China curbs use of Tesla cars over security concerns

Elon Musk
Elon Musk at Tesla's Shanghai factory last year Credit: Reuters

China is to place curbs on state officials using Tesla vehicles over fears the electric cars could be used for spying, according to reports.

The Chinese state will bar government officials and military personnel from using cars from Elon Musk's electric vehicle company. China believes the cars can be used to record video footage of their surroundings with data that can be sent back to the US, the Wall Street Journal reported.

 “Tesla’s privacy protection policy complies with Chinese laws and regulations. Tesla attaches great importance to the protection of users’ privacy,” Tesla said in response to the concerns.

Elsewhere today, Mr Musk's satellite venture Starlink has held talks with the Government in the UK about accelerating the launch of its broadband service in Britain.

                                                                                                    

That's it from the tech team

See you next week!

Gucci sells virtual trainers for 8.99 - but you won't be able to wear them

Gucci has launched a new pair of trainers at just a slither of their usual price tag - £8.99. 

The catch? They only exist in digital form. 

Fans of the Italian fashion house can purchase the digital running shoe on the Wanna app. 

Once they have paid up, the customer can enjoy wearing it through augmented reality. When they point their phone at their feet while using the app, a bright pink and lime green shoe appears on their foot. 

The virtual shoe, which some might suggest is nothing more than an expensive photo "filter" is the latest in a new trend for digital assets, often referred to as non-fungible tokens or NFTs. 

NFTs are unique digital assets, bought and traded securely through a digital ledger called a blockchain.

NFTs can be anything from visual art and audio to digital trading cards, and can also include real-life perks. Digital houses and furniture are just some of the items that have been sold as NFTs. 

YouTube launches TikTok rival

YouTube is launching its TikTok rival, Shorts. 

It had been testing it in India and is now bringing jt to the US.

People can use it to edit their own short videos, add music and quickly publish, just like TikTok.

YouTube has been criticised for taking so long to jump on the short, easily editable bandwagon. 

It is now playing catch-up and will no doubt be boosted by the anti-China campaign led by Donald Trump that almost saw TikTok banned, and YouTube's partnerships with music companies. 

Shorts has access to millions of songs from over 250 labels, including Universal, Sony and Warner.

It was not clear when this will be made available in the UK. 

'A matter of urgency to control the dark sides of technology'

Margrethe Vestager, executive vice president, European Commission, has warned that more regulation is to come for technology companies, adding that Apple is next in the firing line

Speaking at virtual technology conference SXSW on Friday, Vestager said that the commission currently had "vast" investigations into the Google app marketplace, Facebook, Amazon and were looking at the "number of complaints into the Apple ecosystem". 

She joined US senator Amy Klobuchar, who accused Silicon Valley of a monopoly, claiming Mark Zuckerberg had deliberately bought nascent competitors to nip future rivalry in the bud. 

Both Vestager and Klobuchar said they believed looking closely at acquisitions may help curb the technology giant's power. 

It is "a matter of urgency to control the dark sides of technology," Vestager added. 

World first satellite that aims to clean up space with a magnet prepares for launch

The world's first satellite designed to clear up space debris using magnets is preparing to launch tomorrow morning. 

Named ELSA-d and made by Japanese firm Astroscale, the satellites will launch  from Kazakhstan aboard a Russian Soyuz rocket at 6.07am GMT.

It's made up of two parts:  a servicer satellite to collect the debris, and a client satellite to act as the debris. 

A illustration of how the satellite could capture debris while tumbling Credit: Astroscale/Astroscale

While rocket launches have placed about 10,680 satellites in Earth's orbit since 1957, around 6,250 of these are still in space, but only 3,700 are still functioning.

A collision with space debris could have a big impact on satellite services people rely on every day, including mobile phones and online banking.

The servicer satellite has been developed to safely remove debris from orbit, equipped with proximity rendezvous technologies and a magnetic docking mechanism.

The client satellite is a piece of replica debris fitted with a plate that enables the docking.

During the mission, the servicer will repeatedly release and dock with the client in a series of technical demonstrations, indicating the capability to find and dock with defunct satellites and other debris.

According to the European Space Agency there is approximately 9,200 tonnes of space debris, with 34,000 objects greater than 10cm, and 128 million objects from greater than 1mm to 1cm.

UK gaming market hits £7bn thanks to lockdown

Video gaming in the UK was boosted by the arrival of a "new console generation" last year as the market surged to a record £7bn.

Players pushed the sector's value up 29.9pc  compared to 2019 with increases across both digital and physical sales, according to a report by gaming industry body Ukie.

