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      in UK Politics

      UK banning TikTok on official devices

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      For free real time breaking news alerts sent straight to your inbox sign up to our breaking news emails Sign up to our free breaking news emails The UK government will ban TikTok on official devices. A review by the National Cyber Security Centre will advise that the Chinese-owned app should be barred from government […] More

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      in UK Politics

      UK considering fully banning TikTok, minister says

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      For free real time breaking news alerts sent straight to your inbox sign up to our breaking news emails Sign up to our free breaking news emails TikTok could be fully banned in the UK, the security minister has suggested. The app has faced a range of bans in countries across the world, including the […] More

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      in UK Politics

      New UK rules could force people to provide ID before using Reddit or Google in attempt to stop children viewing pornography, campaigners warn

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      New rules in the UK could force people to provide ID before they use Google or Reddit, campaigners have warned.The regulation attempts to restrict pornographic websites so that they cannot be viewed by children, with a view to asking people to provide age verification before they can visit adult websites.But new changes to the rules attempt to take on websites that show pornographic content as just part of their offering. That includes social networks and search engines.That could mean that websites that nominally publish adult content – which may include Google, Twitter, Reddit and other major platforms – could be covered by the rules.That may mean that they could be forced to check users’ age before they are able to use those sites. While the precise way those checks will happen has still not been revealed, suggestions have included requiring people to provide credit card details or other personally identifying information.That is the latest warning from the Open Rights Group, which has been among a range of privacy activists and other campaigners attempting to fight against the new regulations.“There is no indication that this proposal will protect people from tracking and profiling porn viewing. We have to assume the same basic mistakes about privacy and security may be about to be made again,” said Jim Killock, executive director of the Open Rights Group.“The proposal could force people to age verify before using Google search or reading Reddit. This appears to be a huge boon to age verification companies, for little practical benefit for child safety, and much harm to people’s privacy.” The rules, sometimes referred to as “porn blocks” are part of the Online Safety Bill. Such age verification schemed have been proposed for years – but have been repeatedly delayed and changed as regulators attempt to find practical ways to put them in place. More

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      in UK Politics

      Twitter finds its own algorithms amplify ‘political right’ but it doesn’t yet know why

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      Twitter’s algorithm amplifies right-wing news outlets more than others – but the social network is not exactly sure why – according to internal research posted on its website on Thursday.Since April, the company has examined if, and how, its algorithm that recommends content to users amplifies political content.In six out of seven countries – all but Germany – tweets posted by accounts from the political right receive more exposure by the algorithm than the political left when studied as a group.The first part of the study examined millions of tweets posted by elected officials, such as MPs, in seven countries – Canada, France, Germany, Japan, Spain, the UK, and the US – between 1 April to 15 August 2020.The company used this data to test whether or not these tweets are amplified more on the algorithmically-ordered “timeline” of tweets than the reverse-chronological feed, and whether there was variety of results within a political party. Twitter also studied whether its recommendation algorithms amplify political content from news outlets. To do this, the company also analysed hundreds of millions of tweets containing links to news stories shared by people on Twitter between April and August last year.Right-leaning news outlets see greater algorithmic amplification on Twitter compared to left-leaning news outlets – the researchers found. The initial results only show bias in amplification, and not what causes it. Rumman Chowdhury, the head of Twitter’s machine learning, ethics, transparency and accountability team, called it “the what, not the why” in an interview with tech news website Protocol.Since 2016, people on Twitter have been able to choose between viewing algorithmically-ordered posts first in the Home timeline, or viewing the most recent tweets in reverse-chronological order.Twitter found that tweets about political content from elected officials, regardless of party or whether the party is in power, are algorithmically amplified on the Home timeline when compared to political content on the reverse-chronological timeline.The first setting displays a stream of tweets from accounts that the account holder has chosen to follow, as well as recommendations of other content that Twitter thinks the person might be interested in based on their existing list of people that they follow.Group effects did not translate to individual effects, Twitter said, since party affiliation or ideology has not been a factor that the network’s systems consider when recommending content to users.Therefore, “two individuals in the same political party would not necessarily see the same amplification” – Twitter said.Twitter wrote on its blog: “As a result, what an individual sees on their home timeline is a function of how they interact with the algorithmic system, as well as how the system is designed.”It added that it hopes its findings will “contribute to an evidence-based discussion of the role these algorithms play in shaping political content consumption on the internet.”Twitter argues that “algorithmic amplification is not problematic by default” as “all algorithms amplify”, but that it would be an issue if there is “preferential treatment as a function of how the algorithm is constructed versus the interactions people have with it.”The company said it is willing to share the aggregated datasets it used in the study to third-party researchers “upon request”. More

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      in World Politics

      Government revive push to make apps like WhatsApp and iMessage weaken protections so they can read messages

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      End-to-end encryption lets users use messaging services without the owners of those services being able to access the conversations.Government representatives, including Home Secretary Priti Patel, US Attorney General Bill Barr, and others, said they are concerned that “encryption is applied in a way that wholly precludes any legal access to content”.The governments say they “support strong encryption, which plays a crucial role in protecting personal data, privacy, intellectual property, trade secrets and cyber security.”However, with regards to certain crimes, such as child exploitation, the government should be allowed access to private channels.This access would:”Embed the safety of the public in system designs, thereby enabling companies to act against illegal content and activity effectively with no reduction to safety, and facilitating the investigation and prosecution of offences and safeguarding the vulnerable;”Enable law enforcement access to content in a readable and usable format where an authorisation is lawfully issued, is necessary and proportionate, and is subject to strong safeguards and oversight; and”Engage in consultation with governments and other stakeholders to facilitate legal access in a way that is substantive and genuinely influences design decisions.”WhatsApp, Telegram, and Signal are all end-to-end encrypted, while other platforms like Facebook Messenger, Twitter, Instagram, and text messages are not.However if end-to-end encryption is ‘broken’, by allowing a backdoor for law enforcement agencies as these governments have suggested, it could allow malicious individuals the ability to access private conversations.Read moreMany large technology companies, advocacy groups, and the general public have criticised the use of backdoors.Earlier this year, when Zoom said that its free video calling service would not be end-to-end encrypted so it could work better with law enforcement, over 19,000 internet users signed a petition from Mozilla and the Electronic Freedom Foundation (EFF) to Zoom in protest. Zoom eventually reversed the decision.“We reiterate that data protection, respect for privacy and the importance of encryption as technology changes and global Internet standards are developed remain at the forefront of each state’s legal framework”, the governments’ statement concludes.“However, we challenge the assertion that public safety cannot be protected without compromising privacy or cyber security”. More