New UK data protection laws, designed to align UK laws with European laws (GDPR) for Brexit and beyond, will give people more control over how companies use their data, including the ‘right to be forgotten’.

What Is The Right To Be Forgotten?

The concept of the ‘right to be forgotten’ in data privacy dates back to EU guidelines proposed in January 2012. In this context, it refers to an individual’s right to request that a company / organisation deletes all data / information that it holds about them (where there is no compelling reason for its continued processing). The idea is that the individual then has more control over exactly who has access to their personal data, and can thereby increase their privacy, potentially reduce security risks, and stop any annoying / unwanted / unsolicited communications from businesses and other organisations.

According to the ICO, this doesn’t mean that an individual has a absolute ‘right to be forgotten’, but does have the right to have their personal data erased and to prevent processing in specific circumstances:

• Where the personal data is no longer necessary in relation to the purpose for which it was originally collected/processed.
• When an individual withdraws consent.
• When an individual objects to the processing, and there’s no legitimate reason for continuing the processing.
• Where the personal data was unlawfully processed (in breach of the GDPR).
• Where personal data has to be erased to comply with a legal obligation.
• Where personal data is processed in relation to the offer of information society services to a child.

New Proposals In The Bill

With the new UK data protection laws, the proposals in the bill will now make it simpler for people to withdraw agreement for their personal data to be used; let people ask for data to be deleted; oblige firms to get unequivocal consent when they process sensitive personal data; widen the definition of personal data to include IP addresses, DNA, internet cookies; let people have the information that organisations hold about them more freely; and, criminalise instances of revealing identities anonymised or pseudonymised, whether intentionally or recklessly.

Onus On Firms

These new laws are designed to force the companies / organisations behave responsibly in their use of data.

GDPR

The EU’s General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) will come into force in May 2018. The law places the burden of responsibility very much on companies to protect information gathered at all cost. Failure to protect data will mean that companies will face serious fines (imposed by the UK’s Information Commissioner’s Office).

Bigger Fine

UK firms whose data has been seriously breached can be fined up to £17m in the new bill proposal. Currently, the maximum fine for breaking data protection laws is £500,000.

Beyond The “Right To Be Forgotten”

The new law goes further than the “right to be forgotten” rules that are already being applied to search engines – those that affect what can be listed in search results. This time, dealing with the GDPR and associated legislation that will impact upon data held by a wide range of companies.

ICO Strengthened Too

The new law has also strengthened the powers of the UK’s Information Commissioner’s Office to help impose it.

The Uk’s Information Commissioner Elizabeth Denham is reported to be pleased with this development as it shows the government recognises the importance of data protection, its main role in increasing trust and confidence, and the benefits the new bill proposals will bring to the public.

What Does This Mean For Your Business?

Many businesses in the UK are only just getting to grips with how they can equip themselves to comply with GDPR, so the fact that there is a similar new set of regulations is going to mean more work and complication (and associated costs) in making sure that they are prepared.

There have already been worrying reports in the media this year that the legal profession is geared up and ready to work on behalf of those who feel that they have a case to take action against companies that don’t comply with the news laws e.g. through not knowing them well enough or not responding quickly enough to customer requests regarding how their personal data held / used by that company.

Indeed, the chairman of The Federation of Small Businesses, Mike Cherry, has reportedly voiced his worry that many small companies have no idea how the proposed law will affect them, and that this may open up small businesses to the risk of big fines.

Clearly, businesses need to act quickly to learn about how exactly the new UK law (and GDPR) apply to them and what measures, systems, expertise and resources need to be put in place / employed / bought-in to ensure compliance and avoid fines.

A British security researcher is reported to have said that malware can be installed on an Amazon Echo along with code that could allow the device to eavesdrop on your conversations.

Who & How?

Security expert Mark Barnes has made the news by saying that anyone could install malware on an Amazon Echo, along with his proof-of-concept code that would silently stream audio from the device to a remote server. This would enable a criminal, for example, to listen-in on private home conversations and private / personal information that could be used to e.g. steal money or burgle the home.

It has also been reported that this kind of hack would only work on devices sold before 2017.

A Potential To Listen Already Built-In

Since Amazon Echo is a smart speaker capable of voice interaction, the ability to listen to human voices is already built-in to the device, and forms an integral part of its operation and purpose.

As well as music playback, making to-do lists, setting alarms, streaming podcasts, playing audiobooks etc., the Echo can also control several smart devices when used as a home automation hub. This adds to its potential of becoming someone else’s secret personal listening / spying device if hacked.

