Category Archives: Technology

Britain, Government, Society, Technology

DVLA confirms development of electronic driving licence

DIGITAL DRIVING LICENCE

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                                                 Digital driving licences will soon become a feature on smart phones.

Mobile phones and driving make an awkward combination – it is illegal to use a phone while driving – but, the Driver and Vehicle Licencing Agency (DVLA) is planning to bring the two closer together with the introduction of digital driving licences.

It’s thought digital licences would be stored in phones’ virtual ‘wallets’, just as credit and debit cards can already be saved. When asked to present their driving licence by a police officer or official, a quick finger or thumbprint would release the licence to the phone’s display.

Oliver Morley, the DVLA’s CEO, said the organisation was making “good progress” with the prototype digital licence back in December 2016, while in March 2017 he confirmed the idea was “included in the government digital strategy.” When asked on social media whether there was a timeframe for the introduction of digital licences, Mr Morley said there was, but he wouldn’t be drawn on precisely when this would be.

Security will be a key priority for the digital licence, but given the development and success Apple and Android Pay have enjoyed, it’s thought some of the DVLA’s work has already been done for it. A service analyst and mobile device expert for Auto Express, said: “Security has taken a significant step forward to support digital payments on phones, so the framework is in place for other secure applications, such as a digital driving licence.”

Even with established and rigorous security paradigms in place, however, there will still be people who don’t like the idea of storing their driving licence on their phone, as well as those who don’t even own a smartphone capable of doing so. For those individuals, reassurance will be found in the fact that when it arrives, the digital driving licence will act as an “add-on.”

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Britain, Government, Scotland, Society, Technology

Body cameras are an essential tool for police officers

POLICE SCOTLAND

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Digital cameras are an essential accessory for police officers. They would be useful in the prevention and detection of crime.

Police Scotland have been conducting trials in the north east of video cameras attached to their uniforms. This follows the lead of several other British forces, including the Metropolitan Police in London.

Consideration is now being given to a roll-out of the technology which has been long proved as an effective tool in convicting wrong-doers. British Transport Police (BTP) has also demonstrated its usefulness, not least in Scotland.

Over the last nine years, deployment of body-worn cameras by BTP have been utilised on both the rail network and Glasgow subway, particularly so during major sporting fixtures. Their use has shown cameras can protect officers and improve the evidence for the prosecution.

Support for body cameras has been openly voiced by the Association of Scottish Police Superintendents, which said they could bring vast economy savings to the justice system by increasing the number of early guilty pleas.

That in itself could significantly free up precious police time by relieving officers of the need to spend hours in court – waiting to provide oral testimonies and evidence they are never called on to give – because the accused has decided to change their plea at the last minute.

Ministers, too, have highlighted the merits of making better use of digital cameras, particularly in relation to gathering additional evidence that could be used in court.

The Scottish Government’s digital justice strategy, written some three years ago, said they would also enable officers to make better operational decisions, help to increase the personal safety of police officers, and that such accessories would be useful in the prevention and detection of crime.

Such a stance has also received the endorsement of Police Scotland Chief Constable Phil Gormley, who added that regular use of body cameras would result in fewer complaints against officers, with a likely increase in public confidence of the police service. Police routinely receive abuse from members of the public, but if those people are on camera, they may well think twice before doing so.

The main problem with greater use of cameras is the cost involved when the force’s budget is so stretched, as has been raised by the Scottish Police Federation, which represents rank-and-file officers.

Technical challenges also exist in getting the equipment up and running, issues of technological reliability, and the storage and accessibility of digital footage.

If the pilot scheme in the north east of Scotland has ultimately been a success, however, then it makes great sense to spread the practice across the rest of the country. Where technology is available to improve law and order, it should be made available to our officers to help them fulfil their duties – particularly given the precarious and dangerous situations officers can sometimes find themselves in.

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Arts, Government, Politics, Russia, Society, Technology, United States

The terrifying era of internet warfare

CYBER WARS

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America’s CIA says Vladimir Putin was behind Russian hackers’ bid to swing the U.S. presidential election. As the fallout continues, cyber wars are only at the infancy stage of the internet-war era.

SINCE the presidential election result was announced in November, America has become an embittered battlefield. The role of Russia in securing Donald Trump’s victory has caused fierce controversy.

The CIA, America’s intelligence agency, has asserted with “high confidence” that Kremlin-directed hackers were responsible for the revelation through Wikileaks of thousands of Democratic Party emails, derailing the Hillary Clinton campaign wagon just at a crucial moment during the election when Trump was in trouble over his misogynistic attitudes and appalling treatment of women.

In sensational developments last month, intelligence officials said that Russia’s President Putin was personally involved in the hacking campaign.

If that was not enough to spark intense unease in Western capitals, a spokesperson for President Obama launched an extraordinary attack on Mr Trump, saying that it was “obvious” he knew about the Russian interference in the election.

The President-elect dismisses as “ridiculous” the charges that the Russians helped to place him, their avowed friend, in the White House. Few even among his foes suggest that he won solely thanks to the hackers. But the 2016 U.S. election has highlighted the extraordinary influence now wielded by the internet upon every aspect of our world.

The former U.S. Secretary of State, Dr Henry Kissinger, wrote presciently in his 2014 book World Order: ‘Presidential elections are on the verge of turning into media contests between master operators of the internet . . . whose intrusiveness would have been considered only a generation ago the stuff of science fiction.’

What is most chilling, however, is the speed with which cyber conflict is now evolving.

America’s Information Operational Technology Centre was created in 1998 to spy on actual and potential enemies, corrupt their digital networks, and even by controlling their computers. Its early operations were unimpressive. During the 1999 bombing of Kosovo, its geeks made Serbian president Slobodan Milosevic’s telephone ring incessantly, which seems merely to have annoyed him.

Before one anniversary of the 9/11 attacks, the Americans took down an Al Qaeda website, blocking the planned release of a propaganda broadcast by Osama bin Laden. Afterwards, however, counter-terrorist officers bitterly protested that all that had been achieved was to alert Al Qaeda to the vulnerability of its communications.

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