Written on March 19th, 2010 by Editorno shouts
By Jonathan Amos
Science correspondent, BBC News
A consortium led by Thales Alenia Space of France will enter into negotiations for a 1.5bn-euro contract to build Europe’s next weather satellites.
The TAS group was selected after a competitive process run by the European Space Agency (Esa).
The Meteosat Third Generation (MTG) system will comprise six satellites, with the first spacecraft likely to be ready for launch in 2016.
MTG is expected to bring a step change in weather forecasting capability.
The programme should guarantee European access to space-acquired meteorological data until at least the late 2030s.
MTG is a joint undertaking between Esa and Eumetsat, the international agency charged with looking after Europe’s meteosats.
In the new programme, Esa will oversee the research and development phase of MTG.
METEOSAT – BIGGER, BETTER
- Europe’s 1st imaging satellite (800kg) was launched in 1977; it had just three channels
- Today’s 2nd generation imager (above) has 12 channels; it’s a 2-tonne class spacecraft
- The planned 3rd generation imager will be a two 3-tonne satellite; it will have 16 channels
- MTG adds a second platform: a sounding satellite to see the different layers in the atmosphere
This will include two prototype Meteosats: an imaging spacecraft to picture weather systems; and a sounding spacecraft (one which can return information about different layers in the atmosphere).
Eumetsat will operate these platforms once they are launched and pay for their follow-ups. It is envisaged the satellites will be launched at intervals of a few years.
The new spacecraft will be quite unlike their forebears. The second generation satellites (MSG), for example, are spin-stabilised and build up their images as they rotate across the field of view.
The MTG spacecraft will look more like standard telecommunications platforms. They will sit and stare at the Earth.
Their image data will have a much higher resolution (details as small as 500m) and will come down in a fraction of the time – in as little as 2.5 minutes.
"The users asked for a higher spatial resolution and even a better signal to noise ratio; and for that we’ve had to increase the time the satellite is able to observe the Earth," explained Rolf Stuhlmann, MTG programme scientist at Eumetsat.
"So, the first and the second generation were spin-stabilised satellites – they return around their axis and the instrument on the satellite is only able to look at the Earth 5% of the time. All the other time, it is looking into space.
"To increase the time the instrument is capable of looking at the Earth, we’ve had to go for the first time to a three-axis stabilised satellite."
The new spacecraft will carry many innovations that should translate into more accurate and more detailed weather forecasts.
One key development is an Infrared Sounding Instrument that has been pioneered on Europe’s Metop polar-orbiting Earth-observation spacecraft but which will now been flown in a geostationary orbit by MTG.
The instrument will be able to detect the layers of moisture in the atmosphere long before they have developed into weather systems.
"If you see clouds, you know you have water vapour; it’s very easy to see," explained Ernst Koenemann, director of programme development at Eumetsat. "But even in blue skies you still have water vapour, and this vapour will eventually develop into weather systems.
"With the infrared sounder, we will see this vapour, and by doing that we will be able to predict much better if and how the systems will develop."
The sounding instrument should also give improved warning of extreme precipitation events, such as the one in December that saw about 25cm of rain fall in just 24 hours on Cockermouth in north-west England.
In addition, the sounding spacecraft will have an enhanced capability to study atmospheric chemistry – to track the behaviour of trace gases such as ozone, nitrogen dioxide and sulphur dioxide.
Another new MTG instrument of major note is a Lightning Imager, which should provide much better information on the state of electrification in storms. This is expected to have immense benefits for the aviation sector, allowing it to route planes more safely.
The Meteosat series stretches back to 1977. Currently, two platforms – Meteosat-8 and Meteosat-9 – provide the space data on which daily weather forecasts for Europe depend.
Esa member-states committed just under a billion euros to the MTG programme at a ministerial meeting in late 2008. The details of the Eumetsat contribution, which will amount to more than 2.4bn euros, are expected to be finalised by its member-states in mid-2010.