Installing Malware On The Echo

Mr Barnes has been reported as saying that anyone could install malware on an Echo, and that taking over the device was “trivial” as long as the hacker had easy physical access to it.

How Is It Done?

According to Mr Barnes’s blog, such a hack is made possible by peeling off the rubber base of the Echo to expose a grid of electrical contacts, and then by connecting to one of the contacts to observe the boot-up procedure and work out how the device is configured.

Armed with this knowledge, Mr Barnes is reported as saying that software loaded on a small memory card can then be connected to one contact pad, and can thereby give a person control over the device. From this stage, how the audio is handled can be studied, and an attack code can then be created which forwards everything that the device hears to a remote server.

No Comment From Amazon

Despite the claims from Mr Barnes being widely reported online, there has been no comment as yet from Amazon (at the time of writing this article).

What Does This Mean For Your Business?

This story highlights how many of the existing fears about the vulnerability of smart / IoT devices are still very much present, and how a device that is designed to listen anyway could pose even more of a risk.

IoT security fears are nothing new, and usually focus on how devices could be taken over and used against us due to customers not changing the default passwords that the devices come with. What makes the fears about this story more real is that reports indicate that the researcher has actually tried it and succeeded.

For businesses that develop these products, apart from the initial bad PR, the finding of security holes by security professionals could actually allow them to address security flaws early on, and prevent an even worse, more costly situation e.g. malicious hackers finding the flaw and launching attacks on customers.

An example of an exploitable fault discovered in household devices happened back in June, when all Virgin Super Hub 2’ and ‘Super Hub 2 AC’ routers (made by Netgear) were found to have exactly the same private encryption key. These standard home routers are used by one of the UK’s largest ISPs, and are used in millions of homes (and small businesses) across the UK. Having a common security flaw in all of them, which could be exploited by cyber criminals using a relatively low-tech approach and low cost method represented a major potential security risk and for millions of people. Virgin Media were then forced to develop and distribute a security patch.

IoT security is likely to be a major concern for quite some time yet as it has not been effectively addressed in the marketplace, so this story about potential security flaws in a popular IoT device is likely to be one of many going forward.

The value of Bitcoin reached a record high value of £2,651 per coin this week according to the Coindesk Bitcoin Price Index, while the new spin-off crypto-currency, Bitcoin Cash, is trading well below the peak price of 557 per coin.

Bitcoin’s Month of Turmoil

While Bitcoin reached to a record high, last month was more turbulent. Talk about a “civil war” between opposing plans about how to speed up transactions caused its value to dip to £1,485 on 16th July, before a compromise plan dubbed Segwit2x gained traction. The Segwit2x plan still didn’t bring harmony, so a fresh plan to unite Bitcoin surfaced from a group of insiders.

This is not the first time that Bitcoin has experienced peaks and troughs in a fairly short space of time, although the trend has been mainly an upward one this year. In January, the value of 1 Bitcoin jumped above £815 for the first time in 3 years and, bback in March, the value of a unit of Bitcoin exceeded the value of an ounce (a troy ounce) of gold for the first time.

Bitcoin Cash

The new crypto-currency Bitcoin Cash traded well below its 2nd August peak price of £557 per coin. Its future appears to be much brighter now after Coinbase, one of the leading exchange and wallet services, promised to back it up, starting 1 January 2018 (assuming no further risks materialise during that time).

Bitcoin Cash’s Creation Boosts Bitcoin’s Value

The creation of Bitcoin Cash might have actually contributed to the surge of the Bitcoin’s value. It has been reported that many people are selling their Bitcoin Cash to buy more Bitcoin. Some investors are now moving back into Bitcoin.

Crypto Currency Problems

Both crypto currencies don’t conform to the normal economic fundamentals because their value is mainly based on speculation and betting. Bitcoin and Bitcoin Cash are mainly bought for prospecting purposes i.e. hoping that the value will rise, rather than actually using them to pay for goods and services.

In terms of trying to determine the future success of the Bitcoin crypto currencies, they will first need to realise a high volume in commercial use.

Huge Potential For Blockchain Beyond Currency

Many technical commentators, however, see Blockchain (the technology behind Bitcoin) as being the key to Bitcoin’s success.

