The UK government is on a mission to loosen the grip that legacy IT suppliers have on public sector IT budgets, amid concerns about how police forces, NHS trusts and local councils are wedded to suppliers whose offerings are not good value for money. Technology secretary Peter Kyle outlined the government’s ambitions on this front…
Civil rights groups have highlighted a “worrying lack of transparency” in how the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) is embedding artificial intelligence (AI) in the UK’s social security system. According to separate reports from Amnesty International and Big Brother Watch, both published in early July 2025, the opaque use of AI systems by the…
DWP accused of shielding AI deployments from public scrutiny Read More »
A European trade body is facing criticism for striking a deal with Microsoft that allows its members to host and resell the software giant’s cloud offerings with preferential pricing terms. The Cloud Infrastructure Services Providers In Europe (CISPE) trade body has reached an agreement with Microsoft that will see its members offered revised pricing…
Four people have been arrested and taken into custody across the UK in a National Crime Agency investigation into the April and May 2025 cyber attacks on Marks & Spencer (M&S), Co-op Group and Harrods. The arrests of two men aged 19, a third aged 17 and a 20-year-old woman were made at their home…
The European Commission has been accused of rigging the selection process for Europe’s next data protection watchdog in favour of its own candidate, according to a complaint submitted to the European Ombudsman and shared with Computer Weekly. Submitted by privacy experts Maria Farrell, Douwe Korff and Ian Brown, the complaint alleged “procedural irregularities” with the…
European Commission accused of rigging data watchdog appointment Read More »
The UK government will create “a proper, clear governance framework” to regulate the use of facial recognition technology by law enforcement, the home secretary has told Lords, marking a shift in policy. In an appearance before the Lords Justice and Home Affairs Committee (JHAC) on 8 July, home secretary Yvette Cooper confirmed the government is…
UK to create ‘governance framework’ for police facial recognition Read More »
Two former Post Office executives are part of a team at software firm Escher bidding to win the contract to replace the computer system at the centre of the Post Office scandal. Escher is eyeing up Lot 2 of the government contract, which seeks a supplier to provide a commercial-off-the shelf (COTS) electronic point of…
Former Post Office staff in Horizon replacement bid team Read More »
The panel brought together academic, industry and policy leaders to discuss how AI can support climate goals, financial inclusion and infrastructure development – particularly in underserved regions. But perhaps the strongest message was this: the computing community must now take ethical leadership as seriously as technical innovation. In an exclusive interview with Computer Weekly, ACM…
ACM president Yannis Ioannidis sees a more humane role for AI Read More »
Subpostmasters wrongly convicted of financial crimes could still be waiting for full compensation settlements well into 2026, according to a Public Accounts Committee (PAC) report. The committee of MPs also criticised the government for its lack of action in contacting former subpostmasters who have not responded to invitations to apply for compensation. The report comes…
Wrongly convicted subpostmasters may have to wait another year for redress Read More »
UK astronomers and software developers have created an infrastructure to process and distribute petabytes (PB) of information from a digital camera that is taking images from 20 billion light years in the past. Using “the largest digital camera in the world”, the Vera C Rubin Observatory is carrying out an astronomical survey of the entire…
UK IT infrastructure processes images looking back 20 billion light years Read More »