Eumetsat is holding a special council meeting on 15 March to discuss the scope of its role in the project.
It has taken much longer than expected to sort out the industrial contract. France and Germany wanted to lead MTG and both committed 34% of the requested Esa funds.
Space agency officials have had to ensure the workshare in the contract rewards the commitment of the two nations, as demanded under Esa rules.
The consortium includes OHB Bremen and Kayser Threde Munich.
Jonathan.Amos-INTERNET@bbc.co.uk
This article is from the BBC News website. © British Broadcasting Corporation, The BBC is not responsible for the content of external internet sites.
Written on March 18th, 2010 by Editorno shouts
Nissan is expected to announce imminently that it plans to build a new electric car at its Sunderland plant.
The Leaf electric car, which runs entirely on lithium-ion batteries, is due to go on sale worldwide at the end of the year.
Sunderland has already been named as the site to produce Nissan’s electric car batteries, creating 350 new jobs.
The manufacture of the Leaf is expected to safeguard hundreds more at the plant.
Nissan’s Sunderland plant is the UK’s largest car factory, employing 4,000 people and producing about a third of the cars made in the UK.
ANALYSISBy Jorn Madslien, business reporter, BBC NewsNissan had already said that it would invest some 200m euros in a battery factory near its Sunderland manufacturing plant, yet it was never a given that the company would also produce its Leaf electric car here too. Its investment in the region is now set to be doubled.
The North East’s efforts to gear up its electric motoring infrastructure and the UK government’s recent decision to subsidise buyers of electric cars to the tune of £5,000 obviously helped the Japanese automotive giant make up its mind.
But in the end, the right to produce the car and thus secure thousands of jobs in an otherwise economically depressed region was earned by the Nissan factory’s management and workers.
The car battery programme has already seen Nissan invest 200m euros (£179m) there.
Last year, Nissan’s chief executive Carlos Ghosn underlined his company’s commitment to its electric cars programme.
"The electric car will account for 10% of the global market in 10 years," he told BBC News.
Earlier this year, Trevor Mann, manufacturing boss at Sunderland, told the BBC he was optimistic about the plant’s chances of manufacturing the Leaf.
"We’ve had a fantastic track record of winning new models," he told the BBC.
"They’ve been won, not just on manufacturing efficiency, but also on total delivery cost – including parts and materials, logistics, taxes and duties, as well as the cost of sales."
This article is from the BBC News website. © British Broadcasting Corporation, The BBC is not responsible for the content of external internet sites.
Written on March 18th, 2010 by Editorno shouts
Spam levels have not been dented by a series of strikes against controllers of networks of hijacked computers.
Early 2010 has seen four such networks, or botnets, tackled via arrests, net access cutoffs and by infiltrating command systems.
The successes have not inconvenienced hi-tech criminals who found other routes to send spam, say experts.
And, they add, despite falling response rates, spam remains too lucrative for criminals to abandon.
Cable cutting
In early March, many parts of the command and control (C&C) system for the Zeus botnet were knocked out of action as Cisco and others cut off the Kazakhstani ISP being used to administer it.
The action comes on top of similar success against the Lethic, Waledac and Marioposa botnets in early 2010.
STAYING SAFE ONLINE
- Use anti-spyware and anti-virus programs
- On at least a weekly basis update anti-virus and spyware products
- Install a firewall and make sure it is switched on
- Make sure updates to your operating system are installed
- Take time to educate yourself and family about the risks
- Monitor your computer and stay alert to threats
Hi-tech crime: A glossary
"So as far as impact on spam goes it has been minimal," said Rik Ferguson, a senior security analyst at Trend Micro.
Statistics on spam and botnet numbers in the UK gathered by Trend Micro show that the rates of both have stayed constant despite the growing numbers of successes against these networks of hijacked home PCs.
Victims, typically users of Windows machines, often fall victim via booby-trapped e-mail messages or through websites that slip malware onto computers via software vulnerabilities.