Blockchain is an incorruptible peer-to-peer network (a kind of ledger) that allows multiple parties to transfer value in a secure and transparent way. Blockchain’s Co-Founder Nic Carey describes Blockchain as being like “a big spreadsheet in the cloud that anyone can use, but no one can erase or modify”.

The developers of the Blockchain system say that the trust between participants is not necessary because trust is embedded in the system itself, and that access to all relevant information is available to participants.

Many technical commentators and businesses are beginning to see the potential of Blockchain beyond just currencies e.g. for smart contracts, supply-chain verification, a global property rights / land registration system, system for exchanging / buying / selling all kinds of collateral such as stocks, bonds, land titles, and much more.

Bitcoin’s Total Market Value

The market value of all existing Bitcoins is now £43bn, but crypto currencies have yet to be used for actual payment of goods and services on a large scale since the decentralization of the Bitcoin in 2009.

What Does This Mean For Your Business?

Bitcoin has taken some time to reach the point where its unit value has reached the point where it has been taken seriously by investors, businesses and governments, and during that time, it has made the news for highs and lows e.g. allegations and suggestions that it would be particularly attractive to the criminal element of society, plus a fall in its value on the Tokyo-based Mt. Gox exchange following a hack in late 2013.

For all its bad press, however, Bitcoin’s has had a decrease in volatility in recent years. 2017 has also actually seen a lot of optimism for the cryto-currency, which reached a point back in January where its worth was around the same value as that of a FTSE 100 company. Bitcoin has many attractive advantages such as the speed and ease with which transactions can take place due to the lack of central bank and traditional currency control. Using Bitcoin also means that cross-border and global trading is simpler and faster and the ‘crypto’ aspect of the currency makes it secure.

Whatever happens with Bitcoin and Bitcoin cash, many see Blockchain as the real star, which clearly has huge untapped potential beyond just currency, and for all kinds of businesses. It could represent a major opportunity to improve services, and effectively tackle visibility, transparency and efficiency issues. Blockchain has proven itself to be particularly well suited to processes where there are a lot of steps e.g. supply chains, and where there’s a lack of trust in business relationship upline or downline. The significant commitment that countries like Dubai have made to the technology and the success of the crypto-currency Bitcoin (which have used Blockchain) are indicators that this new technology has real value in today’s business world, not just in the future.

In partnership with Microsoft, the BBC is developing its own iPlayer video service, powered by voice recognition and artificial intelligence capabilities.

A Step Up From Voice Control

Many of us are familiar with how general voice control works with assistant devices like Amazon Echo (Alexa), or Siri, but the new generation of voice control that will be used in the BBC’s iPlayer will be able to recognize you by your individual voiceprint.

Tailored To You

The experimental iPlayer (still in the R&D phase), uses AI to be able to recognise your individual voiceprint, log you into the BBC, and customise your experience – a far cry from spending time using the arrow keys on your remote!

According to the BBC’s blog, aside from having the users sign in to BBC services with their unique voice in lieu of a password, they also have the option to choose which shows they would like to watch simply by talking to the device.

How Will It Work?

In terms of using the device to select programmes, for example, if a user says “BBC, show me something funny,” the iPlayer will reportedly bring up a list of comedy shows for you to choose from. If a user asks “BBC, what’s going with the world?” the BBC News channel will be triggered and will start playing.

Greater Levels of Personalisation

With the technology growing by leaps and bounds, voiceprints and AI can take personalisation to greater levels. One possible scenario of how AI and voiceprint could work together is when you’re watching a show on your tablet on your way to work, then when you get home, your TV can ask you if want to continue watching where you left off. If you say, “No, thanks. Is there something new that I might like?” you will be offered some recommendations based on your history and profile.

A Conversation With Your TV?

Some technical commentators have speculated that, with the speed of the development of AI and machine learning, the day may not be far off where you end up having a conversation with your TV as to what to watch, if the sound is just right, whether the next programme is likely to be of interest to you, or which programme you should watch depending on your mood.

This may sound unlikely now, but these things may soon become possible as TV services learn more about our individual preferences, and therefore what to recommend and when.

What Does This Mean For Your Business?

On the surface, this is a story about the competition and developments in the voice controlled home entertainment / personal assistant market e.g. Amazon Echo (Alexa), and the Apple HomePod (Siri), with the BBC able to distribute its own unique content (its programmes) through its own device.

This is also a story about the speed of development and the possibilities of AI and machine learning for innovative products and services that offer new levels of personalisation, and ad value in ways not yet fully realised for businesses and their customers.

