News
IT for government and public sector
-
June 08, 2023
08
Jun'23
Government and industry figures meet to discuss AI regulation
Tech industry figures are broadly supportive of the need for artificial intelligence to be regulated, but despite growing consensus, there is still disagreement over what effective AI regulation looks like
-
June 07, 2023
07
Jun'23
UKtech50 2023: The most influential people in UK technology
Computer Weekly has announced the 13th annual UKtech50 – our definitive list of the movers and shakers in the UK tech sector
-
June 07, 2023
07
Jun'23
UKtech50 2023 winner: Michelle Donelan/Chloe Smith, secretary of state, DSIT
Computer Weekly looks at the achievements and successes of the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology, as its secretary of state is recognised as the most influential person in UK technology for 2023
-
June 07, 2023
07
Jun'23
Open banking regulator sets out next steps
Plans for ongoing evolution of the UK open banking sector have been set out by regulator in bid to grow the open banking sector in a ‘safe, scalable and economically sustainable way’
-
June 07, 2023
07
Jun'23
Payments regulator makes APP fraud reimbursement mandatory
UK payments regulator confirms changes to rules around repaying customers who lose money to authorised push payment fraudsters
-
June 07, 2023
07
Jun'23
Government to test rural broadband options with £7m fund
Government to fund tests of technologies that could be issued to improve internet connectivity for rural communities
-
June 06, 2023
06
Jun'23
Indian IT services giant takes UK teachers’ pensions contract from Capita
Tata Consultancy Services bolsters its growing UK public sector customer base with key contract win
-
June 06, 2023
06
Jun'23
ESA uses NetApp as-a-service for space data ‘hot’ archive
The European Space Agency collects data from millions of miles away. It must get storage right when there’s no chance of a u-turn to take more photos or re-record data
-
June 06, 2023
06
Jun'23
TechUK publishes ‘UK tech plan’ for next government
Technology businesses are calling on UK politicians to devise a ‘comprehensive, forward-thinking strategy’ to realise the benefits of technology ahead of the next general election
-
June 05, 2023
05
Jun'23
Workers ‘deeply uncomfortable’ with digital surveillance at work
Employees express discomfort towards employers’ use of various digital surveillance and monitoring techniques, which are often powered by artificial intelligence
-
June 05, 2023
05
Jun'23
UK has time limit on ensuring cryptocurrency regulatory leadership, says Parliamentary report
Parliamentary report makes 53 recommendations to the government's plans to regulate cryptocurrency
-
June 05, 2023
05
Jun'23
Medical regulator drops probe into NHS whistleblower Peter Duffy amid dispute over email evidence
The General Medical Council has dropped an investigation into an NHS whistleblower who exposed widespread clinical harm at Morecambe Bay Trust amid questions over disputed email evidence
-
June 05, 2023
05
Jun'23
Sweden is developing its own big language model
Artificial Intelligence Sweden is leading an initiative to build a large language model not only for Swedish, but for all the major languages in the Nordic region: Danish, Swedish, Norwegian, Icelandic, and Faroese
-
June 01, 2023
01
Jun'23
AI interview: Dan McQuillan, critical computing expert
Critical computing expert Dan McQuillan speaks to Computer Weekly about the top-down imposition of artificial intelligence on society, and how AI is a fundamentally political technology shaped by humanity’s most reactionary tendencies
-
June 01, 2023
01
Jun'23
Met Police director of intelligence defends facial recognition
The Met Police’s director of intelligence has appeared before MPs to make the case for its continuing use of facial-recognition technology, following announcements from the force and the Home Office that they intend to press on with its adoption