Digital sales took the lion's share totalling £3.90 billion, with digital console revenues rising 24.2pc, mobile games up by 21.3pc and digital PC adding 14.8pc.

Despite store closures as the UK went in and out of lockdown, traditional boxed game titles also climbed by 7.1pc to £646 million, but pre-owned game-buying took a hit, diving 22.8pc compared to the year before.

Gaming hardware raked in £2.26bn, thanks partly to new launches of the PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X, with console hardware alone making up £853 million of that figure, up 74.8pc.

Dorian Bloch, senior client director at GfK, which compiled some of the data, said: "The 2020 big winner by format was Nintendo Switch.

"During the initial Covid lockdown period, we saw massive growth from Switch software sales, up 215% over the equivalent 13 weeks of 2019.

"Xbox One and PS4 also enjoyed uplifts and of course, at the tail end of 2020 we saw the introduction of PS5 and Xbox Series consoles, whose effect will be significant for 2021 and beyond."

China's Uber rival ramps up plans for mega-float

Chinese ride-hailing app Did Chuxing, a rival to Uber, is revving up plans for an initial public offering that could value the company at as much as $62bn, Bloomberg reports.

Like Uber, Didi saw ride-hailing numbers collapse early on in the pandemic, but could now go public after a turnaround in its fortunes. Uber has a $6bn stake in Didi following a deal to exit the Chinese market in in 2016 that saw it sell part of its business to its rival.

The ride-hailing company, which is backed by SoftBank, is said to be planning to expand into Europe, with the UK as one target market.

Didi rivals Uber in China Credit: Reuters

Tesla faces security concerns in China

Electric car maker Tesla is facing the ire of regulators and security officials in China who believe the cameras and sensors attached to its electric cars could be a cyber risk.

Last month, regulators warned Tesla over apparent quality issues at its Shanghai factory. Now, China is blocking government staff from using Tesla cars over claims they could leave officials exposed. 

The government has informed some agencies that they must stop staff using cars from Tesla, according to the WSJ. Tesla includes multiple cameras and sensors on its cars to help with its Autopilot lane assist mode. 

Multiple car makers include cameras and sensors on their vehicles to assist with parking or driver awareness.

China is an increasingly important market for Tesla, which opened a huge gigafactory in Shanghai to produce its cars for the domestic market. Sales in China were worth about $6.6bn to Tesla last year.

The pressure on Tesla follows multiple US bans and blacklistings of Chinese technology companies that the White House views as a security concern.

$15 million neighbourhood of 3D printed homes to be built in California 

An innovative $15 million community of homes, creating using robots and 3D printing, is set to be built in California.

Palari, a  real estate development group, and Mighty Buildings, a construction company are working together to transform a five acre area of land in Rancho Mirage into a community of 15 3D-printed homes.

3D printers - devices which deposit molten plastic or powder to build an object layer by layer - have long been used to create prototypes and toy models. But the technology has evolved in recent years, with new materials and larger printers allowing engineers to create structures that were previously impossible.

Mighty Homes' printers have the capacity to make a 350-sq-ft home in less than 24 hours. The homes cost 40pc less than traditional housing and construction waste is reduced by 99pc. 

Across the pond, 3D printed homes are being explored as a solution to solve Britain's housing crisis. Read Hannah Boland's report here

Cyber attacks could lead to nuclear war

Professor Alan Woodward has written a fascinating article for us today around why cyber attacks could lead to nuclear war. 

During the Cold War, another nuclear war doctrine was developed and continues to be used in war games today. It assumes that if conventional weapons are used in a dispute, nuclear weapons can be used in a limited response - a dangerous doctrine, as it required great restraint if it were not to escalate to all-out mutual destruction.
But it is an attempt to consider a proportionate or staged response, regardless of the type of weapon used to initiate the conflict. This type of thinking would be well-employed in a conflict sparked by cyber capabilities. 

See more below:

ICYMI: Ministers in talks with Elon Musk’s Starlink in rural broadband push

The Government has held talks with Elon Musk’s satellite network Starlink over accelerating the UK’s rural broadband deployment.

Digital Minister Matt Warman met with Mr Musk’s company last week, The Telegraph understands, amid a push to use emerging technology as part of  the £5bn “Project Gigabit” plan to connect the hardest to reach parts of Britain to fast broadband.

Satellite broadband, high-altitude balloons and autonomous drones could all also be part of Britain’s future broadband mix to reach the most remote 100,000 UK homes, according to a new consultation.

