Facebook launches virtual bingo game offering real cash prizes

Controls will prevent anyone aged under 18 from gambling on Bingo Friendzy.

Facebook's Bingo & Slots Friendzy will not be regulated by the UK gambling commission, as its developer, Gamesys, is based in Gibraltar

Facebook has made its first move into online gambling in the UK, launching a virtual bingo machine that offers real cash prizes.
Britons aged 18 and over will be able to stake real money on the new Facebook game, dubbed Bingo Friendzy. The US social network plans to introduce virtual slot machines in the coming weeks.
Facebook insists that its controls will prevent anyone aged under 18 from gambling, but the move is likely to provoke some concern from parents whose children spend vast amounts of time on the site.
Bingo Friendzy has been developed by the gambling giant Gamesys, which runs several big-name jackpot sites including the Sun Bingo and Caesars Casino.
When a user signs up to Bingo Friendzy, they are asked to enter their personal details and confirm their date of birth. They are then asked to enter bank account details and make a deposit of between £10 and £500 to begin playing.
The game will not be regulated by the UK gambling commission because Gamesys is based in Gibraltar. The government has said it plans to make any company offering gambling services in the UK comply with the country's regulatory regime.
According to media regulator Ofcom, nearly two thirds of internet users in the UK are on Facebook. The average UK user spends six and a half hours a month on Facebook, which was the most popular internet destination behind Google search in March.
A spokeswoman for Facebook said: "Facebook is a place that allows people to connect and share. Real money gaming is a popular and well-regulated activity in the UK and we are allowing a partner to offer their games to adult users on the Facebook platform in a safe and controlled manner."
Facebook said it had no immediate plans to expand the venture to other markets, but the site could partner with other companies to launch new games in the UK.
Many countries outside the UK have more burdensome regulatory regimes for online gambling. In the US, for example, online gambling is largely prohibited in all but some states.
The venture into online gambling had long been expected for Facebook, which generates a growing amount of its worldwide revenues from gaming.
In the three months to 30 June, £123m ($192m) out of Facebook's £760m ($1.2bn) in revenues were generated from payments made in games such as Zynga's Farmville and Mafia Wars.
Licensed UK gambling is forecast to reach £10.0bn by 2012, according to the market intelligence firm H2 Gambling Capital. European interactive gambling was worth €8.3bn (£6.6bn) in 2009 and is expected to reach €12.6bn (£10bn) by 2012.

Superfast broadband will be available in 90% of UK by 2015

Ed Vaizey said the UK was one of the most 'digital nations in the world', with a thriving e-commerce economy. Photograph: Sarah Lee for the Guardian

 

The culture minister, Ed Vaizey, has said 90% of the country will have superfast broadband by 2015.
The minister insisted the government was working to put the right infrastructure in place for "the vast majority of the country" by 2015 to "future proof" the service.
Those who want "really, really fast speed" will then be able to connect to a network and choose to upgrade, he said.
Vaizey made his comments as a report by the House of Lords warned that the government's broadband policy had become "preoccupied" with delivering certain speeds to consumers when what was needed was a greater focus on access through a national broadband network.
The Lords communications committee concluded after a wide-ranging, six-month investigation that Britain would need a better broadband network to cope with future technologies. It raised concerns over the way Britain's network was being built, describing government strategy as "flawed" and liable to widen the digital divide between those communities with fast internet access and those living in broadband blackspots.
The peers said broadband should be treated as a vital national asset, like roads, rail and energy.
The report, Broadband for All – an Alternative Vision, recommends national planning for a "communications network of local, regional, national and internet exchanges where different operators can site equipment and exchange traffic, all linked by ample optical fibre that is open to use by competing providers".
"The delivery of certain speeds should not be the guiding principle; what is important is the long-term assurance that as new internet applications emerge, everyone will be able to benefit, from inhabitants of inner cities to the remotest areas of the UK," they said in the report.
The Conservative Lord Inglewood, chair of the communications committee, told the BBC Radio 4 Today programme: "The current strategy is based around providing certain levels of speed across the country and we're not convinced at all that that is the right place to start thinking about a policy and a programme for rolling out broadband infrastructure."
He added: "What we need to do is to find a system, it seems to us, that enables people to get what they want and pay accordingly."
Vaizey said the UK was one of the most "digital nations in the world", with a thriving e-commerce economy in which people spent more online and used technology more.
He said there was a "very competitive marketplace" in Britain in terms of laying fibre optics in people's homes in two-thirds of the country, with "government intervention" needed in the rest.
Vaizey told Today that £500m had been put in place to support this, with funding from devolved governments bringing the total to around £1.2bn, plus additional funding for pockets of cities where broadband connection was poor.
"We have set ourselves a target that by 2015, 90% of the country will have superfast broadband," said Vaizey. "Generally speaking most people define that around the 35 megabits a second (Mbps) speed but we have said that 100% of the country should have access to 2Mbps. To put that in context, for example, if you want to watch the iPlayer on your computer you would need about 1-1.5Mbps."
He said he was "happy" the target would be met.
The highest speed broadband requires fibre optics in the home, but Vaizey said further improvements to broadband speed must be "demand led".
The minister for culture, communications and creative industries said one of the reasons ministers wanted to move to a superfast broadband policy was to try to future-proof the system by putting the "right infrastructure" in place for the vast majority.
Those who want "really, really fast speed" can connect to a network and choose to upgrade, he said.
Pressed on the fact that some European countries had faster connection, Vaizey said the government had the most competitive marketplace.
"I think the rest of Europe actually looks to us as leaders in this. That also includes price because there's absolutely no point in having superfast broadband coming past your door if you can't afford it. So we also want competition on price and we do have very low prices on broadband."