-
May 30, 2023
30
May'23
UK, US and Australia jointly trial AI-enabled drone swarm
British, American and Australian military organisations have trialled the use of artificial intelligence (AI) in drones in a collaboration designed to drive their adoption of AI-powered military tools
-
May 30, 2023
30
May'23
Downstream breaches of Capita customers spreading
As many as 90 organisations that used Capita services have now reported data breaches arising from various security incidents at the outsourcer
-
May 26, 2023
26
May'23
Birmingham council leader admits £100m budget hole in ERP upgrade
City council’s plans to replace flagship SAP system, which has been running since 1999, is not going to plan
-
May 25, 2023
25
May'23
Cabinet Office publishes response to data sharing for digital ID consultation
The majority of respondents to government’s consultation on data sharing for digital identity are critical to the plans and concerned about data privacy, but Whitehall’s response says many of the responses ‘were driven by anti-digital commentaries’
-
May 25, 2023
25
May'23
Alert over Chinese cyber campaign targeting critical networks
A Chinese threat actor known as Volt Typhoon has been observed infiltrating CNI networks in a cyber espionage campaign, according to intelligence
-
May 23, 2023
23
May'23
Starmer pledges to reform the NHS through technology
The Labour Party wants to create an NHS powered by ‘groundbreaking technology’, with genomics testing for every baby, modernising appointment booking and overhaul incentives for tech adoption
-
May 22, 2023
22
May'23
Post Office scandal – cover-up a ‘dark chapter’ in government, corporate and legal history
Third phase of public inquiry into Horizon IT scandal reveals extent of Post Office and Fujitsu cover-up of software problems that went on to write ‘as dark a chapter in our governmental, corporate and legal history as can be imagined’
-
May 22, 2023
22
May'23
Facebook owner Meta fined record €1.2 billion over EU-US data transfers
Decision could have implications for other companies using Standard Contractual Clauses to share data between Europe and the US
-
May 22, 2023
22
May'23
Worker-focused AI Bill introduced by backbench MP Mick Whitley
Using the 10-minute motion rule, backbench Labour MP Mick Whitley has introduced a worker-focused artificial intelligence (AI) bill to Parliament, which outlines a similar approach to AI being advocated by unions in the UK
-
May 19, 2023
19
May'23
Spanish lawyers claim police hacking of EncroChat cryptophones breaches human rights law
Lawyers speaking at the Madrid Bar Association question the legality of a cryptophone hacking which has led to arrests of organised criminals in multiple countries
-
May 19, 2023
19
May'23
National semiconductor strategy: Balancing skills, migration and security
The UK government is putting £1bn into semiconductor research and design over the next 10 years to develop a robust chip sector
-
May 19, 2023
19
May'23
Campaigning former subpostmaster fears compensation for scandal victims will be delayed to 2025
The man who exposed the Post Office scandal fears a long delay for victims due to compensation process being "bogged down by bureaucracy"
-
May 18, 2023
18
May'23
Defra's tech review reveals legacy IT issues across government
The Public Accoubts Committee recently found that Defra has been unable to measure inefficiencies due to running legacy IT
-
May 17, 2023
17
May'23
Home Office pushes for more police facial-recognition deployments
An independent report commissioned by the biometrics commissioner of England and Wales reveals that the UK policing minister is pushing for wider adoption of facial-recognition technology by police, and further criticises the government’s proposed ...
