News

IT legislation and regulation

• February 01, 2024 01 Feb'24

  AI: House of Lords focuses on copyright and transparency

  Large language models promise to boost UK productivity, but the tech needs greater scrutiny and questions remain over intellectual property

• January 30, 2024 30 Jan'24

  We need backup! Pennsylvania police data loss shows why

  Police evidence systems data was lost during ‘routine maintenance’, with human error blamed – the case clearly illustrates why data protection can’t be left to chance

• January 29, 2024 29 Jan'24

  Lords question legality of police facial recognition

  Lords committee ‘deeply concerned’ about the rapid expansion of live facial recognition by UK police, which it says is progressing without any real oversight or accountability

• January 26, 2024 26 Jan'24

  GenAI tools ‘could not exist’ if firms are made to pay copyright

  AI firm Anthropic hits out at copyright lawsuit filed by music publishers, claiming the content ingested into its models falls under ‘fair use’ and that any licensing regime would be too complex and costly

• January 26, 2024 26 Jan'24

  UK government consults on age verification tech in alcohol sales

  The government has said it wants to allow the use of digital identities and various age-verification technologies in alcohol sales

• January 26, 2024 26 Jan'24

  Expert IT witness outsmarted an ‘aggressive’ Post Office to get to truth after inspection ‘madness’

  The Post Office’s attempts to protect the Horizon system are well known, in light of the public inquiry and a recent TV drama, but Computer Weekly can reveal how an IT expert was treated during his investigation of Horizon

• January 23, 2024 23 Jan'24

  Treat cyber risk like financial or legal issue, says UK government

  UK government and NCSC launch proposed code of practice on cyber security governance to help directors and business leaders toughen their defences

• January 23, 2024 23 Jan'24

  Leak of 26 billion records may prove to be ‘mother of all breaches’

  The discovery of a dataset comprising 26 billion stolen records may prove to be record-breaking in both its size and the danger it poses to ordinary people

• January 23, 2024 23 Jan'24

  SEC bitcoin hack was result of SIM-swapping

  A cyber attack on the US financial regulator earlier in January 2024 occurred after hackers took over one of its mobile phone accounts in a so-called SIM-swapping attack

• January 22, 2024 22 Jan'24

  Openreach accelerates digital network roll-out

  Added vigour to UK’s largest broadband provider’s digital network transformation play, with latest tranche of exchanges across furthest reaches of UK now able to offer digital comms based on full-fibre networks

• January 22, 2024 22 Jan'24

  Urgent question asks which ministers knew of Post Office’s shocking plan to remove judge

  Labour peer uses urgent question to uncover who, if anyone, in government was aware of the Post Office’s attempts to remove judge as it became clear it was losing

• January 19, 2024 19 Jan'24

  ICO prompts confusion over police cloud legality

  The UK data regulator has suggested that, despite major data protection concerns, it is likely to greenlight police cloud deployments because of an information-sharing agreement with the US government

• January 19, 2024 19 Jan'24

  MPs flag similarities between HMRC's treatment of Loan Charge contractors and Post Office scandal

  The fallout from HMRC's controversial disguised remuneration clampdown, the Loan Charge policy, has been likened to the Post Office Horizon scandal during a House of Commons debate

• January 19, 2024 19 Jan'24

  Fujitsu boss admits to missed opportunities to prevent miscarriages of justice

  Concerns of an expert witness in subpostmaster trials were ignored by Fujitsu

• January 19, 2024 19 Jan'24

  AWS plans huge investment in Japan cloud infrastructure

  Amazon Web Services plans to invest over $15bn into its existing cloud infrastructure in Tokyo and Osaka by 2027 to meet growing customer demand

• January 18, 2024 18 Jan'24

  More than 900 subpostmaster convictions wouldn’t have happened without Post Office-backed law change

  IT expert says it cannot be the case that computer evidence is treated as accurate in court, without investigation into surrounding circumstances