It comes as the Government unveiled the first tranche of areas to be targeted for state subsidies for fibre and one gigabit per second broadband.

Matt Field has more here

Apple warns against unauthorised tracking

Apple has said it will apply App Store rules to all apps globally after reports that Chinese app developers are preparing workarounds for the company’s upcoming limits on ad tracking.

The Cupertino, California-based technology giant plans to release a software update called iOS 14.5 in coming weeks that requires users to give permission before apps can track them across other services and websites for targeted advertising. Facebook and other digital ad companies worry that most people won’t give permission, crimping their revenue.

Several Chinese technology companies, including Baidu, ByteDance. and Tencen., are preparing workarounds for Apple’s new policy, according to the Financial Times. They are using a system called CAID developed by the China Advertising Association and a government think tank.

“The App Store terms and guidelines apply equally to all developers around the world, including Apple,” the U.S. tech giant said in a statement. “We believe strongly that users should be asked for their permission before being tracked. Apps that are found to disregard the user’s choice will be rejected.”

Other proposed workarounds rely on a process called fingerprinting, which uses device-specific information such as the IMEI number and location to create a unique identifier. Apple said such approaches have violated its guidelines for over a decade.

China’s Geely to take on Tesla with new electric vehicle brand

Chinese carmaker Geely plans to launch a new brand of electric cars, according to Bloomberg, as the owner of Volvo seeks to become more competitive in a segment of the EV market dominated by Tesla Inc.

The company is believed to be applying for a slew of marques that will be housed under its Lingling Technologies. The brands include Zeekr EVA, Zeekr Power and Zeekr OS, according to the people. The Zeekr brand will market EVs targeted at the premium segment of the market.

A representative for Geely declined to comment. The Chinese automaker isn't the only one hoping to take Tesla's crown. Michael Cogley's recent feature takes a look at the European start-ups that are challenging Tesla in everything from batteries to design. Read more about that here.

Alleged hacker indicted after bragging online about data theft 

A 21-year-old Swiss, believed to be a hacker, has been indicted by a US court in Seattle after bragging online about how he helped steal proprietary data from Nissan, Intel and security camera company Verkada

According to the indictment, Till Kottmann, who is also known as "deletescape", was one of a cybercriminal group that hacked protected computers of corporate and government entities. 

The indictment claimed Kottmann ran a website and a Telegram channel that published hacked documents, making files from over 100 entities available for download.

He also allegedly sold clothing "related to his computer hacking activity and anti intellectual property ideology." 

In social media posts, the indictment claimed Kottmann took credit publicly for breaches.

It quoted one Tweet from 2020 where Kottmann allegedly tweeted from his @deletescape account: "I love helping companies open source their code." 

UK spy chiefs call for curbs on Chinese 'smart city' tech

A demonstration of facial recognition surveillance equipment manufactured by Hikvision, at the Security China 2018 expo in Beijing, China Credit: Ng Han Guan /AP 

Officials from the The National Cyber Security Centre and MI5 are calling for fresh curbs on the use of Chinese "smart city technologies", such as surveillance cameras, by local authorities. 

According to a report by the Financial Times, security officials are warning that these contracts put British data at risk of being shared with the Chinese government. 

"Because you've got all this population-scale data anonymised in different ways, there's a risk that someone could recombine them to identify... the types of people visiting particular buildings or accessing particular services," one security official told the FT. 

"Smart city" or "safe city" technology contracts usually involve local authorities purchasing software that enables them to monitor urban areas more closely, using sensors and surveillance cameras. 

The scale of procurement from prominent Chinese firms was highlighted by Reuters, which found that at least half of London's boroughs have deployed surveillance cameras made by Chinese suppliers, including Hikvision, a firm which is blacklisted in the US over its connection to Xinjiang, home to China's repressed Uighur Muslim minority.

Five stories to start your day  

1) Facebook's new mind-reading wristband lets you switch on lights or boil the kettle from a distance The social media giant wants to build an all-encompassing augmented reality (AR) system controlled via tiny gestures.

2) Instagram to build app for children under 13  

Children under the age of 13 have historically been prohibited from the app.

3) Just 15pc of artists on Spotify make more than $1,000 a year

Streaming services releases figures showing its royalty payments have increased in recent years.

4) Sex consent app sparks backlash  

A police commissioner in Australia suggests an app to record sexual consent could be used as a solution for rising reports of sexual assault. 

5) Royal Mail adds barcodes to stamps for first time  

A spokesperson for the Royal Mail said they have yet to decide what the codes will actually be used for

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