Out of range
A Mori poll of local council officers says that around 18% are either "not very" or "not at all confident" of meeting the 2005 target to have all services online. IT staff have the least confidence, with insufficient staff and funding the main barriers. However, around 60% of respondents are "fairly confident" and 20% "very confident" of meeting the target. The survey, leaked to E-Government Bulletin, was commissioned by Planning and Regulatory Services Online, a national project of the office of the deputy prime minister. A spokesperson says the Implementing Electronic Government statements from councils, due out later this month, will show "pretty good" progress, and it is confident the 2005 target will be met.
Immigrant tagging
People subject to immigration controls could be tagged, rather than detained, under plans included in last week's Queen's Speech. The Home Office says the technology would be similar to tags used for home detention curfews, and could be managed by the same external contractor, when the existing management deal with Securicor expires in February 2005. The bill will also include provision for those judged to be at a low risk of disappearing to confirm their whereabouts by voice recognition over the telephone: today they must visit a police station or immigration centre regularly.
Only skin deep
A US firm is looking for banks willing to ask their customers to have radio frequency identification (RFID) chips implanted under their skin, as a replacement for debit and credit cards. Applied Digital Solutions says its VeriPay chip, the size of a grain of rice, can be placed between the shoulder and the elbow with the aid of a local anaesthetic. Simon Davies, director of Privacy International, said anyone containing such a chip would become "subordinate to the technology", facing an operation if they wanted to change banks. As for criminals, "whereas these days they steal your wallet, with this they would slice your arm open".
Norway fine sneaks
Norway's Data Inspectorate says it may fine web sites that place pictures of people online without permission, and if they do not remove these images on demand. According to the Norwegian newspaper Aftenposten, this will allow the inspectorate to tackle web sites featuring "sneak" photos, such as those taken by picture phone users in showers. The organisation was reacting to a legal decision against a Swedish church volunteer, who put details of fellow volunteers online. The European Court of Justice last week made an interim decision on her case, saying that posting personal information, images or video clips of others without their permission breaks laws based on European directives.
Story from Aftenposten (in English):
Virus battle
British businesses are being forced to fend off an average of 500 application attacks each month, according to research released this week by Radware. The figure, gleaned from a study of 50 small UK businesses over a six-month period, includes attacks by viruses and worms, and denial of service attacks. "It does not bode well for larger companies that even small enterprises are being attacked with such venom," said Anthony Crowley, regional director for Radware.
Early release
It is likely to be Microsoft's biggest software launch this decade - but not until 2005. Yet copies of Longhorn, the next major revision of Windows, are reported to be on sale in Malaysia, at $1.58 a pop. The version being touted was distributed to developers in October at a Microsoft event in Los Angeles.