• January 18, 2024 18 Jan'24

  Tech firms: Investigatory Powers review will undermine privacy of UK citizens

  Trade group TechUK argues in a briefing sent to the Home Office that proposed amendments to the Investigatory Powers Bill could have a far-reaching impact on privacy and security

• January 17, 2024 17 Jan'24

  Victims of 2023 Capita data breaches head to High Court

  More than 5,000 people impacted by data breaches arising from two cyber incidents affecting outsourcer Capita have joined a group action lawsuit

• January 17, 2024 17 Jan'24

  Singapore proposes governance framework for generative AI

  AI Verify Foundation and Infocomm Media Development Authority have proposed a governance framework for generative AI to address the risks and concerns about the emerging technology

• January 16, 2024 16 Jan'24

  Legal cases question IP in large language model training

  Should the providers of commercial large language models licence content from content creators? The New York Times and Getty Images think so

• January 15, 2024 15 Jan'24

  How legal disclosure failures disrupted the Post Office Horizon inquiry

  From overly narrow search terms, overzealous deduplication of documents and failed email migrations, poor management of legal discovery has delayed justice for postmasters in the Horizon inquiry  

• January 12, 2024 12 Jan'24

  UK government seeks public views on impacts of AI-generated porn

  The government’s Pornography Review will look in part at the use of AI throughout the industry to generate sexually explicit content without people’s consent

• January 11, 2024 11 Jan'24

  MHRA launches roadmap for medtech regulations

  The roadmap covers plans for regulations on medical technologies, including implantable devices, artificial intelligence and healthcare software, with core elements of a new framework to be in place by 2025

• January 10, 2024 10 Jan'24

  Davos 2024: AI-generated disinformation poses threat to elections, says World Economic Forum

  Disinformation and misinformation are the top risks facing businesses, governments and the public over the next two years

• January 10, 2024 10 Jan'24

  SEC social media hack highlights value of MFA

  The US SEC briefly appeared to approve new bitcoin trading rules after a social media account was targeted by troublemakers, proving the value of MFA once again

• January 10, 2024 10 Jan'24

  Scotland ‘sleepwalking’ to mass surveillance with DPDI Bill

  The independent checks and balances over biometrics and biometric-enabled surveillance must be strengthened to prevent Scotland from sliding into a surveillance state along with the rest of the UK

• January 09, 2024 09 Jan'24

  Babuk Tortilla ransomware decryptor made available

  A joint effort between Cisco Talos, Avast and the Dutch police will bring relief to many victims of a variant of the Babuk ransomware known as Tortilla

• January 09, 2024 09 Jan'24

  Study reveals cyber risks to US elections

  With the 2024 US presidential election cycle beginning, a study produced by Arctic Wolf has highlighted big gaps in preparedness and resourcing at government bodies across the US

• January 08, 2024 08 Jan'24

  Post Office scandal furore is moment to change digital evidence rules

  The current rules around digital evidence are partly to blame for the widest miscarriage of justice in UK history

• January 07, 2024 07 Jan'24

  India firms warm to responsible AI

  Almost two-thirds of organisations said their responsible AI practices and policies were mature or they had taken steps towards responsible AI adoption, according to a Nasscom study

• January 03, 2024 03 Jan'24

  Artificial intelligence to the front in Sweden’s National Technology Strategy

  Sweden focuses in on artificial intelligence in its latest far-reaching national IT strategy

• December 29, 2023 29 Dec'23

  Top 10 AI regulation stories of 2023

  From the UK government’s publication of its long-awaited AI whitepaper to its convening of the world’s first AI Safety Summit, here are Computer Weekly’s top 10 AI regulation stories of 2023

• December 28, 2023 28 Dec'23

  Top 10 technology and ethics stories of 2023

  Here are Computer Weekly’s top 10 technology and ethics stories of 2023

• December 27, 2023 27 Dec'23

  Top 10 police technology stories of 2023

  Here are Computer Weekly’s top 10 police technology stories of 2023

• December 21, 2023 21 Dec'23

  Top 10 cyber crime stories of 2023

  Ransomware gangs dominated the cyber criminal underworld in 2023, a year that will prove notable for significant evolutionary trends in their tactics