-
May 16, 2023
16
May'23
Plexal launches Cyber Runway 3.0 accelerator programme
The latest iteration of Plexal’s government-backed cyber security startup accelerator will run four work streams to boost startups at various stages of maturity and growth
-
May 16, 2023
16
May'23
No10 Innovation Fellowship Programme ramps up AI focus
Second round of the programme, run jointly by Number 10 and the Government Digital Service, focuses on AI and automation
-
May 16, 2023
16
May'23
UK renews tech and science deal with Japan
Deal focuses on innovation and will see countries collaborate on networking and investment, joint R&D programmes, and exchange schemes
-
May 12, 2023
12
May'23
MEPs vote in raft of amendments to EU AI Act
The proposed amendments to the EU’s AI Act have garnered a mixed reception from both industry and civil society, with the former seeing it as too stringent and the latter as not stringent enough in many areas, despite positive progress in others
-
May 12, 2023
12
May'23
Post Office lawyer bragged how team ‘destroyed attack on the Horizon system’ and put woman in prison
A senior Post Office lawyer appeared gleeful in email about how his team helped prosecute a subpostmaster who was sent to prison
-
May 11, 2023
11
May'23
Investigatory Powers Tribunal finds NCA EncroChat hacking warrants were lawful
Investigatory Powers Tribunal refers questions over whether messages obtained from the EncroChat encrypted phone network are legally admissible back to the criminal court
-
May 11, 2023
11
May'23
AI outcry intensifies as EU readies regulation
Policymakers are battling to keep pace with AI developments, while experts warn of societal impact
-
May 11, 2023
11
May'23
Journalists’ confidential communications subject to unlawful spying, court hears
Campaign group Liberty and the National Union of Journalists tell Court of Appeal the government has not gone far enough to protect confidential journalist information and sources from surveillance
-
May 11, 2023
11
May'23
Fujitsu staff had ‘unrestricted and unauditable’ remote access to Post Office branch systems
Fujitsu engineers could make changes to Post Office branch accounts without anyone knowing
-
May 10, 2023
10
May'23
UKtech50 2023: Vote for the most influential person in UK technology
Our judges have selected the top 50 leaders from a shortlist of more than 300 people – now it’s your chance to tell us who you think is the most influential person in UK technology
-
May 10, 2023
10
May'23
Black Basta ransomware attack to cost Capita over £15m
Exceptional costs arising from the March 2023 Black Basta ransomware attack on the systems of outsourcer Capita will be somewhere between £15m and £20m, the organisation says
-
May 09, 2023
09
May'23
UKtech50 2023: The longlist of the UK’s influential tech leaders
Each year, Computer Weekly launches a search for the most influential people in UK IT, asking the tech community who it thinks should be in the top 50 – here is the longlist of everyone nominated for 2023
-
May 08, 2023
08
May'23
Chat control: EU lawyers warn plans to scan encrypted messages for child abuse may be unlawful
Leaked legal advice warns that European ‘chat control’ proposals to require tech companies to scan private and encrypted messages for child abuse are likely to breach EU law
-
May 05, 2023
05
May'23
Capita pension clients told data may have leaked
Capita has told trustees of some of the pension funds for which it provides outsourced services that their customer data may have been stolen by the Black Basta ransomware operation
-
May 02, 2023
02
May'23
HMRC confirms potential April 2024 end date for double-taxation issue in IR35 compliance cases
HM Revenue & Customs launches eight-week consultation on plans to roll out a legislative tweak that would put a stop to the government tax collection agency over-collecting tax in IR35 non-compliance cases
-
April 28, 2023
28
Apr'23
Government is playing ‘psychic war’ in battle over end-to-end encryption
Peers hear that the UK government is being deliberately ambiguous about its plans to require technology companies to scan the content of encrypted messages
-
April 28, 2023
28
Apr'23
More Post Office software-related convictions overturned takes total to 86
A total of 86 former subpostmasters wrongly prosecuted for financial crimes after computer errors showed phantom losses have had convictions overturned
-
April 26, 2023
26
Apr'23
Police Scotland receive formal notice about cloud system
Scotland’s biometrics watchdog has issued Police Scotland with an information notice over its deployment of a cloud-based digital evidence system, following disclosure of major data protection concerns by Computer Weekly
-
April 26, 2023
26
Apr'23
UK government introduces Digital Markets Bill to Parliament
The Digital Markets, Competition and Consumers Bill will seek to level the playing field in digital markets by empowering regulators with new tools and powers to directly enforce competition and consumer protection laws
-
April 26, 2023
26
Apr'23
Post Office paid IBM millions when it ended proposed contract to replace Horizon
The Post Office ended a proposed contract with IBM to replace its controversial Horizon system after work had already started
-
April 26, 2023
26
Apr'23
UK taskforce set to drive generative AI safety and opportunities
The government has committed £100m to helping the UK develop and build out generative artificial intelligence capabilities