News

IT legislation and regulation

• September 29, 2020 29 Sep'20

  NatWest offers online banking customers free security services

  Bank responds to a surge in cyber crime targeting users of online banking services

• September 28, 2020 28 Sep'20

  Government updates data ethics framework

  The new data ethics framework was created to better reflect how projects are run in practice after finding there was “little awareness” of the previous framework across the public sector

• September 28, 2020 28 Sep'20

  TikTok ban stayed after last-minute court case

  TikTok’s lawyers have staved off an imminent ban for the time being, after successfully arguing that it infringed rights guaranteed under the Constitution of the United States

• September 28, 2020 28 Sep'20

  Police Scotland to set up new cyber crime centre

  National Centre of Excellence will employ specially trained officers to tackle a vertiginous rise in cyber crime

• September 25, 2020 25 Sep'20

  Forensic expert questions US claims that Julian Assange conspired to crack military password

  Forensic computer expert Patrick Eller told the Old Bailey that US allegations that WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange attempted to decrypt a password to help former soldier Chelsea Manning leak sensitive government documents anonymously do not fit ...

• September 24, 2020 24 Sep'20

  ‘Not unjust’ to extradite WilkiLeaks founder Julian Assange, court hears

  Nigel Blackwood, NHS consultant psychiatrist, told the Old Bailey court that WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange had ‘moderate depression’ and autistic traits, but said they did not prevent his extradition

• September 24, 2020 24 Sep'20

  NHS whistleblower privacy concerns passed on to regulator, but campaigners not holding their breath

  NHS Improvement chair Dido Harding acknowledges receiving concerns raised about the anonymity of whistleblowers, but campaigners have little faith that anything will be done

• September 24, 2020 24 Sep'20

  Can banks solve money laundering puzzle through technology?

  Banks face a huge challenge in identifying and stopping money laundering without interfering with police investigations

• September 24, 2020 24 Sep'20

  Government blasted over ‘reckless’ contact-tracing security

  The Open Rights Group and Big Brother Watch accuse the government of endangering public health with a reckless attitude to contact-tracing data security

• September 23, 2020 23 Sep'20

  Over half of firms intend to continue US data transfers despite Schrems II

  Survey shows many organisations do not intend to significantly change their data-sharing practices, at least until there is more guidance from regulators or governments

• September 23, 2020 23 Sep'20

  Major tech firms urged to end targeted ads to under-18s

  An open letter to Google, Facebook and others is calling on the tech firms to take responsibility for protecting users of their services by ending behavioural advertising to children

• September 23, 2020 23 Sep'20

  US agencies warn of election disinformation and cyber attacks

  Federal agencies are warning of heightened disinformation as the crucial 2020 presidential election nears

• September 22, 2020 22 Sep'20

  GDS reviewing Cloud First policy post-Schrems II

  Review seeks to determine the future of government engagement with cloud hosting services as they relate to cross-border data flows

• September 22, 2020 22 Sep'20

  WikiLeaks published unredacted cables after password was disclosed in book

  WikiLeaks published a cache of unredacted government cables after the publication of a book containing the password led to their publication on other parts of the internet, court told

• September 21, 2020 21 Sep'20

  Big questions to be answered over TikTok and WeChat reprieve

  TikTok and WeChat seem to have received a stay of execution, but big questions and contradictions remain

• September 18, 2020 18 Sep'20

  Outgoing NCSC CEO: Ransomware threat kept us up at night

  Former NCSC CEO Ciaran Martin sheds some light on some of the biggest cyber threats currently facing the UK

• September 18, 2020 18 Sep'20

  Congressman offered Julian Assange a ‘win-win’ deal that would help President Trump

  Details have emerged of US congressman Dana Rohrabacher’s offer of a pardon to WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange in a ‘win-win deal that would benefit US President Donald Trump

• September 18, 2020 18 Sep'20

  US government deplatforms TikTok and WeChat

  The Commerce Department of the US government has banned new downloads of TikTok and WeChat in the US, and announced new prohibitions on doing business with them

• September 17, 2020 17 Sep'20

  WikiLeaks partners developed software to redact 400,000 Iraq War Logs

  Psychologist and co-founder of NGO the Iraq Body Count told a court that Julian Assange insisted on stringent redaction of hundreds of thousands of documents which revealed civilian deaths in the Iraq war

• September 17, 2020 17 Sep'20

  Loan charge under review: Government’s tax policy set to be challenged under EU law

  A fresh attempt to judicially review the government’s controversial disguised remuneration policy is being launched, and its backers have already secured 85% of the £180,000 needed to test whether the loan charge breaches EU law

• September 17, 2020 17 Sep'20

  Brits more fazed by human augmentation

  Italians are the most open to human augmentation, but one-third of people in the UK believe it is unacceptable

• September 16, 2020 16 Sep'20

  Julian Assange held back 15,000 documents to prevent harm to US government

  Investigative journalist John Goetz said today that WikiLeaks held back publication of thousands of documents that could harm individuals

• September 15, 2020 15 Sep'20

  Data of every Welsh Covid-19 patient leaked online

  Data on all 18,105 people in Wales who have received positive tests for the coronavirus was uploaded to a public-facing web server in error

• September 15, 2020 15 Sep'20

  MEPs denied access as observers to Julian Assange extradition hearing

  MEPs and NGOs say they have been denied access to observe extradition proceedings against WikiLeaks founder in Central Criminal Court

• September 11, 2020 11 Sep'20

  Facebook takes legal action against Irish privacy watchdog

  Facebook’s legal action against the Data Protection Commission will attempt to preserve the company’s ability to transfer European citizens’ data to the US despite its lower privacy protections

