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Culture secretary Jeremy Hunt said he realised fast broadband was “increasingly essential”The UK’s culture secretary has been talking tough on broadband in his first major speech on the issue.

Jeremy Hunt said that the previous government’s commitment to a “paltry 2Mbps” (megabits per second) universal net speed was “pitifully unambitious”.

He added that it was “a scandal” that nearly three million households cannot access even this speed.

He said that his goal was to provide Britain with the “best superfast broadband network in Europe”.

Details on how this would be achieved were scant but could include new regulation to force water, gas and electricity companies to open up their ducts.

“The biggest cost involved in rolling out new fibre optic networks is digging up the roads,” he said.

“Cut these costs and, straight away, investing in superfast broadband becomes a substantially more attractive proposition,” he added.

He welcomed Ofcom’s proposals to open up access to BT’s ducts and telegraph poles.

Mr Hunt acknowledged that fast, reliable broadband is “increasingly essential”.

He said that a national superfast network could add £18bn to the GDP and create at least 60,000 new jobs.

Digital switchover”Some people ask why we need these speeds when the iPlayer can manage on less than 1Mbps. They are missing the point,” he said.

“Superfast broadband is not simply about doing the same things faster. It’s about doing totally new things – creating a platform on which a whole generation of new businesses can thrive.”

Education and medicine would be key drivers of fast networks, he said.

But he offered no new funding for such networks.

In his speech, Mr Hunt also said the government was committed to creating “vibrant local media”.

The plans for an Independently Funded News Consortia (IFNC) were “misguided” and would be scrapped, he said.

Instead rules about cross-media ownership would be relaxed to allow local newspapers to own local commerical radio stations and set up local TV stations, he said.

Some of the money instead for the IFNC pilots would be used to fund superfast broadband, said Mr Hunt.

Despite criticising Labour’s commitment to providing a minimum 2Mbps speed to all UK homes, the current government will honour it, using some of the digital switchover underspend to fund it.

Mr Hunt said that he was aware of the dangers of a rural/urban digital divide opening as companies such as BT and Virgin Media target their fast broadband at more economically viable areas such as towns and cities.

In order to prevent this and to work out how to fund rural broadband it will test super-fast broadband in three as yet unnamed rural areas.

“These are projects that will not only benefit those living in these areas, but that will provide us with vital information about how we can best target government intervention and make next generation broadband viable in even the most challenging areas,” he said.

Details of these projects will be announced at an industry event in July and will be co-ordinated by Broadband Delivery UK, an organisation set up by the previous government.

Labour planned to fund rural broadband via a broadband tax, which would see every household with a landline pay an extra 50p per month but this was scrapped shortly before the election.

Last month the new government said that it may use some of the BBC license fee to part-fund the roll-out of superfast broadband.

It also announced that Ed Vaizey would take on the role of the UK’s broadband minister and he will oversee the roll-out.

The UK is currently ranked 33rd in the world when it comes to broadband speeds, according to the OECD.

Original Article with Courtesy of : news.bbc.co.uk

Whistle-blowing website Wikileaks has said that the detention of an alleged confidential source by the US military does not compromise its work.

Wikileaks founder Julian Assange told BBC News that other potential whistle-blowers should not be put off from sending material to the site.

The US has detained US military analyst Bradley Manning on suspicion of leaking classified material to the site.

Mr Assange would not confirm whether Mr Manning was a source.

“We endeavour to protect our sources,” he told BBC News. “We do not know if Mr Manning is a source, but we understand there are allegations that are being taken seriously so we are naturally inclined to try to defend [him].”

The US army in Iraq has said that Specialist (Spc) Manning was in Kuwait and had been “placed in pre-trial confinement for allegedly releasing classified information”.

One video reportedly posted to the site by Mr Manning shows a US Apache helicopter killing up to 12 people – including two Reuters journalists – during an attack in Baghdad in 2007. Two children were also seriously injured in the assault on the group, which contained some armed men.

‘Sacred oath’Mr Manning’s identity was reportedly revealed to the US authorities by a former high-profile hacker, Adrian Lamo, whom Mr Manning had contacted via e-mail and instant messenger.

During the course of their conversations, Mr Lamo told BBC News, Mr Manning boasted about handing over military videos and 260,000 classified US embassy messages to Wikileaks.

“At the moment he gave me the information, it was basically a suicide pact,” Mr Lamo said.

He handed his name to US authorities because of concerns over US national security and because he did not want to be found to have been “obstructing justice” in the course of any investigation.

“I didn’t want any more FBI agents knocking at the door,” he said.

Mr Lamo has previously been convicted for hacking into the New York Times, Yahoo and Microsoft. He now works as a journalist and security analyst.

But Mr Assange questioned Mr Lamo’s motives and credibility.

“He has broken the most sacred oath or journalism, which is confidentiality of sources.”

Mr Assange also said that some of his account did not ring true.