Botnet controllers have shown resilience in recovering swiftly after a shutdown. 2008 saw the close down of an ISP called McColo which provided net connections for many botnets. As a result of that, global spam levels dropped by 70% but it did not take long for junk mail levels to start climbing again.
Similarly, the recent action against the Zeus botnet briefly caused the number of C&C computers behind it dropping by a quarter. Since then, however, numbers have been climbing and the network is closing in on its earlier total.
The problem, say experts, is that those who send spam are not those that run the botnets. As a result, if one botnet disappears then spammers and other hi-tech criminals simply shop around for another.
Cashing in
Hi-tech criminals persist with spam despite evidence that response rates are plummeting.
Only 28 responses were recorded from a spam campaign of 350 million e-mails found a study carried out by Professor Stefan Savage and colleagues at the University of California, San Diego.
Of those 350 million, only 23.8% made it through spam filters to e-mail inboxes and resulted in more than 10,000 visits to site peddling cheap pills.
Professor Savage said it was difficult to draw conclusions based on its limited data but said even with response rates of 0.00001%, the most prolific spammers could potentially make millions of dollars per year.
"It is true that over the years spam campaigns have become less successful for certain age demographics in the USA and most of Europe, but not so much in Asia and developing countries." said Paul Sop, chief technology officer at security firm Prolexic.
"What counts is not the amount of spam being sent, but how profitable/effective the campaign is," he said. "Smaller more targeted spam campaigns, especially phishing, are more effective."
Mr Ferguson from Trend Micro said low response rates did not mean that spam had become a solved problem in some countries.
"Spam is not just about selling spurious bargains anymore," he said. Typically, he said, spam was the trigger that led people to a website where they may fall victim to some kind of malware.
"Most non-commercial spam these days is aimed solely to get you to click on a link, even out of curiosity," he said. "As soon as you click on that link, you’re infected, most likely to become yet another botnet victim, have your identity and information stolen and go on to participate, all unknowingly in the infection of further victims."
This article is from the BBC News website. © British Broadcasting Corporation, The BBC is not responsible for the content of external internet sites.
Written on March 17th, 2010 by Editorno shouts
Shia rebels in northern Yemen are reported to have released 178 civilians and government soldiers.
The release comes after the Yemeni government accused the rebels of not fully complying with a ceasefire agreed in February.
The rebels, known as Houthis, had fought Yemeni forces since 2004, until a major offensive by the government last year led to the peace deal.
Under the terms of the deal, the rebels agreed to free all prisoners.
They also pledged to open up roads, and withdraw from government buildings and army posts.
The government of Yemen is also facing two other militant groups – al-Qaeda and southern secessionists.
South and North Yemen were united in 1990 and fought a brief civil war in 1994, and grievances with separatists still remain.
The truce with the Houthis in northern Yemen has allowed the government in Sanaa to turn its attention to the secessionist movement and to the al-Qaeda cadre said to be hiding out in the same area.
Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, an offshoot of the al-Qaeda core around Osama Bin Laden, have been using Yemen as a base since several militants broke out of a Saudi jail in 2008 and escaped over the border.
This article is from the BBC News website. © British Broadcasting Corporation, The BBC is not responsible for the content of external internet sites.
By Adam Brimelow
Health correspondent, BBC News
Too many people are going to see their GP with minor problems, such as coughs and colds, a group of doctors and health campaigners says.
The report by the "Self-Care Campaign" says common ailments account for nearly one fifth of GPs’ workload.
It says the cost to the health service in England alone is nearly £2bn a year.
The campaign – funded by drugs companies selling over-the-counter medicines – has won backing from doctors, nurses and health charities.
The report says many people with minor ailments go to their doctor out of convenience or dependency rather than need, at huge cost to the health service.
"We need to look at ways of encouraging a change in attitude towards the treatment of minor illnesses so that health care and services are properly directed at those most in need"
Professor Steve Field
Royal College of GPs
It concludes that this is unsustainable.
