Digital tech

This POSTnote examines the use of large and varied data in three key areas: crime prevention, crime detection and national security. It also covers regulatory issues and public perception about privacy, civil liberties and social benefits.

This briefing describes current surveillance efforts and examines new technological developments and their likely impacts on UK and international public health.

This POSTnote examines the application of ‘big data’ approaches to social media in three key areas: elections and polling, commercial applications and security. It also covers the regulation of social media data and public concerns around privacy.

Internet communications are often monitored to investigate criminal activity. Recent attempts to update UK regulation of investigatory powers have generated controversy. This POSTnote explains the use of different internet monitoring methods and discusses the impact of evolving technologies.

This POSTnote describes online identity, government projects to secure online access to public services and the issues arising from a more online society.

This POSTnote reviews the current state of STEM education for 14-19 year olds in the UK, highlighting key challenges and ongoing policy reforms.

Machine to machine (M2M) communication will allow the connection of billions of ‘smart’ devices and enable new ways of living and working. This note examines the potential of M2M, the common infrastructure that underlies many applications and the technological barriers to implementation.

This note examines the quality, cost and security of OSS and considers government plans to adopt open standards.

Almost 2 billion people suffer from chronic hunger and malnutrition in developing countries. The UK funds research into genetic modification (GM) as one option for agricultural development. This POSTnote examines the potential benefits and challenges of using genetically modified crops to improve food security in developing countries.

Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) underpin many aspects of modern living, so for the 10 million disabled people in the UK access to ICT is an important factor in their quality of life. This POSTnote summarises the issues that disabled people face in using ICT and looks at progress towards achieving equivalent access to services for disabled and non-disabled users.

There is debate surrounding the impact of violent video games on behaviour.

This POSTnote considers how patent law is applied to biomedical inventions and examines the potential impact on patient access to diagnostic tests and innovation.