The Digest: New computer spying bug found… and 4 other things people are talking about today
Symantec uncovers sophisticated, stealthy computer spying tool | Re/Code
[/nextpage] [nextpage title=”Next”]“Computer security researchers at Symantec say they have discovered a sophisticated piece of malware that appears to be used for spying at internet service and telecommunications companies, and was likely created by a government agency. The team has dubbed this newly-found Trojan ‘Regin’ and they are describing it as a ‘complex piece of malware whose structure displays a degree of technical competence rarely seen’.”
Google launches ad-free net experiment | BBC News
[/nextpage] [nextpage title=”Next”]“Google has unveiled a project that offers web users the option to pay to visit sites rather than see adverts. Dubbed Contributor, users can pay a monthly fee of between $1 to $3 for ad-free sites. When those who have paid their subscriptions visit a participating site they will see pixelated patterns replacing the adverts.”
Netflix accounts for up to a third of the internet — but torrenting still dwarfs legal sites | The Independent
[/nextpage] [nextpage title=”Next”]“Netflix makes up as much as a third of the internet when people sit down to watch it in the evenings, according to a new report. But less legal ways of sharing videos continue to dominate the internet. The service makes up more than 35% of American internet traffic at peak times (between 7pm and 11pm), more than 20% above its next competitor, YouTube. But Netflix, which is still expanding across Europe, only represents about 3.4% of traffic at the same time. In both countries, file-sharing service BitTorrent is far bigger than Netflix. It accounts for 14.4% of all internet use in Europe, beaten only by YouTube’s 19.9%.”
Frozen’s Anna and Elsa show Barbie how to teach girls to code | V3.co.uk
[/nextpage] [nextpage title=”Next”]“The proportion of females as part of the technology workforce is still depressingly low – around 20 percent is the general estimate – and while Code Club and Codecademy are both aimed at both sexes, an added bonus of the schemes would be to see a rise in the percentage of women in IT, along with an overall rise in more skilled coders. To further that objective, two initiatives have come to the forefront this week, aimed squarely at getting young girls into coding – and they couldn’t be more different or effective in their messaging. The first sees Disney’s latest smash hit movie, Frozen, team up with Code.org to produce a module that teaches kids to code, using two popular princesses.”
UK wants internet providers to identify who’s using their connections | Engadget
[/nextpage]“The British government isn’t letting up on its desire to track internet activity in the name of fighting terrorism. UK Home Secretary Theresa May is proposing a bill that would require internet providers to keep tabs on who’s using a given IP address and hand it over to the police, who could theoretically use it to hunt down suspects.”