However it adds: "This does not mean denying treatment to those who are sick but making sure that people receive the services they actually need."
Drawing on research funded by the Proprietary Association of Great Britain – which speaks for manufacturers of over-the-counter medicines and food supplements in the UK – the report says more there are more than 50 million consultations every year that are solely for "minor" ailments.
These include back pain, dermatitis, nasal congestion and coughs.
The campaign urges all political parties to act on its recommendations.
These include training for doctors and nurses on how to help people to treat themselves, and public information campaigns on how to manage minor ailments.
The report suggests tackling this problem could save the NHS £10bn over the next five years, without any cuts to services.
Support
The British Medical Association and the Royal College of GPs (RCGP) say they support the move towards more self-care.
In a statement the RCGP president Professor Steve Field, said: "Patients with long-term and complex conditions need more time with their GP to discuss their care and treatment options.
"We need to look at ways of encouraging a change in attitude towards the treatment of minor illnesses so that health care and services are properly directed at those most in need."
Katherine Murphy, from the Patients Association, said: "This whole question is about responsibility. Of course patients should be responsible about their health services, but so should every clinician being paid from the public purse.
"It is part of their professional duty to ensure that their patients are accurately informed about what they should do and when, about aspects of their health.
"Above all patients should be able to rely on timely access to a clinician when they are sick or worried sick. Every primary care contractor has a way to go on joining up the NHS for their patients before they start blaming the customer. We need to get this balance right."
This article is from the BBC News website. © British Broadcasting Corporation, The BBC is not responsible for the content of external internet sites.
Written on March 15th, 2010 by Editorno shouts
Toyota Motor Corp says it has found no evidence to support a driver’s account of a widely-publicised "runaway" Prius incident in California last week.
James Sikes said his Prius sped out of control, but Toyota said its own tests could not replicate the event.
Millions of Toyota models have been recalled after several complaints about the braking and accelerator systems.
Toyota insists that it has found no problems with its electronics, and that its mechanical fixes are sufficient.
Last week’s incident raised new questions over Toyota’s flagship model, the hybrid Prius.
Differing accounts
Mr Sikes, 61, claimed his car suddenly accelerated on a San Diego freeway and that he could not stop it for some 20 minutes until a highway patrol officer helped him slow the vehicle down.
At a news conference in California, a company spokesman said the technical findings differed significantly from the account given by the driver.
"We may never know exactly what happened with this car"
National Highway Traffic Safety Administration
Toyota said its an examination of Mr Sikes’s Prius showed that he repeatedly applied the brakes some 250 times, but only lightly.
That account appears to contradict Mr Sikes’ statement – backed by the California Highway Patrol – that he was frantically slamming on the brakes.
"While our analysis is not finalized, Toyota believes there are significant inconsistencies between the account of the event of 8 March and the findings of this investigation," Mike Michels told reporters.
"We’re not calling him a liar and we’re not judging what he did or did not do," Mr Michels was quoted as saying by AFP news agency.
Earlier in the day, federal safety regulators said their analysis of the vehicle had failed to find "anything to explain the incident that Mr Sikes reported".
"We would caution people that our work continues and that we may never know exactly what happened with this car," the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) added in the statement.
Toyota already faces dozens of lawsuits that could cost it billions of dollars.
Federal authorities are examining if there are grounds for criminal charges.
This article is from the BBC News website. © British Broadcasting Corporation, The BBC is not responsible for the content of external internet sites.
Written on March 15th, 2010 by Editorno shouts
By Kevin Peachey
Personal finance reporter, BBC News, Norwich
Tucked away in a Norfolk wood, a small team make soap by hand in a converted chicken shed.
But even here at Simply Soaps – a small operation set up 11 years ago with a grant from the Prince’s Trust – it has been impossible to escape the downturn.
