UK to outlaw tweeting in courts

English courts may restrict the public's freedom to post Twitter updates from inside hearings to avoid the risk of prejudicing trials, the head of the judiciary in England and Wales said, reveals the Associated Press.

In a consultation report on the use of smartphones and live, text-based communications from court, justice Igor Judge's office said in some instances only members of the press - not the public - attending court may be permitted to use Twitter.

"The combination of instant reporting without the self-restraint presumed to be exercised by accredited members of the media might lead to a greater likelihood of prejudicial reporting," the report said.

Online activist group Anonymous has targeted an American security firm that claimed to know the identities of its leaders, states the BBC.

The secretive organisation is being investigated in several countries over strikes on Visa, PayPal and others.

Over the weekend, Aaron Barr, head of HBGary Federal, said he had discovered the names of its most senior figures. The group retaliated overnight by breaking into the company's Web site and hijacking his Twitter account.

International IT services company Atos Origin has said it will have eradicated e-mail within the company by 2014, according to Computing.co.uk.

Speaking at a Web conference yesterday, Atos chairman Thierry Breton said he planned to have an e-mail-free company within three years and instead be using communication applications, as well as collaboration and social media tools.

"We are producing data on a scale that is fast polluting our working environments and encroaching on our personal lives too. We are looking to reverse this trend.”

A game developed by a Boston-based technology company that allows users to drive a truck full of immigrants through the desert and try not to have them tossed out is drawing fire from some immigrant advocates, reports AP.

"Smuggle Truck: Operation Immigration," a proposed iPhone and iPad app by Owlchemy Labs targeted for released in March, lets players navigate through what appears to be the US-Mexican border over cliffs, mountains and dead animals.

Eva Millona, executive director of the Massachusetts Immigrants and Refugee Advocacy Coalition, says the game is in poor taste and trivialises the serious immigrant issue. "Last year, 170 human beings died crossing the border," she notes.