Tech Digest daily roundup: Digital fingerprints help identify child abuse images

Digital fingerprints of a million images of child sexual abuse have been created, the Internet Watch Foundation has said. The UK charity, which is responsible for finding and removing such material online, said the fingerprints, known as hashes, would help companies and police find copies of the images. It is hoped that by doing this, the reuse of the images can be prevented. The images are from the government’s Child Abuse Image Database. The database contains some of the most extreme content that appears online – what is known as category A and B material. The hashes are an identifying code produced by an algorithm and act as a fingerprint for each image or video. BBC

The Ministry of Defence is buying Chinese drones that have been blacklisted by the US over national security and human rights concerns. The MoD placed a £132,337 order for drones and accessories made by DJI, the world’s largest consumer drone company, in March, according to a recently published contract notice. The Chinese company has been accused of providing drones to Russia’s military ahead of Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine, although it recently suspended sales in both countries. US government agencies have grounded their DJI drones, calling them a potential security threat. Telegraph

China has launched three astronauts to its uncompleted space station for six months of construction work. The crew are Chen Dong, Can Xuzhe, and Liu Yang – who was the first Chinese woman in space after a previous mission in 2012. They will work to complete the Tiangong space station by the end of this year, installing two lab modules at opposite sides of the outpost, giving it a T-shape. Assembly of the orbiting space station, which will be roughly a fifth of the size of the ISS, began last April and is expected to be completed in November after 11 launches. Sky News

More than 3,300 workers at 70 UK companies, ranging from a local chippy to large financial firms, start working a four-day week from Monday with no loss of pay in the world’s biggest trial of the new working pattern. The pilot is running for six months and is being organised by 4 Day Week Global in partnership with the thinktank Autonomy, the 4 Day Week Campaign, and researchers at Cambridge University, Oxford University and Boston College. The trial is based on the 100:80:100 model – 100% of pay for 80% of the time, in exchange for a commitment to maintain 100% productivity. The Guardian

An Australian court on Monday ordered Google to pay a former politician 715,000 Australian dollars ($515,000) over two defamatory YouTube videos. John Barilaro, the former New South Wales state deputy premier, had sued Google and comedian Jordan Shanks, also known as friendlyjordies, in the Federal Court over the videos. Justice Steven Rares found Barilaro had been the “subject of a relentless, racist, abusive and defamatory campaign conducted on YouTube,” a platform owned by Google. Barilaro told reporters outside the Sydney court that he felt “vindicated” by the judgment. AP News