"This Christmas was not the same as others. Retailers were keeping their stock to a minimum," says founder Laurence Campion, in his sweet-smelling workshop in the family grounds.
"We were aware of the recession, but this was the first real sign of it."
With orders down by 5% to 15%, something had to give, and staff were told the factory would only run for three days a week.
"It was a tough decision to make. We took staff out for a meal. It was quite emotional, but everyone had a personal interest in us not going under," Laurence says.
They are far from the only business to reduce staff hours, and the growing number of part-time and temporary workers seems to have put the brakes on unemployment in the UK.
Clocking in
A recent report by the Office for National Statistics (ONS) found that with new job offers scarce when the UK economy started to shrink, so people started to consider working in jobs with shorter hours.
"This will have forced some people to take work that did not meet their needs in terms of hours worked and earnings, and hence increased underemployment levels," wrote Annette Walling and Gareth Clancy, of the ONS, in February.
The acceleration in the number of temporary and part-time workers is most striking in the latest Labour Force Survey – research released alongside monthly unemployment statistics.
Last month’s figures showed a year-on-year increase of 32% in the number of temporary workers who could not find a permanent job. These are people who work full-time on a short-term contract.
This figure was even higher – a rise of 35% – for part-time workers who could not find a permanent job. These are people who work fewer hours a week than full-time workers.
With the next set of jobs figures to be published on Wednesday, John Philpott, chief economic adviser at the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development, says the trend is likely to continue "for a while".
"Employers are keen to preserve skills and avoid the cost of redundancy," he says.
"For workers, this option is better than the alternatives. There is a passive acceptance."
The low level of interest rates, and mortgage costs, mean that workers are better placed to accept these jobs as a short-term solution.
A more service-orientated economy, and a leaner use of staff by employers, means that businesses were also more likely to agree to shorter hours rather than lay-offs than they were in the recessions of the 80s and 90s, he says.
And the changing nature of the workplace is clear if you delve a little deeper into the Labour Force Survey figures.
There are more women who work part-time because they cannot find a permanent job than men, although both numbers grew by more than 30% in 2009 compared with 2008.
At Simply Soaps, two female members of staff have each taken more than one part-time job at different companies, which has lessened the blow of falling hours.
Taxing times
So are people just resigned to taking part-time work because they are aware of the economic reality, or is there something else in it for them
Nigel Meager, director of the Institute of Employment Studies, says that the tax credit system has added an extra financial incentive to taking these jobs.
"In previous recessions, if people were offered a low-paid part-time job it was not worth their while in taking it," he says.
"But now doing some hours of work means some are eligible for tax credits. It means some people who might previously have stayed out of the system still have a foothold in the labour market."
Working tax credit is paid to people who work for 16 hours or more a week, for at least four weeks. Couples can also get help with their childcare costs.
Workers’ rights
There are 1.43 million people in the UK with temporary jobs, and 7.7 million in part-time jobs, according to the latest ONS figures.
Classifieds websites say they are seeing rising numbers of people searching for these jobs.
But are these jobs being taken without consideration of the rights to which employees are entitled
European rules have been tightened, aimed at avoiding the exploitation of agency workers.
The EU agreed the Agency Workers Directive at a meeting in Luxembourg in 2008 which will lead to agency workers gaining the same rights as full-time staff after 12 weeks of work.
"We could be in for several years of sluggish growth in the labour market"
Nigel Meager, Institute of Employment Studies
Other benefits that will be offered from the first day of employment include information about job vacancies where they are working, equal access to facilities such as childcare and transport, and rights for working mothers, such as time to attend ante-natal appointments and parent-friendly working hours.
These rules have yet to be enshrined in UK law, but many employers have already put them into place.
There is no specific definition of a part-time worker, and one man’s part-time hours could be another’s full day.
So these workers are generally identified by businesses as being those not employed full-time, whatever the hours.
And they have strict rights too, outlined in the Part-Time Workers Regulations.
