesses, Tobacco Companies, Bankers/ Financial Institutes, Pharmaceutical company to collapse),  Illuminati (Started in Greece, with Shipping, Financial markets, Stock markets, Pharmaceutical money (fund to build Africa, to develop)), Shift of Human Consciousness, (Old) Souls, Women, Masters to/already come back, Global Unity.... etc.) - (Text version)

“…  Government

Let us speak of government. We're not speaking of your government, but of any government - the way it works, how it survives, how it has survived, the way it campaigns, and how it elects leaders. It's going to change.

Years ago, I told you, "When everybody can talk to everybody, there can be no secrets." Up to this point on this planet, government has counted on one thing - that the people can't easily talk to each other on a global scale. They have to get their information through government or official channels. Even mass media isn't always free enough, for it reports that which the government reports. Even a free society tends to bias itself according to the bias of the times. However, when you can have Human Beings talking to each other all at once, all over the planet without government control, it all changes, for there is open revelation of truth.

Democracy itself will change and you're going to see it soon. The hold-outs, the few countries I have mentioned in the past, are doomed unless they recalibrate. They're doomed to be the same as they have been and won't be able to exist as they are now with everyone changing around them.

I mentioned North Korea in the past. Give it time. Right now, the young man is under the control of his father's advisors. But when they're gone, you will see something different, should he survive. Don't judge him yet, for he is being controlled.

In government, if you're entire voting base has the ability to talk to itself without restriction and comes up with opinions by itself without restriction, it behooves a politician to be aware and listen to them. This will change what politicians will do. It will change the way things work in government. Don't be surprised when some day a whole nation can vote all at once in a very unusual way. Gone will be the old systems where you used to count on horseback riders to report in from faraway places. Some of you know what I am talking about. Government will change. The systems around you, both dark and light, will change. You're going to start seeing something else, too, so let's change the subject and turn the page. …”