• September 11, 2020 11 Sep'20

  Government 'making progress' on Smart Freight System prep ahead of Brexit transition deadline

  The government appears to be heeding warnings about the readiness of the Smart Freight border IT system, as the January 2021 Brexit transition deadline looms large

• September 10, 2020 10 Sep'20

  Irish privacy watchdog orders Facebook to stop sending user data to the US

  Irish privacy watchdog orders Facebook to suspend transfers of European citizens’ data to the US after Schrems II ruling that Europeans have no effective way to challenge American government surveillance

• September 09, 2020 09 Sep'20

  US conspiracy charges against WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange ‘politically motivated’

  US journalism historian and investigative journalist Mark Feldstein tells a UK court that use of the Espionage Act against Assange will have wide implications for the press

• September 08, 2020 08 Sep'20

  Julian Assange warned against interrupting witnesses in extradition hearing

  On the second day of his extradition hearing at the Old Bailey, judge informs the WikiLeaks founder he could be removed and potentially banned from court for interrupting witnesses

• September 08, 2020 08 Sep'20

  Scottish health bodies accelerate mobile Covid-19 detection technology

  Scottish regional and national government take the high and fast road to developing contact-tracing technology to assist in preventing further spread of Covid-19

• September 07, 2020 07 Sep'20

  Government DPOs challenged by volume of GDPR work

  Data protection officers working across the UK government are finding it tough to keep up with the increased workload generated by GDPR, according to a report

• September 07, 2020 07 Sep'20

  AI Summit 2020: Regulating AI for the common good

  Speakers and panellists at the virtual AI Summit 2020 spoke about the tensions between cooperation and competition in the development of artificial intelligence

• September 03, 2020 03 Sep'20

  Phishing scam targets Lloyds Bank customers

  Bank customers warned of emails and SMS messages that direct them to a fraudulent site and then request account log-in details

• September 02, 2020 02 Sep'20

  Ethical and professional data science needed to avoid further algorithm controversies

  BCS is calling for higher ethical and professional standards in algorithmic development to ensure public trust in future government information systems

• August 28, 2020 28 Aug'20

  University of Staffordshire recruits robots to get more out of its people

  University staff were bogged down with administrative work, but will now have time to be creative

• August 28, 2020 28 Aug'20

  Benefit fraud: Underground trade in stolen identities revealed

  A roaring underground trade in stolen identities is undermining the Universal Credit system and could potentially defraud it out of millions of pounds

• August 27, 2020 27 Aug'20

  NHS whistleblowers’ anonymity at mercy of inadequate trust IT policies and processes

  They were clapped in the streets for their bravery at the height of the Covid-19 pandemic, but some NHS staff who raise workplace concerns are suffering abuse as a result

• August 27, 2020 27 Aug'20

  Financial services business leaders and CIOs disagree on IT infrastructure

  IT leaders and senior business executives need to align their technology infrastructure priorities as businesses attempt to emerge from the Covid-19 crisis

• August 27, 2020 27 Aug'20

  TikTok CEO clocks off

  TikTok CEO Kevin Mayer has resigned from the firm after just three months

• August 26, 2020 26 Aug'20

  Ministers urge local councils to lead on broadband and mobile

  Digital minister Matt Warman and local government minister Simon Clarke want local councils to do their bit to help ensure better access to connectivity during the Covid-19 recovery

• August 26, 2020 26 Aug'20

  Unwired Planet wins patent licensing case against Huawei

  Landmark ruling goes in favour of Unwired Planet and Conversant Wireless and may define the future of telecoms patent licensing

• August 25, 2020 25 Aug'20

  TikTok takes Trump to court

  Under-fire video app TikTok files a formal complaint in the federal courts challenging the Trump administration’s attempt to ban it in the US

• August 21, 2020 21 Aug'20

  Loan charge: Tax compliance charity demands criminal fraud investigation into scheme promoters

  Tax compliance think tank TaxWatch is calling for a criminal fraud investigation to be launched into the promoters of disguised remuneration schemes to curb the continued proliferation of new tax avoidance arrangements

• August 21, 2020 21 Aug'20

  TikTok’s GDPR compliance probed amid accusations of data misuse

  Dutch privacy organisation SOMI claims TikTok falls short in protecting young users, and that it is likely violating GDPR

• August 21, 2020 21 Aug'20

  MPs accuse ICO of failing to do its job on contact-tracing data

  Cross-party group of MPs say the ICO has failed to enforce data protection standards or hold the government to account over the unlawful Test and Trace programme

• August 20, 2020 20 Aug'20

  UKAS rejects ISO certification concerns

  UK’s certification body says refreshed guidance is in place to cover the possibility of lapsed ISO certifications

• August 20, 2020 20 Aug'20

  Social media data leak highlights murky world of data scraping

  A data brokerage left its database of 235 million Instagram, TikTok and YouTube profiles exposed to anybody who cared to access it

• August 19, 2020 19 Aug'20

  Coronavirus: Thousands of ISO certifications set to lapse

  Delays and postponements in the auditing process are putting hard-earned security and data protection certifications at risk of lapsing

• August 19, 2020 19 Aug'20

  Loan charge MPs urge chancellor to get HMRC to soften contractor settlements

  Co-chairs of Loan Charge All Party Parliamentary Group write to Rishi Sunak to seek a fairer deal for contractors caught by HMRC’s disguised remuneration policy

• August 18, 2020 18 Aug'20

  UK government needs a joined-up internet policy

  Global internet firms want government to ensure its new digital strategy has coherent policy and regulatory goals