Part-timers should receive the same pro-rata rates of pay and benefits as offered to comparable full-time workers.
As well as basic pay rates, this includes any holiday entitlements, sickness, maternity, paternity and pension provisions, and any other contractual entitlements provided by the employer.
Recovery
When the economy picks up again, will these workers be in a prime position to work full-time again
At Simply Soaps, Laurence Campion has been investing in new products and has taken the extra time to look into the web-sales side of the business.
He hopes to return the business to a five-day week.
"It has been a struggle, but we are confident about the future," he says.
The bigger picture painted by Nigel Meager, of the Institute of Employment Studies, is somewhat gloomier.
"We could be in for several years of sluggish growth in the labour market. This might be a problem for people locked into substandard jobs," he says.
So it is all eyes on the job figures – but some workers might have more time to study the numbers than they would really want.
This article is from the BBC News website. © British Broadcasting Corporation, The BBC is not responsible for the content of external internet sites.
Written on March 15th, 2010 by Editorno shouts
New pictures have been released of the Martian moon Phobos, acquired by the European Mars Express (Mex) probe during its recent flybys.
The images reveal details down to a resolution of just 4.4m per pixel.
Mex began a series of 12 close passes in mid-February. The observation schedule continues until 26 March.
One flyby skimmed past the surface at just 67km, the nearest any manmade object has ever got to the little Martian moon.
The new images of Phobos come from 7 March approach when the spacecraft achieved an altitude just above 100km.
The pictures will help the Russians as they prepare to launch their Phobos-Grunt mission next year. The spacecraft will attempt to land on the 27km-by-22km-by-19km moon, collect a soil sample and return it to Earth for analysis.
The excellent resolution shows the Phobos-Grunt mission planners the precise conditions at their potential landing sites.
Planetary scientists are trying to explain the origin of the moon, one of two natural satellites at Mars (the other being Deimos).
Previous study had indicated that Phobos has an extremely low density, suggesting that its surface probably hides many large interior voids.
Researchers suspect the moon is simply a collection of planetary rubble that coalesced around the Red Planet sometime after its formation. Another explanation is that it is a captured asteroid.
Phobos is very slowly falling in towards Mars and tidal forces are expected to tear it apart one day.
The European Space Agency’s Mars Express satellite has been in orbit since 25 December 2003.
It has made many discoveries including measurements of previously unrecognised methane in the planet’s atmosphere.
This article is from the BBC News website. © British Broadcasting Corporation, The BBC is not responsible for the content of external internet sites.
Written on March 12th, 2010 by Editorno shouts
By Rajesh Mirchandani
BBC News, Los Angeles
![A [block]0[/block] dealership in California - 12 March 2010](http://newsimg.bbc.co.uk/media/images/47464000/jpg/_47464757_-6.jpg)
Prosecutors in California are suing Toyota, claiming the Japanese carmaker sold hundreds of thousands of vehicles that it knew had defects.
The world’s largest carmaker has recalled millions of vehicles because of problems accelerating and braking.
Regulators have linked five deaths to crashes allegedly caused by accelerator problems and are investigating dozens of others.
The company said it had not been served with the lawsuit and would not comment.
Officials in Orange County, in southern California, claim Toyota knew of defects with the acceleration system in several models, but did not tell customers.
"We’ll be alleging in court, on behalf of the people of Orange County, that Toyota knowingly sold cars and trucks with defects that caused Toyotas to accelerate suddenly and uncontrollably," said Orange County District Attorney Tony Rackauckas.
The company has been forced to recall six million vehicles in the US.
This is the latest of several dozen cases against Toyota that could cost it billions of dollars.
Toyota’s US headquarters are in California – that is why prosecutors say they can bring charges and it is thought to be the first such case based on US consumer protection laws.
It is claimed the company carried out fraud by hiding evidence of dangerous vehicle defects.
Meanwhile federal investigators are examining if there are grounds for criminal charges.
This latest case comes days after a Toyota owner in southern California said his brakes failed while he was driving.
