News

IT legislation and regulation

• August 26, 2021 26 Aug'21

  Government unveils post-Brexit data flow proposals

  The government will pursue data partnerships with countries including Australia, South Korea and the US as part of a post-Brexit data regime that may also see substantial changes to the UK’s data protection law

• August 26, 2021 26 Aug'21

  NZ privacy lead John Edwards named new information commissioner

  DCMS has named John Edwards, currently New Zealand privacy commissioner, to succeed Elizabeth Denham as UK information commissioner

• August 25, 2021 25 Aug'21

  Algorithmic accountability needs meaningful public participation

  Global analysis by Ada Lovelace Institute and other research groups finds algorithmic accountability mechanisms in the public sector are hindered by a lack of engagement with the public

• August 25, 2021 25 Aug'21

  Calling the cops for ransomware attacks doesn’t help, say cyber pros

  A new study for the #Ransomaware campaign reveals some insight into why so few victims report ransomware attacks

• August 25, 2021 25 Aug'21

  UK loses £1.3bn to fraud and cyber crime so far this year

  New figures from the National Fraud Intelligence Bureau show a threefold spike in reported financial losses to fraud and cyber crime in the first six months of 2021

• August 24, 2021 24 Aug'21

  UK government adds to Northern Ireland gigabit broadband funding

  Further financial support given to develop next-generation full-fibre network across rural regions in province, particularly those that currently have the slowest speeds, such as Mid Ulster, Fermanagh and South Antrim

• August 24, 2021 24 Aug'21

  Campaign groups claim police have bypassed Parliament with plans for live facial-recognition tech

  Civil society groups call for Parliament to scrutinise the use of live facial-recognition cameras

• August 23, 2021 23 Aug'21

  Cities worldwide band together to push for ethical AI

  The chief digital and technology officers of London and Barcelona speak to Computer Weekly about their joint initiative launched with other cities to promote the ethical deployment of artificial intelligence in urban spaces

• August 20, 2021 20 Aug'21

  Swedish IT industry braced for China’s response to Huawei 5G ban

  Swedish IT and communications equipment suppliers fear economic backlash from China following Huawei ban

• August 19, 2021 19 Aug'21

  Pub apps harvesting swathes of customer data unnecessarily

  Some pub and restaurant chain apps demand data such as gender and marital status, raising eyebrows among privacy campaigners

• August 18, 2021 18 Aug'21

  UK government criticised for proposed facial-recognition guidance

  Privacy campaigners say the government's updated 'surveillance camera code of practice' does not do enough to mitigate abuses of facial-recognition technology

• August 17, 2021 17 Aug'21

  Educational publisher Pearson fined for data breach cover-up

  Securities and Exchange Commission says publisher misled its investors over the extent of a 2018 data breach

• August 16, 2021 16 Aug'21

  ICO consults public on personal data in employment practices

  The ICO has launched a public consultation on employers’ use of personal data to help it provide practical guidance for both businesses and workers

• August 12, 2021 12 Aug'21

  ICO consults on new international data transfer agreement

  Information Commissioner’s Office to consult on its draft international data transfer agreement and guidance, which will replace standard contractual clauses to protect personal data during overseas transfers

• August 11, 2021 11 Aug'21

  The Netherlands still lacks digital resilience, says report

  Report by National Coordinator for Counterterrorism and Security says the Netherlands’ digital resilience has improved, but is still insufficient

• August 10, 2021 10 Aug'21

  Third of finance firms accelerate use of artificial intelligence to detect money laundering

  Financial services firms are stepping up their use of artificial intelligence and machine learning technology to fight increasing money laundering activity

• August 09, 2021 09 Aug'21

  UK broadband trial to investigate connectivity through water pipes

  Government-backed scheme to target broadband for hard-to-reach homes with fibre optic cables fed through utility mains, businesses and mobile masts without digging up roads

• August 06, 2021 06 Aug'21

  Apple unveils plans to scan US iPhones for child sex abuse images

  Apple will introduce child sexual abuse material detection for US users later this year, but some experts are worried that the technology could be repurposed to scan phones for other kinds of content

• August 04, 2021 04 Aug'21

  Leading venture capital firms are failing to protect human rights

  Venture capital firms and high-profile tech accelerators are not conducting human rights due diligence on their investments, which means they cannot be sure the companies they invest in are not causing, or contributing to, human rights abuses

• August 02, 2021 02 Aug'21

  IR35 reforms: TUC demand for government ban on umbrella companies raises eyebrows

  The Trades Union Congress has raised eyebrows within the contracting community by calling for a ban on umbrella companies to help stamp out malpractice

• August 02, 2021 02 Aug'21

  Government publishes second version of digital identity trust framework

  The second iteration of the framework, still in alpha version, sets out how organisations can become certified digital identity service providers

• July 29, 2021 29 Jul'21

  HMRC hits Home Office with £33.5m bill over ‘careless’ application of IR35 rules

  The Home Office is the latest ministerial department to be hit with a multimillion-pound tax demand from HMRC after errors were discovered in its implementation of the IR35 rules

• July 27, 2021 27 Jul'21

  ICO ends its involvement in dispute between NatWest Bank and data breach whistleblower

  The Information Commissioner’s Office has ended its involvement in a dispute between a data breach whistleblower and NatWest bank

• July 27, 2021 27 Jul'21

  US lawmakers call for probe into ‘arrogant’ spyware firm

  US members of Congress have called for an investigation into NSO Group, the spyware supplier at the centre of a massive surveillance scandal

• July 27, 2021 27 Jul'21

  TikTok sets up cyber security hub in Dublin

  Dublin-based cyber centre will oversee the security of TikTok’s users across Europe

