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"Swiss voters have backed plans for electronic identity cards by a wafer-thin margin," reports the Guardian, "in the second nationwide vote on the issue." In a referendum on Sunday, 50.4% of voters supported an electronic ID card, while 49.6% were against, confounding pollsters who had forecast stronger support for the "yes" vote. Turnout was 49.55%, higher than expected... [V]oters rejected an earlier version of the e-ID in 2021, largely over objections to the role of private companies in the system. In response to these concerns, the Swiss state will now provide the e-ID, which will be optional and free of charge... To ensure security the e-ID is linked to a single smartphone, users will have to get a new e-ID if they change their device... An ID card containing biometric data — fingerprints — will be available from the end of next year. Critics of the e-ID scheme raised data protection concerns and said it opened the door to mass surveillance. They also fear the voluntary scheme will become mandatory and disadvantage people without smartphones. The referendum was called after a coalition of rightwing and data-privacy parties collected more than 50,000 signatures against e-ID cards, triggering the vote. "To further ease privacy concerns, a particular authority seeking information on a person — such as proof of age or nationality, for example — will only be able to check for those specific details," notes the BBC: Supporters of the Swiss system say it will make life much easier for everyone, allowing a range of bureaucratic procedures — from getting a telephone contract to proving you are old enough to buy a bottle of wine — to happen quickly online. Opponents of digital ID cards, who gathered enough signatures to force another referendum on the issue, argue that the measure could still undermine individual privacy. They also fear that, despite the new restrictions on how data is collected and stored, it could still be used to track people and for marketing purposes. The BBC adds that the UK government also announced plans earlier this week to introduce its own digital ID, "which would be mandatory for employment. The proposed British digital ID would have fewer intended uses than the Swiss version, but has still raised concerns about privacy and data security." The Guardian reports: The referendum came soon after the UK government announced plans for a digital ID card, which would sit in the digital wallets of smartphones, using state-of-the-art encryption. More than 1.6 million people have signed a petition opposing e-ID cards, which would be mandatory for people working in the UK by 2029. Thanks to long-time Slashdot reader schwit1 for sharing the news.

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In 2021, the Electoral Commission fined the think-tank run by Morgan McSweeney after identifying more than 20 breaches of election law relating to undeclared donations.

In Eva Longoria: Searching For Spain (pictured), the Desperate Housewives star visits the country from which, 11 generations ago, one of her ancestors set sail for the New World.

Police rushed to Guide Lane in Audenshaw, Tameside, Greater Manchester, at around noon today after receiving reports of a smash on the street.

The wealthy heiress, 38, who was jailed for 14 years for killing her baby, has been granted legal aid for her trial and family court battle for her older children - despite having a £2.4million trust fund.

Big Brother's Elsa Rae's is a social media influencer from Essex who boasts a huge online following

Somewhat inevitably she blew fans away when she took to the dancefloor on Saturday night - having found out she was going to be competing just 24 hours before to replace Dani Dyer , 29.

While reflecting on their split over a year later, the 56-year-old actress admitted that their split 'changed' her and 'helped me grow in a way that I needed to grow.'

In celebration of his life, the courtyard of the Pinacoteca di Brera Museum was lined with candles as the fashion house described their 'infinite sorrow' at his loss.

Reform bashing was everywhere. It cheered up the delegates. Charlatans, snake-oil salesmen, peddlers of division and hatred: these were but some of the insults hurled at Mr Farage's brigade.

The bizarre story of how an unsubstantiated internet conspiracy theory about 72-year-old Brigitte Macron secretly being a transgender woman has snowballed into a high-profile U.S. court case.

The Mail on Sunday exclusively revealed today that the Duke of Sussex was understood to be infuriated with royal courtiers who he has accused of giving hostile briefings to newspapers.