A police car had to help him stop. Last year in the same region four members of a family were killed when their Toyota crashed. It was claimed the accelerator pedal had stuck.
This article is from the BBC News website. © British Broadcasting Corporation, The BBC is not responsible for the content of external internet sites.
Written on March 10th, 2010 by Editorno shouts
By Michael Fitzpatrick, Tokyo
Researchers have produced a mobile phone that could be a boon for prying bosses wanting to keep tabs on the movements of their staff.
Japanese phone giant KDDI Corporation has developed technology that tracks even the tiniest movement of the user and beams the information back to HQ.
It works by analysing the movement of accelerometers, found in many handsets.
Activities such as walking, climbing stairs or even cleaning can be identified, the researchers say.
The company plans to sell the service to clients such as managers, foremen and employment agencies.
"Technically, I think this is an incredibly important innovation," says Philip Sugai, director of the mobile consumer lab at the International University of Japan.
"For example, when applied to the issue of telemedicine, or other situations in which remotely monitoring or accessing an individual’s personal movements is vital to that service.
"But there will surely be negative consequences when applied to employee tracking or salesforce optimisation."
Complex behaviour
Until now, mobile phone motion sensors were capable of detecting only repetitive movements such as walking or running.
"It beggars belief that a prominent company such as KDDI could come up with such a surveillance system. It’s totally irresponsible"
Kazuo Hizumi
Human rights lawyer
The KDDI system, is able to detect more complex behaviour by using analytical software – held on a server back at base – to match patterns of common movements.
For example, the KDDI mobile phone strapped to a cleaning worker’s waist can tell the difference between actions performed such as scrubbing, sweeping, walking an even emptying a rubbish bin.
The aim of the new system, according to KDDI, is to enable employees to work more efficiently and managers to easily evaluate their employees’ performance while away from the office.
"It’s part of our research into a total ubiquitous technology society, and activity recognition is an important part of that," said Hiroyuki Yokoyama, head of web data research at KKDI’s research labs in Tokyo.
"Because this technology will make central monitoring possible with workers at several different locations, businesses especially are very interested in using such technology to improve the efficiency of their workers.
"We are now at a stage where we can offer managers a chance to analyse more closely the behaviour of staff."
KDDI says it is in talks with a Japanese employment agency that specialises in contract cleaners and security and is interested in deploying the new technology.
‘Mothering system’
"Of course there are privacy issues and any employers should really enter into an agreement with employees before using such a system," Mr Yokoyama told BBC News.
"But this is not about curtailing employees’ rights to privacy. We’d rather like to think our creation more of a caring, mothering system rather than a Big Brother approach to watching over citizens."
It is not the first time remote spying technology has been enlisted by employers to keep an eye on their workforce in Japan or elsewhere.
Lorry drivers are regularly monitored through mobile phones in Japan, while salespeople have been regularly tracked by their employers using GPS since it was introduced to Japanese mobiles in 2002.
Critics of such systems accuse the makers of pandering to an over-controlling, Big Brother-type managerial class and say that with this new technology there comes the increased opportunity for abuse.
‘Poor record’
"This is treating people like machines, like so many cattle to be monitored and watched over," Kazuo Hizumi, a leading human rights lawyer, told BBC News.
"New technology should be used to improve our lives not to spy on us.
"It beggars belief that a prominent company such as KDDI could come up with such a surveillance system. It’s totally irresponsible."
Japan had a very poor record on human rights, privacy issues and consumer rights, said Mr Hizumi.
For this reason, he said, invasive technologies were readily accepted as there was little debate on their possible impact to be found in the media in Japan or among its people.
"I’m afraid ordinary citizens don’t care about this lack of rights. Consequently because of technology like this, Japan is heading for the Dark Ages," said Mr Hizumi.
This article is from the BBC News website. © British Broadcasting Corporation, The BBC is not responsible for the content of external internet sites.
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