AI developments have been such that back in April, an AI program learned how to ‘bluff’ and beat expert human competitors to the prize money in a series of exhibition poker matches, and this month an AI program cracked a (physical) combination safe in 30 minutes by reducing a possible million combinations to just one correct code. Also, Google’s AI company DeepMind and Oxford University has developed WLAS, a system that can lip read better than a trained professional, and Google has reportedly used AI machine learning technology on its Gmail service with a reported 99.9% blocking of all phishing attempts that it detected.

Not all share the view that the rapid development of AI and machine learning is a positive thing as Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk recently described AI as a “fundamental risk to the existence of civilisation”, and a report in March this year by PwC claimed that over 30% of UK jobs could be lost to automation (aided by AI developments) by the year 2030. Recently, concerns have also been raised about how AI could be used to create custom malware to defeat antivirus software by learning how to tweak malicious binaries.

This new product from the BBC is therefore, another example of how sophisticated AI technology is finding its way into our daily lives to enhance and tie together existing products and services and new security technologies (biometrics) in new ways.

Microsoft Windows Insiders are reported to have been trying out a new eye-tracking feature that enables users to type and even draw the shapes of letters just using their eye movements.

Why?

Development of the eye-tracking feature started back 2014, when ex US NFL player Steve Gleason challenged Microsoft to come up with something that could help him and people like him with Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS).

ALS is a form of motor neurone disease that adversely affects the ability of the brain to initiate and control, and muscle movement is lost. This means that sufferers lose the ability to use computer keyboards to type, hence the need for another way to type (using eye movement).

Ability Eye Glaze (AEG)

Ability Eye Glaze is the name given to the Microsoft technology (developed by Ability Eye Glaze team) that enables people to use their eye movements to perform tasks. AEG has many uses aside from typing e.g. controlling a wheelchair through a tablet computer where AEG is installed. AEG is also now part of Windows 10, thanks to Jake Cohen, Program Manager on the Windows Interaction Platform team.

Pre-Requisites For Using Eye Tracking on Windows

To access this feature, you need to be on the latest build of Windows Insider Preview, and, in possession of a Tobii Eye Tracker 4C (which costs around £140). For now, the eye-tracking feature only works on a US-English keyboard.

Eye-Tracking Feature Rollout

The eye-tracking feature will soon be rolled out to other eye-trackers like Tobii Dynavox PCEye Mini, PCEyePlus, EyeMobile Plus, and I-series.

As it is a Windows feature, it will be a part of Windows Holographic, and the recently released Acer Mixed Reality headset. Microsoft will also make Eye Control compatible with other eye trackers in the near future.

Challenges

The development and widespread use of this new technology will not be without its challenges. For example, some commentators have highlighted security risks such as how using eye-tracking for authentication could bring the risk of hacking.

Other concerns that have been raised about the use of eye tracking on your computer are that it may not work well for those suffering from eye fatigue or astigmatism (not being able to rest your eyes often), or if a user is wearing contact lenses. There are also concerns that it may not work well where the lighting is bad.

ICO Interest?

Some commentators have even raised the point that, since eye-tracking generates information, it may be considered a biometric, may be affected by the UK data protection laws (GDPR and / or UK post-Brexit data laws), and could, therefore, be of interest to the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO).

What Does This Mean For Your Business?

Eye tracking software of various kinds has long been used e.g. by the business world for marketing research. The introduction of this kind of technology to Windows will be a step forward for accessibility for users at home, in businesses and in other organisations and settings.

This story also highlights how the unique characteristics of different parts of the body are now being utilised in IT settings and applications for different purposes.

Biometrics, for example, is now being used by companies and other organisations to improve security e.g. for verification and authentication. Samsung introduced an iris scanner to its Note 7 phablet and Barclays Bank is introducing voice authentication for telephone banking customers. Also, this month, TSB announced that it will be introducing iris-scanning via mobile devices to enable customers to access their accounts because it is convenient and highly secure (more secure than fingerprint scanning).

Voice recognition is also being used by banks, but this type of system received a PR setback when it was reported that HSBC’s voice recognition system for customers had been fooled by BBC Click reporter Dan Simmons who passed his twin brother’s voice off as his own.

It looks as though Biometrics will continue to provide many opportunities for businesses in the coming months and years, and as customers become used to using them, and the technology improves and the cost of systems falls, more businesses will be able to take advantage of the strengths and benefits that biometric systems offer.