Review of the Papers, Friday 10 August

Government  

• The Ministry of Defence has imposed a ban on members of the armed forces using modern technology to communicate about their experiences. Soldiers, sailors and other members of the armed forces will be barred from blogging, which has taken off in army circles in recent years and in some cases led to investigations, including on practices in Iraq. Many internet messages have criticised issues such as poor equipment and kit, and even the justifications of Britain's various military operations. The blogging represented a loophole in old Queen's Regulations which call for personnel to ask permission from superiors to speak to the press. Now forces members will be banned from talking online and furthermore prevented from taking part in surveys, post on bulletin boards, or sending pictures or video material without permission, if the messages concern defence matters. Instead, "all such communication must help to maintain and, where possible, enhance the reputation of defence", according to the guidelines. http://news.independent.co.uk/uk/politics/article2851504.ece
• Airlines have been ordered to end passenger confusion over fares by displaying the full price of plane tickets on their websites. The Office of Fair Trading ordered 13 airlines to fall into line in a ruling which will apply to any carrier using UK airports. Already 11 airlines have complied with the ruling in full. Two more, Ryanair and Aer Lingus have agreed to do so, but said that technical difficulties meant that it would take a few months to complete the work. In a separate but co-ordinated move, the Association of British Travel Agents, which represents 90 per cent of the package tour market, said it will take action against any of its members who mislead passengers over the cost of their holidays. The issue of the way in which airlines - especially "low-cost" airlines quote their prices on the internet has been a long-running sore in the travel industry for many years. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2007/08/09/nair109.xml
• The government and police must act to improve online security and stop the internet becoming a "playground of criminals", a parliamentary committee warns today. A report from the House of Lords science and technology select committee accuses both business and government of creating an image of the net as a "wild west", with millions of internet users unnecessarily exposed to crime. "The internet is now increasingly the playground of criminals," the report says. "Where a decade ago the public perception of the e-criminal was of a lonely hacker searching for attention, today's bad guys belong to organised crime groups, are highly skilful, specialised and focused on profit. They want to stay invisible, and so far they have largely succeeded." The result of a six-month committee investigation into online security suggests radical solutions including a new internet crime fighting police unit and an independent web regulator. http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2007/aug/10/crime.politics
• Water companies in England and Wales are losing 3.4 billion litres a day to leaks, according to an Ofwat report released yesterday. Severn Trent Water, which was forced to close a flooded water treatment plant in Gloucestershire last month, lost more than 500 million litres every day, and was the only company to miss the industry regulator's targets. The company cut leaks by just nine million litres daily, missing the 17million-litre target. The watchdog also criticised Severn Trent for interrupting the water supply and underinvesting in security. Severn Trent is the subject of a Serious Fraud Office investigation for allegedly misreporting leakage figures, and the company, which reported pretax profits of £252 million, pledged an extra £45 million to meet targets over the next three years. It also promised to cut charges by £12 million. http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk/article2231583.ece