Monthly Archives: March 2021

A young child inadvertently sparked confusion over the weekend by posting an unintelligible tweet to the official account of US Strategic Command. The agency is responsible for safeguarding America’s nuclear weapons. Some social-media users feared the account may have been hacked. But it has since been revealed a young member of the account’s social-media manager’s […]

The trade union Unite is setting up a hotline for Amazon staff to complain about their treatment at work. Organiser Sharon Graham told the BBC it was time the internet retail giant shared its “bonanza profits with the workers who help make them”. Amazon had its most lucrative year ever in 2020, helped by a […]

Facebook has removed a group of China-based hackers it says targeted members of the Uighur community living abroad. It said hackers used malicious websites and apps to infect devices and allow for remote surveillance, with journalists and activists targeted. A majority of the cyber attacks didn’t happen directly on Facebook but used the social media […]

The Trades Union Congress (TUC) has warned about what it calls “huge gaps” in UK employment law over the use of artificial intelligence at work. The TUC said workers could be “hired and fired by algorithm”, and new legal protections were needed. Among the changes it is calling for is a legal right to have […]

More than 6,000 cases of Covid-related fraud and cyber-crime have been recorded by the UK’s police forces during the pandemic. The Action Fraud team said £34.5m had been stolen since 1 March 2020. It covers activity in England, Wales and Northern Ireland, but not Scotland. In a related development, the National Cyber Security Centre has […]

Nasa has carried out a successful test on part of the most powerful rocket in existence – the Space Launch System (SLS). Engines on the rocket’s “core stage” were kept running for more than eight minutes – simulating the time it takes the SLS to go from the ground to space. It’s the second such […]

A theme park dedicated to Nintendo’s famous Super Mario World has opened in Japan, nearly a year after it was originally due to welcome guests. Super Nintendo World – which cost about $0.5bn ($0.36bn) to build – was meant to open last summer but was delayed by the coronavirus pandemic. Initially only Japanese visitors can […]

Australians have derided a suggestion by the New South Wales (NSW) police commissioner that an app could be used to register sexual consent. On Thursday, Mick Fuller championed the idea of an app where people could digitally record their mutual agreement to have sex. He said the technology could be used to establish “positive consent”. […]

The auction of the airwaves that will create faster mobile services for rural areas and hasten the rollout of 5G has ended, with all four operators pleased with their haul. The sell-off of chunks of spectrum in the 700-megahertz and 3.6-3.8-gigahertz bands raised £1.3bn for the government. EE, Three, O2 and Vodafone all gained a […]

Instagram is adding safety measures designed to protect teenagers from unwanted direct messages from adults. Older users will be able to privately message teenagers who follow them only. And messages will be overlaid with a notice reminding teenagers they need not respond to anything that makes them uncomfortable. The measures will work only if accounts […]