Category: security
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UK to crack down on financial scams
The UK government has announced a ban on all cold calls selling financial products: … last summer, 41 million people were targeted by suspicious calls and texts, according to media regulator Ofcom. UK to ban all cold calls selling financial products. BBC News, 3 May 2023. 41m people targeted in just one summer? Ouch. And…
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Toxic by design
Digital, data, and technology (DDaT) are increasingly being misused to create a 24×7 surveillance society, behavioural manipulation and, in some countries, institutional discrimination and subjugation. This surveillance increasingly underpins private sector revenue and state control, online and offline. All too often, it can seem like there’s little to distinguish between governments and global businesses as they indulge in…
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“Tap to pay” becomes “Tap to prove” …?
As expected, Apple has announced that merchants (US-based only at first) will be able to accept Apple Pay and other contactless payments using only an iPhone and appropriate app. Apple has clearly made good progress integrating the technology it acquired with the $100m purchase of Mobeewave in 2020. This will be a significant disruption for point…
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UK Government single sign-in since 2001
Here’s my attempt at a very simplified slide summary of UK cross-government single sign-in since 2001: If you have any difficulties seeing the embedded Google Slides above, you can view the deck online here.
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Community networks: Reloaded
Amazon is in the news, yet again (when isn’t it?). This time it’s for ‘Amazon Sidewalk‘: it aims to connect together every Echo speaker and Ring security camera in the US into a shared wireless network. I first saw these plans for Sidewalk mentioned in The Register last year. It’s now receiving more widespread media…
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21st century identity
My opinion piece for Computer Weekly – implementing a 21st century approach to digital identity – has been published this morning. It sets out a new, modern approach – one that embraces identity as a means of personal empowerment rather than state or corporate control. It looks at how the current trust model around identity…