Tim Berners-Lee writes in a new article in the Guardian that "Somewhere between my original vision for web 1.0 and the rise of social media as part of web 2.0, we took the wrong path Today, I look at my invention and I am forced to ask: is the web still free today? No, not all of it. We see a handful of large platforms harvesting users' private data to share with commercial brokers or even repressive governments. We see ubiquitous algorithms that are addictive by design and damaging to our teenagers' mental health. Trading personal data for use certainly does not fit with my vision for a free web. On many platforms, we are no longer the customers, but instead have become the product. Our data, even if anonymised, is sold on to actors we never intended it to reach, who can then target us with content and advertising... We have the technical capability to give that power back to the individual. Solid is an open-source interoperable standard that I and my team developed at MIT more than a decade ago. Apps running on Solid don't implicitly own your data — they have to request it from you and you choose whether to agree, or not. Rather than being in countless separate places on the internet in the hands of whomever it had been resold to, your data is in one place, controlled by you. Sharing your information in a smart way can also liberate it. Why is your smartwatch writing your biological data to one silo in one format? Why is your credit card writing your financial data to a second silo in a different format? Why are your YouTube comments, Reddit posts, Facebook updates and tweets all stored in different places? Why is the default expectation that you aren't supposed to be able to look at any of this stuff? You generate all this data — your actions, your choices, your body, your preferences, your decisions. You should own it. You should be empowered by it... We're now at a new crossroads, one where we must decide if AI will be used for the betterment or to the detriment of society. How can we learn from the mistakes of the past? First of all, we must ensure policymakers do not end up playing the same decade-long game of catchup they have done over social media. The time to decide the governance model for AI was yesterday, so we must act with urgency. In 2017, I wrote a thought experiment about an AI that works for you. I called it Charlie. Charlie works for you like your doctor or your lawyer, bound by law, regulation and codes of conduct. Why can't the same frameworks be adopted for AI? We have learned from social media that power rests with the monopolies who control and harvest personal data. We can't let the same thing happen with AI. Berners-Lee also says "we need a Cern-like not-for-profit body driving forward international AI research," arguing that if we muster the political willpower, "we have the chance to restore the web as a tool for collaboration, creativity and compassion across cultural borders. "We can re-empower individuals, and take the web back. It's not too late." Berners-Lee has also written a new book titled This is For Everyone.

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The ICE agent seen body slamming a woman onto the floor was hit with karma after the horrific video of him throwing the mother at the NYC customs and immigration offices went viral.

Tetyana Sakyian, 23, suffered 90 per cent burns but miraculously surgeons managed to deliver little Nazar at 35 weeks. She died from her injuries while the baby is still fighting for his life.

Kicking off Labour 's conference in Liverpool, Keir Starmer risked inflaming public anger by using the term 'racist' to dismiss the policy of abolishing 'settled status'.

"Facebook and Instagram owner Meta is launching paid subscriptions for users who do not want to see adverts in the UK," reports the BBC: The company said it would start notifying users in the coming weeks to let them choose whether to subscribe to its platforms if they wish to use them without seeing ads. EU users of its platforms can already pay a fee starting from €5.99 (£5) a month to see no ads — but subscriptions will start from £2.99 a month for UK users. "It will give people in the UK a clear choice about whether their data is used for personalised advertising, while preserving the free access and value that the ads-supported internet creates for people, businesses and platforms," Meta said. But UK users will not have an option to not pay and see "less personalised" adverts — a feature Meta added for EU users after regulators raised concerns... Meta said its own model would see its subscription for no ads cost £2.99 a month on the web or £3.99 a month on iOS and Android apps — with the higher fee to offset cuts taken from transactions by Apple and Google... [Meta] reiterated its critical stance on the EU on Friday, saying its regulations were creating a worse experience for users and businesses unlike the UK's "more pro-growth and pro-innovation regulatory environment". "Meta said its own model would see its subscription for no ads cost £2.99 a month on the web or £3.99 a month on iOS and Android apps," according to the BBC, "with the higher fee to offset cuts taken from transactions by Apple and Google." Even users not paying for an ad-free experience have "tools and settings that empower people to control their ads experience," according to Meta's announcement. The include Ad Preferences which influences data used to inform ads including Activity Information from Ad Partners. "We also have tools in our products that explain 'Why am I seeing this ad?' and how people can manage their ad experience. We do not sell personal data to advertisers."

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The Pretty Woman actor, 75, cut a dapper figure in a sharp black tuxedo as he sat front row with Alejandra, 42.

The Sex Education star, 57, was the epitome of class in the sleeveless number, which perfectly enhanced her lithe figure.

The former Love Island star, 34, confessed that he and Chloe, 24, had split for the eighth time in June, but it appears the pair have worked through their breakup.