Month: May 2020

  • Wireless Broadband Alliance calls for single global Wi-Fi network

    With Wi-Fi 6E potentially about to create a revolution in networking, the Wireless Broadband Alliance (WBA) has invited all organisations in the Wi-Fi ecosystem to become part of a globally available Wi-Fi federation, WBA OpenRoaming.

    The WBA aims to drive “seamless”, interoperable service experiences via Wi-Fi within the global wireless ecosystem and strives to enable collaboration between service providers, technology companies and all other organisations within the wireless ecosystem.

    WBA OpenRoaming is designed to offer an automatic and secure connection of billions of devices to millions of Wi-Fi networks, providing a global standards-led approach, removing public-guest Wi-Fi connectivity barriers and

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  • Trump signs executive order targeting social media firms

    US president Donald Trump has signed an executive order calling for the removal of legal protections for social media companies.

    The Executive Order on Preventing Online Censorship was signed on Thursday 28 May and focuses on Section 230 of the 1996 Communications Decency Act, a small 26-word passage in the legislation that shields social media companies from liability for user-generated content.

    This is because any “interactive computer service” cannot be treated as the publisher or speaker of content posted on its forums by others under the Act, and are therefore not legally liable for this material.

    The order was signed

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  • Government launches IoT security funding round

    The government has launched a new funding round to support security-by-design in connected internet of things (IoT) products, with a total pot of £400,000 on offer to support industry-led assurance schemes and proposals.

    Launched today by digital minister Matt Warman, the funding scheme will seek to further schemes that demonstrate IoT devices have undergone independent testing – such as is currently available through the BSI – or robust and accredited self-assessment. It said such schemes would be vital in enabling consumers to make security-conscious buying decisions when it came to connected products.

    “We are committed to making the UK the

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  • European General Court annuls ban on proposed Three UK/O2 merger

    Just weeks after Telefónica and Liberty Global agreed to a merger of its O2 and Virgin Media businesses in the UK, the General Court of the European Union has annulled the 2016 decision by the European Commission (EC) to block the proposed acquisition of O2 by CK Hutchison business Three UK.

    The court regarded the EC’s 11 May 2016 judgment as not having proved, to the requisite legal standards, the effects to which Three’s proposed acquisition would have on service prices and quality of services in the UK mobile market, and that the EC failed to show that the effects

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  • Public Health England to keep contact-tracing data for 20 years

    Public Health England (PHE) will retain the personal data of British citizens gathered through the NHS’s Covid-19 coronavirus Test and Trace programme until the year 2040, it has emerged.

    The programme, which launched today despite being mired in alleged IT problems and minus the controversial contact-tracing app, is intended to help bring the UK out of lockdown by tracking down the personal contacts of those who test positive for Covid-19, which has now likely killed more than 60,000 people in the UK at the rate of 891 per million, which may be one of the highest death rates

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  • IT contractors hit by delays in Covid-19 furlough scheme payments from umbrella companies

    The government stands accused of adding to the financial hardship facing IT contractors who have lost work during the Covid-19 pandemic by failing to adequately clarify how the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme (CJRS) works for those employed through umbrella companies.

    Under the terms of the CJRS, employees are eligible to receive 80% of their usual monthly salary, up to £2,500, provided they are furloughed by their employers.

    In situations where a contractor provides their services through an umbrella company, the two entities are considered to have an employee and employer relationship, leading to the assumption that contractors should be eligible

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