John Lister

Google is set to build its own fleet of self-driving cars from scratch. The new autonomous cars will have no steering wheel, which will present significant legal hurdles in order to get them on the streets. To date, Google has been working with ... traditional auto-makers to make what are effectively modified versions of existing vehicles, retrofitted with autonomous technology. The cars, which have been tested on public roads, have the usual steering wheel and pedals; pressing an emergency button allows the driver to take over the controls from the computer instantly. How the Self-driving Cars ... (view more)

A new study reviewed security among leading online companies following the Heartbleed bug scare, in which a commonly used encryption technique for secure websites had the capability to expose highly confidential data. The study comes from Dashlane, ... a password management firm. The study evaluated 80 web sites and examined 6 factors with regard to the way passwords and login processes are handled. Using these details, Dashlane ranked each site between +100 and minus -100. Based on a range of security issues, the study suggests Apple and Microsoft have the securest policies for passwords, while ... (view more)

Iowa Democrats are considering using online voting in primary elections for 2016. It follows two separate moves to increase online voting in Utah. The Iowa Democrat officials raised the idea during a meeting of the Democrat National Committee. They ... want to introduce online voting for the primaries, in which local Democrat supporters indicate which candidates they want to represent the party in the presidential election. The Iowa officials believe adding online voting could help involve people who are state residents but can't vote in person, such as military staff away on service or those ... (view more)

The United States Department of Homeland Security (DOHS) has warned that users should switch away from Internet Explorer until a serious bug has been fixed. It's the first big security scare since Microsoft stopped supporting Windows XP earlier this ... month. The bug doesn't have a glamorous nickname and is instead simply known as CVE-2014-1776. When triggered, the bug allows for remote code execution, which means a third party would have full control over a remote PC without the need for credentials or consent from the PC owner. By clicking on a malicious link or by visiting an infected ... (view more)

Microsoft is targeting school pupils with a special ad-free version of the Bing search engine . It says testing shows the software improves classroom performance, though critics suggest Microsoft's motives are far from charitable. The special ... edition of the search engine is called Bing in the Classroom. Microsoft initially tested it in five school districts last year and is now making it available nationwide. It will be available to all K-12 schools (meaning primary and secondary education) in the United States. According to Microsoft estimates, students using school computers see a total ... (view more)

US government officials have flatly denied having any advance knowledge of the Heartbleed bug . The bug, which has already been exploited by hackers, has resulted in exposed social security numbers of the Canada Revenue Agency and other personal ... data. It's estimated that the bug affects approximately six percent of all websites world-wide. Now, it's emerged that US spies who discover security bugs are sometimes allowed to exploit them, rather than warn the public of any imminent dangers. A report by the Bloomberg news agency suggested the National Security Agency (NSA) knew about Heartbleed ... (view more)

A massive number of websites could be affected by a critical security flaw used in conjunction with web sites and web browsers. Experts suggest that all web users change their passwords to all major web sites (including banking, social media, etc) - ... but doing so comes with a number of caveats. The security flaw is related to SSL (secure sockets layer) and is expected to affect approximately six percent of all websites world-wide. According to a recent survey that reviewed approximately 959 million websites, "66% ... are powered by technology built around SSL, and that doesn't include ... (view more)

Google says the rate at which governments and other groups ask it to hand over user data has more than doubled in the past five years. However, a growing proportion of those requests are proving unjustified. The figures come from Google's ... twice-yearly Transparency Report, which it has been publishing since the second half of 2009. Back then it received a total of 12,539 requests in six months. That figure has risen in every period and the latest data, covering the second half of 2013, shows 27,477 requests. Since the first report, the number of requests made by governments has increased ... (view more)

Google says it is going to mediation over claims it unlawfully scanned the contents of emails for advertising purposes. It's a surprise move, considering that Google recently won a major court victory over the affair. The legal dispute centers on ... the fact that Google's computers scan through the contents of email messages sent via its free Gmail service. Google then uses keywords that appear in messages to produce advertisements that appear alongside the message in the user's inbox. As an example: if you received a message from a friend mentioning an upcoming golf game, you might ... (view more)

Politicians in California are to consider a proposed law that would give drivers more control over what happens to data gathered in their high-tech cars. It's prompted a heated debate between driver clubs and automobile manufacturers. According to ... senator Bill Monning, around one in five new cars are designed to automatically send data to manufacturers. That proportion is expected to grow rapidly in the next 10 years as more cars integrate mobile technology and rely heavily on electronic control systems. (Source: latimes.com ) The type of data collected varies widely. In some cases it ... (view more)