Critics say Google rules put profits over privacy
Privacy campaigners have called Google’s new rules on tracking people online “a blatant disregard for user privacy.” Changes which come in on Sunday permit so-called “fingerprinting”, which allows online advertisers to collect more data about users including their IP addresses and information about their devices. Google says this data is already widely used by other […]
Welsh farm worker numbers hit at least 20-year low
Getty Images Farm worker numbers in Wales have dropped by more than 16% since 1998, suggests a Welsh Government study The number of people working on Welsh farms has reached at least a 20-year low, a new study has shown. The figures show almost 52,000 workers currently have full or part-time jobs on farms – […]
Western Isles life in the 1970s brought back on screen
Craig Williams BBC Scotland News Children singing at Uist Mòd is thought to date from 1977 It was an attempt to use cutting-edge video technology to chronicle the daily lives of people in the Western Isles. Cinema Sgire ran from 1977 to 1981 and involved training local people to use some of the first commercially […]
New Zealand proposes taxing cow burps to reduce emissions
Getty Images Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern’s plans has angered some farmers New Zealand has proposed taxing the greenhouse gasses that farm animals produce from burping and urinating in a bid to tackle climate change. The world-first scheme will see farmers paying for agricultural emissions in some form by 2025. The country’s farming industry accounts for […]
Leeds Innovation Village to push ahead despite hospital delay
Gemma Dillon BBC Yorkshire, Political Reporter BBC Ali Abdi said having an innovation hub in Leeds allowed collaboration between the hospital and universities Work on a new “innovation village” linked to Leeds General Infirmary is set to continue, despite a plan to rebuild the hospital being delayed until 2030. The proposed hub, which is designed […]
Pub alcohol ban sees barrels of beer poured away
Matthew Horwood / Getty Images City centre streets were deserted after the ban closed pubs and restaurants Barrels of beer are being poured down drains as Wales’ hospitality industry prepared for the alcohol ban to come into force. Businesses said it was “a devastating hammer blow” after going to lengths to keep customers safe. They […]
AI cameras trial by Essex Police will detect phone offences
Henry Godfrey – Evans BBC News, Essex Devon County Council The cameras will likely be mounted on the relocatable trailers in Essex – as demonstrated in this image State-of-the art cameras designed to identify drivers not wearing seatbelts and using mobile phones will be trialled by police in Essex. The high-definition AI (artificial technology) has […]
Business review of 2020: Covid-19 and Trump
Martin Webber Business editor, BBC World Service Getty Images For those still travelling to work, 2020 was the year wearing face masks became compulsory for many The Covid-19 pandemic has not only generated a year of economic dislocation but it is also set to prompt radical long-term changes to how we live and work. In […]
Law firm restricts AI after ‘significant’ staff use
An international law firm has blocked general access to several artificial intelligence (AI) tools after it found a “significant increase in usage” by its staff. In an email seen by the BBC, a senior director of Hill Dickinson, which employs more than a thousand people across the world, warned staff of the use of AI […]
EU leaders disagree over rescue package
EPA A protesting Nissan worker in Barcelona: “We demand a real future” EU leaders have failed to agree on a €750bn (£676bn; $840bn) recovery fund for the coronavirus crisis, but Germany called the talks “constructive”. Chancellor Angela Merkel said “the bridges we still have to build are big, that’s true, but it was a discussion […]