• December 19, 2023 19 Dec'23

  Top 10 cyber security stories of 2023

  The past 12 months have seen the security agenda dominated by the usual round of vulnerabilities, concerns over supply chain security and more besides, but it was the chaotic state of global geopolitics that really made an impact

• December 18, 2023 18 Dec'23

  Global mobile trade body hails agreement on future mobile spectrum ranges

  ITU’s World Radiocommunication Conference concludes with consensus on roadmap for mobile services using designated low-band and mid-band frequencies

• December 15, 2023 15 Dec'23

  Police defend facial recognition target selection to Lords

  Senior police officers confirm to Lords committee that facial recognition watchlist image selection is based on crime categories attached to people’s photos, rather than a context-specific assessment of the threat presented by a given individual

• December 15, 2023 15 Dec'23

  Government advised to overturn all Post Office scandal convictions

  An independent board set up to advise the government on compensation for innocent subpostmasters has recommended that all the Post Office scandal convictions are ‘unsafe’ and should be overturned

• December 14, 2023 14 Dec'23

  Government plans to regulate to tackle datacentre threats

  DSIT outlines a range of proposals designed to protect data storage facilities from cyber attacks, as well as physical threats and the effects of climate breakdown

• December 14, 2023 14 Dec'23

  NCSC CEO Lindy Cameron to step down in 2024

  NCSC chief exec Lindy Cameron, who helped lead and elevate the national dialogue on cyber security through major events such as Covid-19, SolarWinds Sunburst and Colonial Pipeline, is to step down in the New Year

• December 13, 2023 13 Dec'23

  No UK AI legislation until timing is right, says Donelan

  The UK government will not legislate on artificial intelligence until it has a better understanding of the technology, so is instead focusing on building up regulatory capacity and conducting safety-focused research, says digital secretary

• December 13, 2023 13 Dec'23

  Critical UK infrastructure a ‘hostage of fortune’ to ransomware

  A lack of ransomware planning and preparedness at the highest levels of government is leaving UK operators or critical national infrastructure dangerously exposed, according to a Joint Committee report

• December 12, 2023 12 Dec'23

  MoD fined after breach of Afghan staffers’ data put lives at risk

  The MoD has been fined £350,000 by the ICO after an email blunder exposed data on Afghan nationals who had worked with British forces and were at risk of Taliban reprisals

• December 11, 2023 11 Dec'23

  BT Group makes net neutrality call as it looks to improve network efficiency

  Telco claims breakthrough technology that improves quality and reliability of live content for viewers while driving down costs for broadcasters and network operators, but calls for rethink in net neutrality debate

• December 11, 2023 11 Dec'23

  Nordic governments join forces to protect data transfers

  Nordic countries deepen their cooperation over cyber security amid heightened threat from neighbouring Russia

• December 11, 2023 11 Dec'23

  EU AI Act: The wording of the act is finalised

  The EU AI Act has climbed another rung up the legislative ladder, with its wording having been finalised

• December 11, 2023 11 Dec'23

  Competition and Markets Authority looks into Microsoft/OpenAI after Altman fiasco

  The firing and rehiring of OpenAI’s CEO, and the fallout, which could have seen Microsoft hire all its staff, has the regulator spooked

• December 07, 2023 07 Dec'23

  NCSC exposes Russian cyber attacks on UK political processes

  The NCSC has firmly attributed a long-running campaign of cyber attacks targeting UK political processes to a group run out of Russia’s FSB intelligence agency, known as Star Blizzard

• December 05, 2023 05 Dec'23

  Operator of Sellafield nuclear facility denies hacking claims

  The operator of the Sellafield nuclear site has denied allegations that senior managers covered up a series of cyber security lapses that enabled Chinese and Russian threat actors to compromise its networks