News

IT legislation and regulation

July 18, 2019 18 Jul'19
Parliamentary committee calls for halt to facial recognition trials

Issues with biometrics and forensics pose a significant risk to effective functioning of the criminal justice system, according to a report by the Science and Technology Committee
July 17, 2019 17 Jul'19
Facebook accused of ‘breathtaking arrogance’ over Libra cryptocurrency plan

US senators grill Facebook’s David Marcus over social media giant’s plans to launch cryptocurrency
July 16, 2019 16 Jul'19
UN resolution ignores special rapporteur’s call for halt to spyware sales

UN’s Human Rights Council adopts resolution to explore the impact of new and emerging digital technologies on human rights, but the text ignores a damning report by the council’s own expert on freedom of expression
July 16, 2019 16 Jul'19
Dutch authorities temporarily halt datacentre construction

Two local authorities in the Netherlands have put the brakes on datacentre construction to give them time to put policies in place to gain more control over builds

July 15, 2019 15 Jul'19
UK launches 5G security inquiry

The Joint Committee on the National Security Strategy is to probe the UK government’s approach to telecoms technology as a national security issue
July 15, 2019 15 Jul'19
Billion-dollar privacy penalties put CEOs on notice

Facebook’s potential $5bn settlement with the FTC follows notifications of planned GDPR fines for British Airways and Marriott International, underlining the importance of data stewardship
July 15, 2019 15 Jul'19
US judge dismisses challenge over Department of Defense mega-cloud contract

The US Department of Defense looks set to award a $10bn cloud contract after a legal challenge to the procurement process failed
July 15, 2019 15 Jul'19
No technical grounds to ban Huawei, DCMS told

Science and Technology Committee tells Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport that there are no technical grounds for it to exclude Huawei
July 11, 2019 11 Jul'19
Zopa gets in-house tech ready for 2019 bank launch

Peer-to-peer lender tests out banking platforms in anticipation of launching products in the UK before the end of this year
July 11, 2019 11 Jul'19
Dutch privacy watchdog tells banks not to use customer payment data for marketing

Autoriteit Persoonsgegevens tells banks to respect client privacy and not to market products based on spending data

July 10, 2019 10 Jul'19
Max Schrems not calling for SCCs to be invalidated

The privacy activist at the centre of legal battle against Facebook is not calling for all standard contractual clauses to be invalidated, according to his non-profit privacy organisation
July 10, 2019 10 Jul'19
Demand for ICO help escalates in GDPR's first year

The past year has seen increased demand across all support services offered by the UK’s privacy watchdog as new data protection laws went into force
July 09, 2019 09 Jul'19
Marriott International facing £99m GDPR fine

Hotel group Marriott International is the second major company to be fined by the UK privacy watchdog for infringements of the GDPR
July 09, 2019 09 Jul'19
ICO issues warning about using facial recognition technology

The UK privacy watchdog has ruled that any police force or private organisation using live facial recognition technology is processing personal data and needs to pay attention to data protection laws
July 09, 2019 09 Jul'19
European Court hears case on EU-US data transfers

Facebook could be forced to rethink its legal position regarding transfers of data of EU citizens to the US, as the CJEU considers the validity of standard contractual clauses that many businesses rely on
July 08, 2019 08 Jul'19
British Airways facing £183m GDPR fine

British Airways is to appeal against a record fine for infringement of data protection rules for a breach of customer data in 2018
July 04, 2019 04 Jul'19
King’s College London breached GDPR by handing students’ information to police, review finds

Following a review of its security arrangements, King’s College London has referred itself to the Information Commissioner’s Office after improperly sharing sensitive information about politically active students with police
July 03, 2019 03 Jul'19
BT and Openreach told to be more transparent over split

Ofcom’s latest monitoring report on the changing relationship between BT and Openreach finds room for improvement, but is mostly positive
July 03, 2019 03 Jul'19
Why PSD2 adoption in the Netherlands is lagging behind

The Netherlands appears to be falling behind in open banking, even though the Dutch are digitally proficient and are often early adopters of new technology. What is going on?
July 02, 2019 02 Jul'19
CPS faces legal ruling over refusal to disclose emails with US on WikiLeaks and Assange extradition

A court will decide whether the Crown Prosecution Service can refuse to neither confirm nor deny the existence of correspondence with US on investigations into Julian Assange and WikiLeaks
July 01, 2019 01 Jul'19
Ofcom to make switching mobile operators easier

The often fraught process of switching mobile network operators will become easier for end-users as new Ofcom regulations come into force
June 28, 2019 28 Jun'19
Ofcom gets go-ahead for new Openreach access model

Following referral to the European Commission, Ofcom is pressing ahead with a new regulatory model governing more open access to Openreach’s ducts, poles and dark fibre
June 28, 2019 28 Jun'19
Interview: Yasmeen Al Sharaf, head of fintech and innovation unit, Central Bank of Bahrain

Yasmeen Al Sharaf heads up financial technology strategy at Bahrain’s central bank, which is on a mission to grow and diversify the sector in the Middle East island state
June 27, 2019 27 Jun'19
MPs to probe UK’s growing e-waste problem

The parliamentary Environmental Audit Committee has launched an inquiry into electronic waste and the circular economy
June 27, 2019 27 Jun'19
Data drives decentralisation in Nordic healthcare

