Technology | The Guardian

Analysis of 28 global studies dating back to 2008 found a minuscule positive correlationVideo games do not lead to violence or aggression, according to a reanalysis of data gathered from more than 21,000 young people around the world.The researchers, led by Aaron Drummond from New Zealand’s Massey University, re-examined 28 studies from previous years that looked at the link between aggressive behaviour and video gaming, a method known as a meta-analysis. Continue reading...

As Amazon thrives under Covid-19, critics say its founder’s wealth – he could buy the UK’s four big banks – is ‘obscene’He was already by far the world’s richest person, but Amazon founder Jeff Bezos has set a fresh record increasing his fortune by an additional $13bn (£10bn) in a single day to take his personal wealth to an unprecedented $189bn.The huge increase in Bezos’s wealth on Monday alone is equivalent of adding nearly 30 times the Queen’s £350m fortune. His total wealth now makes him worth more than Britain’s biggest company, the pharmaceutical giant AstraZeneca which is valued on the stock exchange at £121bn. Continue reading...

Trump isn’t the only one to fire off shots at other world leaders; Twitter can amplify misunderstandings and spread disinformationJust because Twitter is predominantly filled with quips and kvetching doesn’t mean what’s said on the platform can’t have far-reaching consequences, according to a new study from the Centre for Science and Security Studies at King’s College London on how government officials and agencies use Twitter during global crises.In Escalation by Tweet: Managing the New Nuclear Diplomacy, authors Dr Heather Williams and Dr Alexi Drew report that while “tweets from government officials may help shape the American public narrative and provide greater insights into US decision-making”, they can also create confusion, upend diplomatic communications and escalate global tensions. Continue reading...

Firm could have to pay out millions if it loses case, with implications across entire gig economyA five-year battle over the status and rights of Uber drivers reaches the supreme court in a case that lawyers believe has the potential to transform the gig economy in Britain.Uber wants seven of the UK’s most senior judges to overturn a 2018 appeal court ruling that drivers for the ride-hailing giant are workers and entitled to workers’ rights including the national minimum wage and paid holiday. Continue reading...

Prime minister’s comments about previous attack ‘incredibly useful’, but messaging needs to be consistent, advisory panel says

21 July 1937 The Italian physicist and inventor of a successful wireless telegraph dies in Rome at the age of 63Guglielmo Marconi (whose death is reported on another page) may be said with truth to have been not only the originator of radio-telegraphy but the most successful worker in its development. He was born at Bologna in 1874, his father being an Italian and his mother an Irish-woman; he was educated at Leghorn Technical School and at the University of Bologna. At an early age he showed inventive powers, and whilst still a boy he had acquired much knowledge of the results of researches on electro-magnetic waves by Hertz and others and had formed the idea of using them to communicate over a distance. On his father’s estate at the Villa Griffone, near Bologna, he began experimenting in June, 1894, with an ordinary spark induction coil and home-made coherers and other appliances.Related: Marconi and the invention of radio (1915-1943) Continue reading...

Video-sharing app continues to generate unease over privacy and censorship issuesAt first glance, TikTok is an unusual geopolitical flashpoint. The app, which offers a set of tools that make producing video fun and easy and in turn provides viewers with an endless stream of entertaining sub-minute clips, has more than half a billion users, with the majority aged under 30.It is owned by a Chinese company, ByteDance, but unlike peers such as Huawei and ZTE, it has little to do with critical national infrastructure, and has so far managed to avoid the accusations of intellectual property theft and state aid which are often the first step to sanctions. If anything, with Facebook this week launching a pitch-perfect TikTok clone, Reels, the company can make a case that it is a genuine innovator, oft-followed, never beaten. Continue reading...

Irish-made app has more than 1.3m downloads, in stark contrast to the UK’s efforts

Union wants ride-sharing firm to increase transparency and disclose how data is usedMinicab drivers will launch a legal bid to uncover secret computer algorithms used by Uber to manage their work in a test case that could increase transparency for millions of gig economy workers across Europe.Two UK drivers are demanding to see the huge amounts of data the ride-sharing company collects on them and how this is used to exert management control, including through automated decision-making that invisibly shapes their jobs. Continue reading...