“We do not recognise a number of the claims made by Adrian Lamo as to what Mr Manning allegedly related to him – they cannot be factually correct.”

In particular, Mr Assange said that Wikileaks has no knowledge of the 260,000 confidential messages that Mr Lamo said Mr Manning claimed to have uploaded to the site.

However, as Wikileaks never divulges its sources, confirming the existence of the documents could implicate Mr Manning.

In response, Mr Lamo said he understood why Mr Assange would not concede to handling senstive government data.

“I wouldn’t admit to having them either,” he said.

He also said that he was not approached by Mr Manning as a journalist.

“I was a private citizen in a private capacity – there was no source, journalist relationship,” he told BBC News.

“I did tell him that I worked as a journalist. I would have been happy to write about him myself, but we just decided that it would be too unethical.”

The story of Mr Manning’s arrest was first reported on wired.com by Mr Lamo’s long-term associate Kevin Poulson, also a former hacker and now a journalist.

‘National threat’Wikileaks has established a reputation for publishing leaked material since its first appearance on the web in 2006.

In November 2009, it published what it said were 573,000 intercepted pager messages sent during the 9/11 attacks in the United States.

Previously it had posted a list of names and addresses of people said to belong to the British National Party (BNP) and a copy of the Standard Operating Procedures for Camp Delta, a document that detailed restrictions placed on prisoners at Guantanamo Bay.

Earlier this year, the website published a 2008 Pentagon report that said the site was considered a “threat to the US army”.

The document says that “the possibility that current employees or moles within [the Department of Defence] or elsewhere in the US government are providing sensitive or classified information to Wikileaks.org cannot be ruled out”.

It goes on to say that the “identification, exposure, termination of employment, criminal prosecution, legal action against current or former insiders, leakers, orwhistleblowers could potentially… deter others considering similar actions from using [Wikileaks]“.

The US government later confirmed to the BBC that the documents were genuine.

‘Protect sources’When the Pentagon document was leaked, the site stated that none of its sources had ever knowingly been exposed.

Now, Mr Assange said that Mr Manning’s case should not put people off from contributing to the site.

“We have deliberately structured our operation to protect our sources under threat of criminal law,” he said.

The site does not collect information about its sources and uses numerous web servers scattered around the world to host content.

Mr Assange said these were deliberately located in jurisdictions – such as Sweden – that could prosecute Wikileaks if it revealed a source.

It is currently advising the Icelandic government on efforts to increase legal protections for whistle-blowers in the country.

“We make it clear to [sources] that we will protect them.”

He said this would apply to Mr Manning.

“Assuming that the allegations against [him] are true, we have taken steps to arrange for his protection and legal defence.”

Original Article with Courtesy of : news.bbc.co.uk

Some nations are threatening to cut off persistent copyright infringersLists of Britons who infringe copyright are to be drawn up by the UK’s biggest ISPs, under proposals from the regulator Ofcom.

The plan is contained in a draft code of practice it hopes will curb copyright infringement.

Names and the number of times individuals infringe will be logged.

Music firms and movie studios can request details from the list so that they can decide whether to start their own action against serial infringers.

However, any suspected infringers will be sent three warning letters before any action can be taken.

The letters will contain “easy to understand information on the nature of the allegations made against the subscriber and on what actions a subscriber can take, both to challenge the allegation and to protect their network from being hijacked for the purposes of infringement.”

Jim Killock, executive director of the advocacy body the Open Rights Group (ORG) said the proposals left “huge unanswered questions”.

The ORG joined forces with the Communications Consumer Panel Consumer Focus, Which and Citizens Advice to draw up a set of principles they believe should govern the code of practice.

The principles say sound evidence is needed before any action is taken and consumers must have the right to defend themselves.

“It is imperative that a system that accuses people of illegal online activity is fair and clear,” said Anna Bradley, chair of the Communications Consumer Panel.,

Appeals processThe code initially only applies to big ISPs but could be extended, even to mobile networks, if infringement on smaller networks grows.

It tells ISPs under what circumstances they should inform customers that their accounts are allegedly being used to pirate copyrighted material.

Ofcom said the code should come into force in early 2011. The call for the creation of the code is contained in the controversial Digital Economy Act (DEA).

One of the most controversial elements of that act was its granting of powers to the Secretary of State to disconnect people or slow their connections if they ignore warnings.

However, the code says: “The Secretary of State has not indicated his intention to make use of these provisions at this time and this consultation is not concerned with this aspect of the DEA.”

Technical measures such as these would require further legislation and Parliamentary approval.

Initially the code will only apply to ISPs that have more than 400,000 customers. This includes BT, Talk Talk, Virgin Media, Sky, Orange, O2 and the Post Office.

An independent appeals process will also be set up for those customers who believe they have been wrongly accused of copyright infringement.

Ofcom has begun a consultation exercise on the proposals which will conclude on 30 July.

