Hi-Tech Crime CRIM30375

The next great leap forward? Combining robots with the Internet of Things ‘At your service’. Zapp2Photo Mauro Dragone , Heriot-Watt University The Internet of Things is a popular vision of objects with internet connections sending information back and forth to make our lives easier and more comfortable. It’s emerging in our homes , through everything from voice-controlled speakers to smart temperature sensors. To improve our fitness, smart watches and Fitbits are telling online apps how much we’re moving around. And across entire cities, interconnected devices are doing everything from increasing the efficiency of transport to flood detection . In parallel, robots are steadily moving outside the confines of factory lines. They’re starting to appear as guides in shopping malls and cruise ships, for instance. As prices fall and the Artificial Intelligence (AI) and mechanical technology continues to improve, we will get more and more u

Memes are taking the alt-right's message of hate mainstream Alt-right forums are turning the heads of mainstream social networks. Antonio Guillem/Shutterstock Emiliano De Cristofaro , UCL Think of an internet meme and you’ll probably smile. The most memorable viral images are usually funny, from Distracted Boyfriend to classics like Grumpy Cat . But some memes have a much more sinister meaning. They might look as innocuous as a frog , but are in fact symbols of hate . And as memes have become more political, these hateful examples have increasingly found their way onto mainstream social media platforms. My colleagues and I recently carried out the largest scientific study of memes to date, using a dataset of 160m images from various social networks. We showed how “fringe” web communities associated with the alt-right movement, such as 4chan’s “Politically Incorrect” board (/pol/) and Reddit’s “ The_Donald ” are generating a wide

#MeToo has arrived in India, and it's changing how technology is used to fight injustice Shutterstock. Ayona Datta , King's College London ; Nabeela Ahmed , King's College London , and Rakhi Tripathi , FORE School of Management Spin the globe to India and you’ll see it’s lit up like Diwali: the #MeToo movement is rising, and – like its US predecessor – is largely being played out on social media, with very real consequences for well-known public figures . The campaign is not confined to large cities; among the top areas searching the term are small towns across India. This moment has been a long time coming . The public accounts of violence shared by women using the #MeToo hashtag stretch back to memories of growing up, entering the workforce, walking on the streets, using public transport and other settings typically encountered throughout the course of life. Recently, the Indian state attempted to use smart technolog

Poachers in Beckingham last night thought they could hide in their car in a wood! #24hr #thermal #police #drone deployed, finds them in minutes and guides in @LincsPoliceK999 4 in custody! #RuralCrime @CIPhilVickers @MarcJonesLincs @DCCCraigNaylor @lincspolice pic.twitter.com/FN77akjQEV — Lincs Police Drones (@lincsCOPter) October 20, 2018

We need a new human right – to protect our freedom to live without threat from the skies coolrockcom/flickr , CC BY-SA Nick Grief , University of Kent and Shona Illingworth , University of Kent In little more than 100 years, humans have radically transformed the sky: chemically, territorially and militarily. In this increasingly contested space, technological developments are accelerating the transformation. New forms of military and commercial exploitation are increasing the disparity of power between those who dominate airspace and outer space, and the billions of people on the ground affected by the impacts. People are increasingly vulnerable to being tracked, watched and targeted from above. The use of combat drones is escalating and new robotic assailants are being developed. Individuals are at growing risk of being tracked and targeted through data mining. For instance, geolocating via smartphones and mapping geotagged photograp

China accused of mass cyber spying – but working out the truth is just the start of the problem Minuscule computer hardware could be spying on top tech firms. graphicINmotion/ shutterstock Robert Carolina , Royal Holloway Has China found a way to spy on computers used by the world’s top tech firms and perhaps even the US government by implanting them with tiny secret microchips? That’s what was alleged in a recent article from Bloomberg Businessweek, which claimed the US is investigating some form of spy microchip thought to have been inserted into Chinese-made circuit boards used by a company that produces video data servers. Its products have, according to Bloomberg, been purchased by Apple, Amazon and many other large firms, as well as the US departments of Defense and Homeland Security, Congress and NASA. If proved true, these allegations would have huge implications for all the parties involved, as well as global security, trade an

Stay alive, and if something moves, shoot it: one year of phenomenal success for Fortnite Call that a weapon? Playing Fortnite, a web-based multiplayer survival game. Shutterstock/Lenscap Photography Steven Conway , Swinburne University of Technology The online videogame Fortnite Battle Royale was launched just a year ago in September 2017. Since then the game had amassed 125 million active players by June and made US$1.2 billion (A$1.6 billion) for the developer, Epic Games. It has also been linked to 200 divorces and a case of aggravated harassment where a 45-year-old man threatened to kill an 11-year-old boy after losing to him in the game. Read more: Could playing Fortnite lead to video game addiction? The World Health Organisation says yes, but others disagree Love it or hate it, the question begs: How has Epic Games created a game with such enormous social, economic and psychological impact

Regulate social media? It's a bit more complicated than that M-SUR/Shutterstock Sara Solmone , University of East London Free speech is a key aspect of the internet, but it has become increasingly obvious that many online will push that freedom to extremes, leaving website comment sections, Twitter feeds and Facebook groups awash with racist, sexist, homophobic or otherwise unpalatable opinions and vitriolic views, and obscene or shocking images or videos. The borderless nature of the internet, where a website may be hosted in one country, operated by staff in another, with comments left by readers in a third, poses a thorny problem for website operators and government agencies seeking to tackle the issue. In Britain, the telecommunications regulator Ofcom recently issued a report discussing the issues around online harm and potential ways forward. A UK government white paper on the subject is also expected this autumn, and heal

Crucial video evidence of war crimes is being deleted – how can it be saved? Where’s the evidence? metamorworks via Shutterstock Roisin Costello , Trinity College Dublin From Syria to Myanmar and beyond, many of today’s most intractable and brutal conflicts are being documented by everyday internet users equipped with smartphones. But even though they’re documenting vital evidence that could one day help convict perpetrators of atrocities, their footage and photos are at risk from the very platforms that host them. YouTube has deleted millions of video files and thousands of user profiles deemed inappropriate or extremist. Many of the removed files documented events in Syria , including evidence of alleged international crimes and content that could make a significant contribution to the historic record of the conflict. Then there’s Facebook. This year, UN Special Rapporteur Fionnuala Ní Aoláin asked the company to make its guideline

Online suicide and the dark psychology of internet insult forums Shutterstock John Synnott , University of Huddersfield ; Calli Tzani Pepelasi , University of Huddersfield , and Maria Ioannou , University of Huddersfield Leon Jenkins was 43 when he took his own life in July 2018. He livestreamed his suicide on an internet forum where users can freely – and viciously – insult, berate, provoke and abuse each other. The idea is to make people leave the site when they can take no more. Gregory Tomkins and Kevin Whitrick also broadcast their suicides live on the internet. All three were active members of online insult communities. There are thousands of people who log on to such platforms for the sole reason of abusing others in an attempt to force them to leave the thread – a distressing online power struggle of domination and submission. Reviewing this case, it seems that at least two of these men had something in common: Leon Jenkins