Video-sharing app suspends building plans, with British ban on Huawei 5G kit seen as factorThe Chinese social media firm TikTok has pulled back from talks to site the headquarters for its non-China business in the UK, threatening the creation of 3,000 jobs, as fears grow of a tit-for-tat trade war between London and Beijing.Its parent company, ByteDance, which is based in Beijing, had spent months in negotiations with the Department for International Trade and No 10 officials to expand operations in addition to the near 800 employed by TikTok. Continue reading...

Accusations that Russian intelligence was involved in cyber attacks on coronavirus labs make ‘no sense’, says envoy

‘Geopolitical’ factors were behind the move, the company was told, with hints that the decision could be reversed in futureThe British government privately told the Chinese technology giant Huawei that it was being banned from Britain’s 5G telecoms network partly for “geopolitical” reasons following huge pressure from President Donald Trump, the Observer has learned.In the days leading up to the controversial announcement on Tuesday last week, intensive discussions were held and confidential communications exchanged between the government and Whitehall officials on one side and Huawei executives on the other. Continue reading...

The platform’s advertising software is beautifully engineered but it often produces ugly resultsEarlier this month Anne Borden King posted news on her Facebook page that she had been diagnosed with breast cancer. Since then, she reports, “my Facebook feed has featured ads for ‘alternative cancer care’. The ads, which were new to my timeline, promote everything from cumin seeds to colloidal silver as cancer treatments. Some ads promise luxury clinics – or even ‘nontoxic cancer therapies’ on a beach in Mexico.”The irony is that King is the last person likely to fall for this crap. She’s a consultant for the watchdog group Bad Science Watch and a co-founder of the Campaign Against Phony Autism Cures. So she effortlessly recognised the telltale indicators of pseudoscience marketing – unproven and sometimes dangerous treatments, promising simplistic solutions and support. In that sense she is the polar opposite of, say, Donald Trump. Continue reading...

(3-Fold Games, Humble Games)

Elon Musk’s company is the world’s most valuable carmaker, but it has never made a profitWhen Elon Musk tweeted in May that the share price of Tesla was “too high” at $780 (£622), it caused a brief moment of panicked selling by investors in the electric carmaker. Yet two months later Tesla had overtaken Toyota as the world’s most valuable carmaker in a remarkable rally in which its market value briefly topped $300bn this week.Tesla has never made an annual profit but the company has a market value equivalent to a third of the combined US, EU and Japanese auto indices – despite an expected share of only 0.8% of the global auto market this year. That disconnect has prompted re-evaluation from some investors and euphoria for others as they try to work out if the carmaker can ever justify the heady valuation. Continue reading...

Social network investigating whether users’ private data was compromised

At least two victims have blamed the mobile phone infiltration on a ‘dirty war’ by the Spanish state

Minister says Britain and allies confident Russian intelligence was behind cyber-attacks

Vow comes despite app’s own transparency reports revealing that it complies with requestsAs TikTok claims it would never hand over user information on Australian users to foreign governments, the company’s own transparency reporting reveals hundreds of instances where user data has been handed over to governments.The short video app popular with a younger demographic and used by some 1 billion people worldwide has been the subject of intense scrutiny over concerns its Beijing-based company ByteDance could be handing over data about its users to the Chinese government. Continue reading...

Larry Kudlow suggests that the popular video-sharing app could survive as an independent companyTikTok, the social media platform popular with young people around the world, could break away from its Chinese parent to evade being banned in the US, a White House adviser has said.“We haven’t made final decisions [on the ban] but as has been reported in some places, I think TikTok is going to pull out of the holding company which is China-run and operate as independent company,” White House economic adviser Larry Kudlow told reporters on Thursday. Continue reading...

The FBI has launched an investigation into the attack, saying the motivation appeared to be ‘cryptocurrency fraud’Twenty-four hours after a major security breach at Twitter saw the verified accounts of world leaders, celebrities, and corporate brands hijacked to publish fraudulent messages, few things were clear about the hack except this: it could have been much, much worse.“Imagine this happening the night before the election,” said Bruce Schneier, a prominent security technologist and fellow at Harvard Kennedy School. “It doesn’t take a lot of imagination to go: ‘Wow!’” Continue reading...

With the US government considering banning the China-based video-sharing app, here’s what you need to knowThe wildly popular video-sharing app TikTok is facing a potential ban in the US and among employees of several major companies over security concerns.What does that mean for you? Should you delete TikTok from your device? Here’s what you need to know. Continue reading...