The communications watchdog said the code would go alongside other work to educate customers about copyright infringement, promotion of legal alternatives to file-sharing networks and targeted action against the most persistent offenders.

R-Force says:

This response is absolutely ridiculous, only ISP’s with more than 400,000 subscribers will even be approached by ofcom, even then the laws around it are so full of loop holes that orders are virtually unenforceable. In a time when the coalition Government is trying to cut back on cost. This is one bit of the former Governments money wasting legislations that need to put firmly trash where it deserves to be.

Original Article with Courtesy of: news.bbc.co.uk

Apple’s innovations have inspired a vast followingApple has pushed past arch-rival Microsoft to become the world’s biggest technology company.

Changes in the share price values of the two in Wednesday’s choppy trading left the total value of Apple at $222bn (£154bn).

Microsoft is now valued by investors at $219bn.

However, Microsoft still enjoys higher profits than Apple. Its most recent annual net profit was $14.6bn (£10bn), compared with $5.7bn for Apple.

Microsoft also reported bigger full-year revenues of $58.4bn, with Apple on $36.5bn.

iPhone boostThe value of a listed company, known as market capitalisation, is calculated by multiplying the number of shares in a company by the current share price.

Apple’s shares closed Wednesday trading down 0.4%, while Microsoft fell by 4%.

Apple, which makes computers, iPods, iPhones and now iPads, almost went out of business in the 1990s.

Its growth is partly owing to the launch of the iPod in 2001.

Although the iPod works with computers running Microsoft’s Windows operating systems, it encouraged more people to to buy one of Apple’s computers.

The big popularity of the iPhone, which has become a big seller since it was first released in 2007, has further boosted Apple’s profits and revenues.

The handset has brought internet access on the move to the mass market, and led to an explosion in downloadable mobile “apps” – applications that enable a huge range of activities, from map reading to booking restaurants.

A new version of the iPhone is expected to be unveiled next month.

Meanwhile, this week sees the launch in the UK and eight other countries of Apple’s iPad tablet computer.

This has already proven to be a big seller in the US, so much so that the UK launch was postponed to enable Apple to keep up with demand in the US.

HeydayApple has to look back to late 1989 to see the last time it was a bigger company than Microsoft.

Microsoft makes most of its money from operating systems and softwareMicrosoft, whose operating system runs on more than 90% of the world’s personal computers, has not been able to match growth rates from its heyday of the 1990s.

While its profits remain much higher than Apple, its earnings per share are substantially less, totalling $1.62 for its latest financial year, compared with $6.29 for Apple.

Microsoft continues to make the majority of its earnings from its software and operating systems, and has struggled to successfully diversify into other products.

However, Microsoft has achieved success with its X-Box games console.

Questioned on the news that Apple was now a bigger company, Microsoft’s chief executive Steve Ballmer said his firm would continue to follow a long-term strategy.

“It’s a long game, we have good competitors… we too are a very good competitor,” he said.

“We are executing very well and that is going to lead to great products and great success.”

Original Article with Courtesy of: news.bbc.co.uk

By Hannah Richardson BBC News education reporter

Thousands of students were left struggling without their grantsThe chief executive and the chairman of the Student Loans Company have resigned over criticism of chaos in the student finance system.

Thousands of students in England were left without grants or loans last autumn after administration problems.

The Department for Business, Innovation and Skills announced that chief executive Ralph Seymour-Jackson and chairman John Goodfellow were quitting.

Universities minister David Willetts said new leadership was necessary.

He said: “Last year the service fell short of what students and their parents had every right to expect. While improvements have been put in place since last year, we are not out of the woods yet.

“Having read the latest report on the SLC by PricewaterhouseCoopers, it is clear that urgent changes to the leadership are needed to ensure students get the service they deserve.”

Fresh leadershipBusiness Secretary Vince Cable said: “Last year’s crisis in the Student Loans Company caused real upset for students and their families, many of whom lost confidence in the system. We must avoid a repetition of the problems.

“I believe a new chair and chief executive will provide the fresh leadership needed to deliver the remaining changes necessary for an improved service to customers this summer.”

Professor Sir Deian Hopkin, former vice chancellor of London South Bank University, has been appointed interim chairman.

The process for the SLC Board appointing a new interim chief executive is well advanced and will be announced in due course.

Problems with the student loans system were first highlighted by the BBC News Website back in August 2009.

Documents mislaidSLC bosses insisted any delays were in line with previous years, but a Freeedom of Information request revealed some 50,000 students were waiting for their loans.

They blamed problems with the telephones and a faulty scanner system, but later reports into the chaos revealed management had underestimated the scale of the task ahead of them.

A report by the National Audit Office in March said that by the start of term in October 2009, some 43% of applications had been processed compared to 63% the previous year.

It also warned that the problems could re-occur this year.

Students and their parents were asked repeatedly to send birth certificates and sensitive documents, many of which were mislaid.

Original article with Courtesy of: news.bbc.co.uk