Updates

Glasgow firm Boston Networks in co-operation with the Scottish government, the Scottish Enterprise, and the Highland and Islands Enterprise (HIE) launched a £6 million Internet of things (IoT) network in Scotland. The network will work via 500 long range (LoRa) wireless gateways situated throughout Scotland, enabling transmission of data between electronic devices and appliances across the country. Mostly businesses and public sector organisations that could monitor the efficiency and productivity of their IoT devices and improve their functioning will benefit from the network.

Google has launched two new apps that will cater to the needs of people who are deaf or have hearing impairment. Google in a recent blog post mentioned the apps as Live Transcribe and Sound Amplifier designed to mainly run on the Android OS. The apps which come pre-installed on Pixel 3 phones in Accessibility Settings will also be available in the Google Play Store for other phones as well.

According to the post by Google, Live Transcript is an app that automatically transcribes speech in near-real time allowing people to communicate in peculiar situations where communications would be difficult. Sound Amplifier on the other hand is an app designed for people with hearing loss, allowing such users to tweak sound settings to improve the quality of their hearing ability.

In a letter sent to White House cybersecurity officials, over 20 US industry groups, including the US Chamber of Commerce, the Telecommunication Industry Association, and the Alliance of Automobile Manufacturers, asked for the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) to continue leading the development of cybersecurity guidance for Internet of things (IoT) devices. The groups praised the work done by NIST so far concerning the Framework for Improving Critical Infrastructure Cybersecurity and suggested to follow the framework concerning cybersecurity guidance for IoT devices. They concluded the letter by asking the US Congress to increase the NIST funding, given the extent of its work.

The code of practice includes guidance on testing automated vehicle technologies in public places in the UK and recommendations on how to maintain safety during the trials. The code is based on the 2015 guide and it provides clearer guidance on: increasing the safety and responsibility of trials, and improving trial transparency by engaging with the public, authorities, and other entities when planning trials.

On Safer Internet Day 2019, UNICEF called for co-ordinated efforts  to tackle and prevent violence against children online and protect their rights. As more young people come online, UNICEF Executive Director Henrietta Fore called for preventing 70.6% of youth  (aged 15-24) from being cyberbullied. The results are from a recent UNICEF poll conducted among over one million youth across 160 countries. ‘Thirty years after the adoption of the Convention on the Rights of the Child and the creation of the World Wide Web, it is time for governments, families, academia and the private sector to put children and young people at the centre of digital policies,’ Fore stated..

On Safer Internet Day, that took place on 5 February 2019, Google Chrome, in collaboration with cryptographists from Stanford University, released a new extension named ‘Password Checkup’. THe extension checks username and password combinations entered in login pages to be placed in a Google database of four billion credentials compromised in data breaches. The extension is aimed to mitigate negative consequences of massive breaches like Collection #1. Password Checkup will not alert a user when they use unsafe and simple passwords, but when the username and password have been previously breached. Moreover, the extension is designed in a way that Google does not learn user passwords and keeps the breached credential database protected.

The World Bank Group and the European Commission committed to tackle together issues related to the future of work in all countries and regions where they operate. The collaboration between both organisations will be focused on the skills challenges emerging from the changing nature of work. They aim to prepare citizens with sound basic education and digital skills. Activities related to the digital economy and employability are at the core of each institution’s commitment. They will collaborate in region-wide initiatives, including the Africa-Europe Alliance on Sustainable Investment and Jobs, and the Digital Moonshot for Africa. Technical teams will meet frequently in order to foster coordination at global, regional and national levels.

The UN Economic and Social Commission for Western Asian (ESCWA) released a study on Arab Horizon 2030: Digital Technologies for Development. The study examines digital technologies for development in the Arab region within the framework of the United Nations Agenda for Sustainable Development and the horizon it sets for the year 2030. Through this study, ESCWA aims to promote radical policy changes in utilising digital technologies for sustainable development in the Arab region. To this aim, it identifies proposals and recommendations for harnessing these technologies in social, economic, and human development opportunities. The research tackles seven thematic policy areas relevant to digital technologies and their impact on development goals: digital strategies, ICT sector, ICT infrastructure, cybersecurity, digital divide, e-applications, and e-government. For each of the identified thematic policy areas, the study provides an in-depth analysis organised under four sections: 1) contextualization of the thematic issue with respect to its impact on the SDGs, 2) analysis of local policies in the Arab countries and the gap with advanced countries, 3) pinpointing Horizon 2030 vision and policy change recommendations to fulfill SDGs, and 4) outlining business-as-usual trajectory in line with Horizon 2030 vision. At the end, the study provides a summary of the 2030 vision and the pertinent policy change recommendations for each of the seven areas.

The US Army has activated its Artificial Intelligence (AI) Task Force at the National Robotics Engineering Centre of the Carnegie Mellon University. The Task Force will, among others, foster cooperation between the Army and the broader AI community, with the aim of developing technology that 'will modernise processes used to equip and protect soldiers, enhance readiness, and increase the Army's capabilities'. Carnegie Mellon will act as the hub for the Task Force, which intends to engage other universities and private sector entities across the country. It will also co-operate with the Army Research Lab and the Department of Defense's Joint Artificial Intelligence Center.​

Singapore Land Transport Authority, with Enterprise Singapore, standards development organisations, and the Singapore Standards Council developed a set of preliminary national standards for driverless vehicles. The standards, known as technical reference 68 (TR 68), were developed last year and aim to promote the development and use of vehicles in SAE (Society of Automotive Engineers) levels 4 and 5 which are fully autonomous driverless vehicles.