UK National Cyber Security Centre says drug firms and research groups being targeted by group known as APT29

Data privacy rights have been backed by a new ruling, the latest twist in a nine-year campaign to limit surveillance by US agencies

Long-running legal saga finds inadequate protections against snooping on personal data by US intelligence agencies

Pair say they will file complaint against former head of Spain’s national intelligence centreTwo leading members of the Catalan independence movement whose mobile phones were targeted with spyware are to take legal action against the former head of Spain’s national intelligence centre (NIC).The announcement came after a joint investigation by the Guardian and El País revealed that Roger Torrent, the speaker of the Catalan parliament, and the former regional foreign minister Ernest Maragall were among at least four pro-independence activists targeted using Israeli spyware that its makers say is sold only to governments to track criminals and terrorists. Continue reading...

Twitter verified users with blue ticks prevented from getting their thoughts out during a two-hour lockoutThere was panic and joy on Wednesday night when verified Twitter users were forbidden from posting, for approximately two hours, for the first time.The unprecedented move followed the hacking of a series of high-profile accounts, including Joe Biden, Barack Obama, Elon Musk, Bill Gates, Jeff Bezos, Kanye West and Apple. Continue reading...

TikTok denies it provides user data to the Chinese government. We look at the claims and the factsThe concern over what data TikTok might be collecting on its users and providing to government authorities should be a concern for every app, not just those linked to China.This week, in response to calls to ban the app in Australia, TikTok wrote to Australian politicians to say it was being used as a “political football” in the diplomatic fight between Australia, the US and China, and claimed it was misinformation to suggest the app was providing user data back to the Chinese government, or storing Australian data within China. Continue reading...

Donald Trump has claimed credit for the UK's decision to ban Huawei from the country’s 5G networks, after it was announced the firm would be stripped out of phone networks by 2027. The US president said he 'did it myself, for the most part', referring to talking countries out of using Huawei.Liu Xiaoming, the Chinese ambassador to Britain, said the move was 'disheartening' and trust had been seriously damaged between the two countries and among business

Global Times mouthpiece says Beijing must respond or be seen as ‘easy to bully’Chinese state media has foreshadowed “public and painful” retaliation against the UK over its ban of Huawei from the country’s 5G networks, as Donald Trump appeared to take credit for the decision.Following Britain’s announcement that Huawei would be stripped out of the country’s phone networks by 2027, the state-run Global Times said in an editorial that China could not “remain passive”. Continue reading...

Lawmakers are about to undertake their first major antitrust hearing in 50 years. They should make tech companies squirm

Hundreds of thousands of people followed pregnancy of Miss Thea, 24, on social mediaThe mother of an Instagram and YouTube influencer who died when she was eight months pregnant, along with her unborn son, has said she would miss her “for the rest of my life”.Hundreds of thousands of people had followed Nicole Thea’s pregnancy and she had named her child Reign before the birth. Continue reading...

Experts say small towns and rural areas will be hardest hit by UK ditching Chinese firmSmall towns and rural areas across the UK will be hardest hit by delays of up to three years in the rollout of 5G mobile technology, experts have said after ministers announced that Huawei will be stripped from networks by 2027.The total cost to the economy could exceed £7bn, according to research analysing the potential cost of eliminating the Chinese equipment supplier in response to US sanctions and pressure from about 60 rebel Tory MPs. Continue reading...

PS4; Sucker Punch/Sony

Huawei equipment is to be stripped out of Britain's 5G phone networks by 2027, the culture secretary has confirmed. Oliver Dowden said firms should not buy Huawei 5G kit after 31 December this year and it would eventually be illegal to do so. Huawei denies it has ever been asked to engage in spying on behalf of China

Social media company insists it is ‘not aligned with any government’ after MPs calls for app to be bannedSocial media company TikTok has written to Australian MPs claiming to be “caught in the middle” of rising tensions between countries, and saying it is being used as a “political football”.The letter, sent to members of parliament on Monday, said it was correcting the record on “false claims” made about TikTok and the company’s ties to the Chinese government. Continue reading...

Exclusive: Guardian and El País find regional speaker was targeted in ‘possible domestic political espionage’

Roger Torrent tells Guardian suspected targeting of his phone using spyware is proof of ‘dirty war’

Call to release review of Moscow’s influence now that security committee is finally being set upThe long-delayed report into Russian infiltration in the UK could be published next week now that parliament’s intelligence and security committee is being set up, its most senior Labour member told MPs on Monday night.Kevan Jones said “there was no reason why” the document could not be published “before parliament goes into recess” – nine months after its release was blocked by Boris Johnson ahead of the general election. The report was sent to Downing Street in October. Continue reading...