Security services to get more access to monitor emails and social media

Britain has quietly agreed to measures that could increase the ability of the security services to intercept online communications, experts say.
Although the Home Office is at pains to stress that the draft communications and data bill, which is going through parliament, will not involve checking the content of emails and social media, experts say British officials have been simultaneously involved in international moves that could allow increased interception of online data – moves that will not be subject to the scrutiny of MPs.
The European Telecommunications Standards Institute (Etsi), the body that sets industry standards, has agreed measures that analysts say could force internet service providers to ensure that their systems meet government standards for intercepting communications.
The government's data bill restricts the authorities to only being able to see who is contacting whom, when, where and how, while the content of online communications would remain private unless a court warrant was obtained.
A joint scrutiny committee of MPs and peers, set up following widespread concerns about increased intrusion following the unveiling of the draft bill last month, is understood not to have been informed of the Etsi standards, which critics say could precipitate an escalation in state surveillance.
While the bill does not authorise interception, experts warn that there is nothing in the proposals that prevents the authorities from then installing their own hardware capable of intercepting the communications network.
A draft report from the Etsi technical committee on lawful interception, dated April 2012, indicates that standards have been agreed that could lead to increased data interception. It reveals that measures have been agreed to monitor "nomadic access", which means surveillance of an individual whether they go online from their home computer, mobile or an internet café. To facilitate this, service providers "must implement a Cloud Lawful Interception Function (Clif)" that could mean the installation of a new monitoring interface "or more likely ensuring presentation of information in a format recognisable to interception mechanisms".
Etsi has faced criticism in the past for the pre-emptive inclusion of wiretapping capabilities, a decision that critics say encouraged European governments to pass their wiretapping laws accordingly. According to Ross Anderson, professor in security engineering at the University of Cambridge Computer Laboratory, the institute has strong links with the intelligence agencies and has a significant British contingent, along with a number of US government advisers.
The development has led to fears among civil liberties campaigners that the bill could become a stepping stone towards plans to monitor and control access to content.
Anderson said: "It's an absolutely massive extension of state surveillance. At present the government can watch anybody. What they want in the future is to get into a position where the government can watch everybody.
"They are saying this is only about communications data, but in fact it is not. If you build the infrastructure that Etsi have agreed, it can be used for interception. The documents show that there is a clear and continuing intention to use it for interception."
Some experts believe that allowing the government to install its own hardware at internet service providers, as currently proposed by the bill, would have to comply with the Etsi standards and would lead to interception of an individual's online content.
Nick Pickles, director of the privacy and civil liberties campaign group Big Brother Watch, said: "We're seeing moves at an international level to make it easier for the content of communications to be intercepted. For Home Office officials behind the communications data bill, spying on who we are emailing or Skyping is not their final objective. Officials from Britain are working internationally to force service providers to ensure that their systems are easy to tap into."
He said it was worrying that the Etsi standards had not been disclosed to the committee of MPs and peers, introduced as one of the safeguards following opposition to the proposals. The committee will examine all aspects of the draft bill and is expected to report in November.
However, a Home Office spokesman said there were no plans to collect the content of online data. "It is simply untrue to suggest we would be able to collect the content of communications data. The changes we are making only relate to the who, where and when of communications data. The interception of the content of any communications is a completely separate matter and continues to be strictly controlled by the Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act, requiring a warrant signed by the secretary of state."