The US Food and Drugs Administration (FDA) held a public workshop dealing with cybersecurity in medical devices. The purpose of the workshop was to discuss the newly released draft guidance ‘Content of Premarket Submissions for Management of Cybersecurity in Medical Devices’, especially the topic of cybersecurity bill of materials (CBOM). The guidance details recommendations such as: limiting data access only to reliable users and devices, improving security measures for data access, and securing data integrity and confidentiality. The public can comment on the guidance until 18 March 2019.

Google's cybersecurity incubator Jigsaw expands its Project Shield for political organisations in Europe on the eve of parliamentary elections in May 2019. Project Shield was launched in 2016 to mitigate distributed denial of service (DDoS) attacks for free on news websites in the US to keep vital political information accessible. The project was aimed at smaller independent news organisations that did not have the resources to survive DDoS attacks and stay online. Later, the project started to protect sites for registered political organisations, independent journalists, human rights groups, and elections monitoring services. Now the project is also available for European operators for free. European political organisations will be able to protect their websites from DDoS attacks that may deny people from accessing their information. This year’s European Parliament elections will attract more attention than usual because of the Brexit issue.

The Male Champions of Change (MCC) Institute, has shared an open letter dedicated to ‘every male leader in the tech sector’, in order to emphasise their motivation for and commitment to implementing practical actions to create a gender equal future. The letter notes that on average 26% of computing jobs and 5% of leadership positions in technology industry are held by women. It aims to bring attention and step up to ‘lead on gender equality’ in the tech sector. The group, established by accelerateHER and Male Champions of Change, will hold an inaugural meeting in Davos, Switzerland, to implement an action-lead strategy for the upcoming 12 months. The letter has been signed by high-level representatives of 18 different organisations, including WeTransfer, Samsung NEXT and Samsung Electronics, Microsoft, BBC, and Intel, among others.

Responding to a request from the WhoIS Registry to reduce the annual fees of $25 000, ICANN responded stating that the new gTLD would have to pay the overdue fees by 10 Februray or risk being terminated. ICANN rules also allow gTLDs to sell their contract to other registries.

Refinitiv joins the UN Task Force on Digital Financing of Sustainable Development Goals as a data partner. The company announced that it will deploy its data and insight to support local communities and combat climate change through committing to three core pledges on environment, diversity and inclusion, and sustainable solutions that support the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals. “As we explore ways in which the digitalization of finance can be used to unlock resources for the Sustainable Development Goals, having solid data on the sources, types and direction of funding flows is critical to our work. With Refinitiv's support, we hope to find opportunities in which small changes to investment criteria or incentives could shift investors and investments toward more sustainable outcomes” said Tillman Bruett, Director of the Task Force Secretariat. The task force, which consists of leaders from developed and developing countries, is mandated to recommend strategies to harness the potential of financial technology to advance the Sustainable Development Goals. It met at the World Economic Forum (WEF) in 22 – 25 January 2019, Davos and is expected to present its preliminary report of recommendations to the Secretary-General in September 2019.

The World Economic Forum (WEF) has published the Advanced Drone Operator's Toolkit. The guide offers a set of recommendations for governments that plan to integrate drones into their national airspace. The recommendations are based on pilot projects that took place in Switzerland and Rwanda in co-operation with the Drone Innovator's Network (DIN). This guide was developed by the WEF’s Drones and Tomorrow’s Airspace team at the Centre for the Fourth Industrial Revolution together with international governmental organisations, private companies, public stakeholders, research institutions, and civil aviation authorities from five continents. During the summit, it was also announced that the Indian state of Andhra Pradesh will be the next state to join the pilot and will begin implementing the recommendations of the toolkit in delivering medical supplies.

Online activist and journalist Huang Qi went on trial in Mianyang, Sichuan, facing charges from November 2016 of leaking state secrets. No verdict has yet been reported concerning the last-minute trial. His early work on finding missing persons was lauded by the Chinese government, but later work published on the site 64tianwang (in Chinese) and his reporting on alleged government officials' wrongdoing have resulted in at least two previous detentions since 2009.

Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch and Freedom House, along with 11 other organisations released a statement last November reporting that Huang Qi could die in police custody if he does not receive medical treatment for high blood pressure and late-stage kidney disease.

Kenya has enacted amendments to its national identification law that will enable the state to collect more precise data when issuing identification documents. These include digital Deoxyribonucleic Acid (DNA), GPS coordinates of residential addresses, retina and iris pattern, voice waves and earlobe pattern. Previously, persons were required to register their fingerprints, facial image, postal address and place of birth. The newly signed law will help to build a digital ID system known as National Integrated Identity Management System that will centralise birth, ID, refugee, death, driving licences and passport records.

in 2016 having a higher rate of registration of persons than most Sub-Saharan African nations. However, key gaps identified included having numerous identification databases as well as lack of a privacy and data protection framework. Although there are data protection Bills, the country is yet to enact a comprehensive privacy law.

At the 73rd session of the UN General Assembly (UNGA) on Human Rights, the  resolution the right to privacy in the digital age (A/RES/73/179) was adopted.

The general assembly noted that every individual, especially children and women are more vulnerable to have their privacy violated. It was also recognised that the right to privacy is important to prevent gender-based violence, abuse and sexual harassment cyber-bullying, cyberstalking  especially against women and children.The UNGA also emphasised the need to adopt preventive measures and remedies to protect the privacy and rights of all especially women and children.

The state government of Victoria, Australia, announced its plans to give Bosch a grant of $2.3 million to test self-driving vehicles on high-speed rural roads. This is the first time these cars are allowed in the state after legislation permitting such trials was approved last year. The tests will analyse how the vehicles function under various weather and traffic conditions in order to improve rural road safety.