Up to 60 MPs say phasing out of Chinese telecoms firm’s 5G role will not go far enough

HBO is developing a series of The Last of Us, EA has a Sims reality show, but which other video games could work on the small screenThis is a wonderful time to be a person who prefers watching video games to playing them. The Sonic the Hedgehog movie is officially the second-biggest film of the year worldwide (because it’s good, but also possibly because of the lockdown) and, even better, two new TV shows based on video games are on the horizon.The first is HBO’s The Last of Us, which – since it’s being written and directed by the creative team behind Chernobyl – has the potential to be terrific. The gameplay of the video game was arguably secondary to its characters and story anyway, so, if the series can translate even a modicum of the game’s mournful dread to screen, it’ll be something worth watching. Continue reading...

Philip Jansen says it would be impossible to strip Huawei out of UK telecoms within 10 years

Platforms from Facebook to Reddit have responded to the national uprising. Here’s what they’ve done so farMajor technology platforms are re-examining how they interact with police forces and regulate hate speech online following the death of George Floyd and the weeks of protests that ensued.From avatars and hashtags to policy changes and donations, here is what technology companies are saying about #BlackLivesMatter – and what they are actually doing to back up those statements of support. Continue reading...

Chief executive slams ‘toxic behaviours’ as unacceptable after employees denounce predatory conduct, leading to resignationsThe second most powerful executive at French gaming company Ubisoft is among more senior staff to have left the firm as it pursues an internal investigation into sexual harassment allegations.Last month the company, one of the world’s largest video game publishers with a portfolio including Assassin’s Creed and Far Cry, launched a probe after allegations of sexual misconduct were shared online. Continue reading...

The company has survived previous seemingly existential crises with little damage to its monarchical structureOn the evening of 13 July 2013, a few hours after George Zimmerman was acquitted over the fatal shooting of 17-year-old Trayvon Martin, Alicia Garza logged on to her Facebook account and typed a phrase that would change the world: “#blacklivesmatter”. A few minutes later, she posted again: “Black people. I love you. I love us. Our lives matter.”That Facebook played a small role in the inception of a movement that may have become the largest in US history is the kind of story that the embattled company likes to point to when it makes its case that it does more good than harm. CEO Mark Zuckerberg boasted of the hashtag’s origin on Facebook in October 2019, when he delivered a speech about his view of free expression at Georgetown University. Continue reading...

Chinese telecom firm stockpiles 500,000 pieces of equipment but fears wider banHuawei believes it can supply 5G hardware unaffected by White House sanctions to the UK for the next five years, sidestepping the expected conclusion of an emergency review on Tuesday next week.The company has stockpiled 500,000 pieces of kit but fears a wider ban on its equipment will be unveiled to placate Conservative rebel MPs, who say the Chinese supplier represents a national security risk. Continue reading...

Email to some workers calling for removal of app due to ‘security risks’ was sent in error, spokesperson saysAmazon made waves on Friday when it emailed some employees instructing them to delete TikTok from their phones over security concerns tied to the China-owned app.But hours later an Amazon spokesperson said the request had been sent out in error and that there was no change to the company’s policies at the moment. Continue reading...

BT executive says UK customers on 5G, 4G and 2G would all face problems if equipment removedThe UK would face mobile phone “blackouts” if networks were required to remove all Huawei equipment by 2023, a BT executive has told MPs.Speaking to the Commons science and technology committee, Howard Watson, BT’s chief technology and information officer, said the proposed three-year timeframe for the removal of the Chinese firm from Britain’s mobile phone infrastructure was borderline unachievable. Continue reading...

Job cuts were put on hold during worst of coronavirus crisis due to demand from people working from home

Latest top-of-the-line Dell is a brilliant machine with a great screen in a tiny body, but is let down badly by software problemsDell’s XPS 13 squeezes more screen, more power and even Windows Hello face recognition into a tiny frame, but trips up over software issues.The XPS 13 is Dell’s top-of-the-line compact laptop and starts at £1,349. Various models with different processors, storage and screen resolutions are available. Continue reading...