• July 23, 2021 23 Jul'21

  DWP hit with £87.9m tax bill by HMRC over 'historic' IR35 status contractor assessment errors

  The Department for Work and Pensions’ (DWP) annual accounts highlight the challenges the public sector body has faced with implementing the IR35 reforms since they came into force in the public sector in April 2017

• July 22, 2021 22 Jul'21

  Plans to address legal but harmful content ‘threaten free speech’

  House of Lords report criticises the government’s forthcoming Online Safety Bill for imposing duty of care on tech platforms to deal with ‘legal but harmful’ content, which it says threatens freedom of expression online

• July 21, 2021 21 Jul'21

  France’s Macron among alleged Pegasus targets

  Data relating to devices used by French president Emmanuel Macron and the head of the World Health Organization, among others, has been uncovered in a dataset linked to government use of spyware

• July 20, 2021 20 Jul'21

  Government shares vision for digitised energy system as it pursues net-zero emissions target

  Strategy is geared towards readying the UK energy system for the transition from fossil fuels to renewable power through digital transformation

• July 20, 2021 20 Jul'21

  NCSC’s Cameron urges deeper cyber alliance-building

  Speaking to an event in Israel, NCSC CEO Lindy Cameron has praised joint UK-Israeli efforts on security collaboration

• July 20, 2021 20 Jul'21

  NHS Digital tightens rules for GPDPR data scrape

  The proposed collection of patient data held by GPs will now only commence when three key criteria have been fulfilled, says NHS Digital

• July 19, 2021 19 Jul'21

  Government launches consultation on plans for UK digital identity market

  DCMS wants stakeholders to offer their views on proposals for a new governance regime and expanding access to government-held datasets for identity verification

• July 19, 2021 19 Jul'21

  HMRC CEO claims email querying legal basis for loan charge ‘overplayed’ at committee hearing

  HMRC CEO Jim Harra continues to downplay significance of email questioning legal basis of the loan charge during a grilling by the Economic Affairs Committee

• July 19, 2021 19 Jul'21

  UK, US confirm Chinese state backed MS Exchange Server attacks

  UK and US governments, alongside the EU and Nato, have formally attributed the March 2021 Microsoft Exchange Server attacks to Chinese state-backed actors

• July 15, 2021 15 Jul'21

  Lawyers take EncroChat hacking operation to French supreme court

  Lawyers head to French supreme court after appeals court finds EnroChat inception legal under French law

• July 15, 2021 15 Jul'21

  UK workforce needs reskilling for net-zero transition

  Green Jobs Taskforce report looks at how the UK’s workforce can be skilled up to support the transition to net zero

• July 15, 2021 15 Jul'21

  Privacy Shield: US surveillance law reforms essential for EU-US data, says EU parliamentary study

  EU Committee on Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs study calls for major reforms of US spying laws to enable an EU-US data-sharing agreement to replace Privacy Shield

• July 14, 2021 14 Jul'21

  More than half of European IT outsourcing spending will soon be on cloud services

  Cloud services will soon be the largest part of the IT services market in Europe, as enterprises invest in them as part of their Covid-19 recovery strategies

• July 13, 2021 13 Jul'21

  Secureworks sets up in EU datacentre for XDR services

  New datacentre location helps Secureworks’ customers meet EU data residency requirements

• July 13, 2021 13 Jul'21

  IR35: Contractors demand tax and employment law alignment to protect ‘zero-rights’ workers

  Government is again facing calls to ensure contractors that pay the same amount of tax as permanent employees also receive the same workplace benefits

• July 13, 2021 13 Jul'21

  Met Police seize £180m worth of Bitcoin

  The largest ever seizure of cryptocurrency in the UK comes just weeks after a previous multi-million pound confiscation, as law enforcement clamps down on money laundering

• July 12, 2021 12 Jul'21

  CMA consults on market investigation into emergency services’ mobile radio network

  Competition watchdog considers whether to launch market investigation into role played by Motorola’s mobile radio network used by all emergency services in UK

• July 12, 2021 12 Jul'21

  Loan charge MPs call for prime ministerial intervention to prevent mass contractor bankruptcies

  In an open letter signed by 76 MPs, the prime minister and the chancellor are facing calls to intervene urgently on how the loan charge policy is being enforced

• July 09, 2021 09 Jul'21

  Met Police should release information on British WikiLeaks journalists passed to US, tribunal told

  The Metropolitan Police should release correspondence with the US Department of Justice about three UK based WikiLeaks journalists, despite national security claims, a tribunal heard

• July 08, 2021 08 Jul'21

  Developers have a moral duty to create ethical AI

  Corsight AI publishes report on how organisations can develop more human-centric AI and biometric technologies

• July 07, 2021 07 Jul'21

  ICO to probe Hancock over private email use

  Former health secretary faces an investigation by the UK’s data protection watchdog over his use of private email to conduct government business

• July 07, 2021 07 Jul'21

  Social robots on the rise in the Netherlands

  The acceptance of robots being used in everyday life is making significant strides, but this is just the beginning

• July 07, 2021 07 Jul'21

  Former Bank of England CIO joins Co-op Group as CTO

  Rob Elsey joins the Co-op Group at a time when the organisation is undergoing major digital transformation

• July 07, 2021 07 Jul'21

  How the UK Cyber Security Council plans to professionalise security

  As chair of the new UK Cyber Security Council, Claudia Natanson is in a superb position to develop professional standards in IT security and she intends to fundamentally reimagine what a security job actually is

• July 06, 2021 06 Jul'21

  Bank of England searches for new CIO amid once-in-a-generation project

  The Bank of England is recruiting a head of IT during a period of major change in its core IT system