Nordic tech startups are applying their skills to solving some of the challenges for the region’s healthcare sector
June 26, 2019 26 Jun'19
Singapore government forms digital industry office

New office will help local tech firms grow their regional footprint and build new capabilities in order to thrive in APAC’s booming digital economy
June 21, 2019 21 Jun'19
Surveillance camera czar calls for stronger UK code of practice

Surveillance cameras are for supporting communities, not spying on them, but the UK needs stronger regulation and citizen engagement in this area, says surveillance camera commissioner
June 20, 2019 20 Jun'19
Online porn age-verification checks delayed for six months

Changes to force UK internet users to prove their age to access adult content are postponed for a third time because of failure to notify the European Commission of key policy details
June 19, 2019 19 Jun'19
Looming private sector IR35 reforms prompts calls for gig economy-focused tax system overhaul

The growth of the gig-based economy has exposed weaknesses in the UK tax system – exacerbated by the IR35 reforms – that mean an overhaul is needed, panel claims
June 18, 2019 18 Jun'19
Singapore faced fewer cyber threats in 2018

Despite the fall in the number of common cyber threats last year, Singapore will continue to face advanced persistent threats, CSA warns
June 16, 2019 16 Jun'19
5G to drive hybrid cloud adoption in ANZ

5G networks will move computing to the edge, driving adoption of hybrid cloud and hyper-converged infrastructure, says Nutanix’s ANZ chief
June 14, 2019 14 Jun'19
How computer vision powered by Nvidia helped Winnow tackle food waste

Winnow has developed a biologically inspired machine learning algorithm to identify what foods are being thrown away
June 13, 2019 13 Jun'19
Facebook London hiring spree focuses on tackling online harms

Facebook is hiring for 500 tech jobs in the capital in the next six months, with a particular focus on seeking out and clamping down on malicious content and fake accounts, and curbing other harmful behaviour on its platforms
June 12, 2019 12 Jun'19
Austrian Supreme Court green-lights GDPR case against Facebook

A potential landmark case against Facebook for violating General Data Protection Regulation rights has been given the go-ahead by the Austrian Supreme Court
June 11, 2019 11 Jun'19
In a cyber data breach, preparation is key

The importance of preparation was strongly emphasised at a breach response workshop hosted by DAC Beachcroft as part of London Tech Week
June 11, 2019 11 Jun'19
MP brands Huawei exec a ‘moral vacuum’ as operators demand 5G clarity

Huawei chief security officer John Suffolk faces tough questions from parliament’s Science and Technology Select Committee over the firm’s links to the Chinese government
June 07, 2019 07 Jun'19
Edtech in the Nordics offers students alternative learning journeys

Pioneering attitude to technology innovation across business and society lends itself to adoption in education across the region
June 06, 2019 06 Jun'19
Ofcom’s Sharon White to step down at Christmas

Chief executive will leave her role at the telecoms regulator at the end of 2019
June 05, 2019 05 Jun'19
Amal Clooney calls on business and tech to solve world issues

Human rights lawyer Amal Clooney urged technologists to look at how they can tackle issues that governments have failed to address
June 03, 2019 03 Jun'19
Consumer comms providers sign Ofcom’s new fairness pledge

The UK’s biggest communications service providers have signed up to a series of new commitments pledging to put fairness to customers at the heart of their business
June 03, 2019 03 Jun'19
Nordics block European Commission tech tax levy to protect digital investment

The Nordic EU countries have formed a powerful voice against the European Commission’s plans on digital service tax.
May 31, 2019 31 May'19
Facebook loses bid to halt European court decision on EU-US data sharing

Irish Supreme Court dismisses attempt by Facebook to prevent the European Court of Justice considering the validity of US-EU data transfers, after Austrian lawyer Max Schrems argued that they put the privacy of EU citizens at risk
May 30, 2019 30 May'19
2.3 billion business and consumer data files exposed online

In the year since the GDPR compliance deadline, the number of data files exposed online without adequate protection is up more than 50% due to misconfigured security controls, report reveals
May 29, 2019 29 May'19
ICO to shortlist Sandbox applicants

Privacy watchdog’s Sandbox service aims to help develop innovative and beneficial products and services that are privacy compliant
May 28, 2019 28 May'19
Many search engine users unaware of personal data collection

Many users of online search engines are still unaware that data is being collected about them for personalised advertising, a study has revealed
May 28, 2019 28 May'19
Swedes need to keep a week’s cash under the bed

The Swedish population is being advised to keep enough cash at home to last a week in case of problems such as online banking crashes
May 26, 2019 26 May'19
Australian firms coming to grips with AI ethics

Australian businesses are warming up to AI, but just two in five have standards and guidelines for AI ethics, a study finds
May 24, 2019 24 May'19
GDPR: Are we there yet?

A full year since the General Data Protection Regulation was implemented, there has not been the severe punitive action expected by many and personal data breaches continue to happen, leaving many wondering if any progress has been made
May 24, 2019 24 May'19
Effect of GDPR yet to be felt, says law firm Hogan Lovells

Despite the fact that the GDPR has been in full effect for a year, the true effect of the regulation is yet to be felt and organisations should ensure they keep their eye on the ball, says leading privacy law firm
May 24, 2019 24 May'19
Ofcom makes new proposals to liberalise access Openreach’s ducts and poles

The telecoms regulator is proposing new regulations on accessing Openreach’s infrastructure that it hopes will incentives others to roll out ultrafast networks quicker