The internet shutdown in Ethiopia has been in place for 2 weeks now.

Researchers at Queen Mary University looked at the network traffic data generated by internet-connected home security cameras. Their work flagged up that hackers can get information about your daily routine without looking at any video content from the cameras. Dr Gareth Tyson, lead author of the study, explains how the rate at which cameras upload internet data can predict whether a house is occupied or not.

BBC series Springwatch has been using automated wildlife cameras to record animals in areas of interest, such as Woodpecker nests across the UK. They have been training machine learning systems to only recognise when an activity is happening with a particular animal. Gareth speaks to senior BBC Research engineer, Robert Dawes to find out more.

(Image:Getty Images)

Producer: Julian Siddle

What is Web Science, and why does it matter?

The internet is the most complex machine built by humans but it so much more than just the engineering behind it. The internet moves the data around, but the web is the space in which we humans have experiences, think of the web as a sort of super app.

We're interested in the underlying technology, in that it facilitates the movement of data that makes the web possible. But from the human side, we're interested in our interaction with each other as made possible by the web, so how do we understand it in its totality rather than thinking about it as a collection of websites? Did the inventors of the internet foresee how it could be used now – as a force of good and change but also as a way of spreading hate and misinformation? By studying Web Science could the internet be made better for humanity in the future?

Joining us from the WebSci 2020 Conference are: “Father of the Internet” Vint Cerf, Executive Director, Web Science Institute Wendy Hall, Director of the Ada Lovelace Institute in Cambridge Carly Kind and JP Rangaswami former Chief Data Officer and Head of Innovation of Deutsche Bank Chief Scientist at BT.

The programme is presented by Gareth Mitchell with expert commentary by Bill Thompson.

Studio Manager: Duncan Hannant

Main image credit: Getty Images

This week Digital Planet explores digital death and how the COVID-19 pandemic has forced us to update our death rituals and move most of our grieving online. We hear from a listener whose mother passed away with her children by her side via Facetime and how they then moved their traditional American-Irish funeral practices online. In India people of all religions are facing huge disruptions to their traditional burials and are taking tech into their own hands to share their experiences. In some developed countries funeral businesses are using cutting edge tech including sophisticated recording set ups in places of worship to bring together mourners from across the world. People are moving more and more online not only with virtual memorials, RFID tags on gravestones and also ceremonies in gaming environments including Animal Crossing. And we find out more about the Reimagine Festival that’s about to start. The now virtual event explores death during COVID-19 and we see how people are determining their digital legacies after they die.

Guests include Khyati Tripathi, a PhD student at the University of Delhi, who tells how the restrictions in the pandemic have changed funerals in the country, Candi Cann, Associate Professor of Religion at Baylor University, and co-creator of the Virtual Funeral Collective and Dr Stacey Pitsillides, a Senior Research Fellow at Northumbria University who is organising the virtual festival “Reimagine: Life, Loss, & Love”.

The programme is presented by Gareth Mitchell with studio commentary from Ghislaine Boddington.

(Image: Mourners live stream a funeral to family back in Nepal and to those waiting just outside. Credit: Andrew Caballero-Reynolds vis Getty Images)

Studio Manager: Jackie Margerum

A major problem in laying internet cables in Nigeria is the phenomenal cost of right of way charges – these are local state imposed fees to broadband providers. Ekiti, one of Nigeria’s smallest states, has cut its right of way charges by 96%. It will now cost $374 to lay a kilometre of broadband cable down from $11,600. Tech reporter Yomi Kazeem joins us from Lagos and explains that Ekiti aims to have full broadband access by 2021.

Superethics instead of superintelligence

Solar Batteries storage

(Image: Nigeria network map. Credit: Getty Images)

The programme is presented by Gareth Mitchell with expert commentary from Bill Thompson.

Studio Manager: Tim Heffer

Facial recognition – what’s the future for the tech with the big names pulling out?

Online gambling surge during COVID-19

Will gaze tech replace touch tech in times of the pandemic?

The programme is presented by Gareth Mitchell with expert commentary from Ghislaine Boddington.

(Image: Human face recognition scanning system illustration. Credit: Getty Images)

Studio Manager: John Boland

Sophia Smith-Galer reports on algorithm activism – ways of boosting protests online. With many people forced to protest digitally because of the pandemic, digital protesting, especially by young people, is the most accessible form of demonstrating support and prompting change. Sophia looks at new ways this is being done during the Black Lives Matter protests around the world.

The biggest robotics conference ever…

Fake news during Covid-19

The presenter is Gareth Mitchell with expert commentary by Bill Thompson.

(Image: Social media apps on a mobile phone. Credit: Getty Images)

Studio Manager: Matilda Macari

Producer: Ania Lichtarowicz

The number of COVID-19 cases continues to increase in Brazil, but access to digital services is getting harder for many of the country’s poorest residents. Emergency aid and state health advice about the virus are only available online, leaving those without internet access with no help at all. Digital Planet’s Angelica Mari explains the situation in Brazil’s favelas and talks about a number of community projects trying to bridge the technology gap.

Mixed reality in Covid-19 wards

3D printing face masks

Studio Manager: John Boland

Producer: Ania Lichtarowicz

Hacking internet-enabled cars

Covid-19 treatment trials in AI

Mobile phone rain forecast for farmers

The programme is presented by Gareth Mitchell with expert commentary from Bill Thompson.

(Image: Traffic jam on multilane road. Credit: iStock / Getty Images Plus)

Studio Manager: Duncan Hannant

Across the globe, learning has been transformed over the last few months, often with the help of specialised tech. More and more educational technology, or EdTech for short, is entering the market. But how do governments, schools, and teachers know which tools and platforms to use? And how do countries with limited resources choose the best tech for their needs? Gareth is joined by Joysy John from NESTA and Susan Nicolai, from the Edtech Hub, to find out.

Bot or not?

The programme is presented by Gareth Mitchell with studio commentary by Ghislaine Boddington.

(Image: Getty Images)

Studio Manager: Donald McDonald

In Spain, there are a total of nine COVID-19 tracing apps, but is this too many? Which type is preferable and does there need to be a more coordinated technology across Europe to track COVID-19? Digital Planet reporter Jennifer O’Mahony ask these questions and more on the programme.

Ovarian cancer and AI

Robotic Ventilators

The programme is presented by Gareth Mitchell with expert commentary from Bill Thompson.

Studio Manager: Jackie Margerum

(Image: Covid-19 tracing. Credit: iStock / Getty Images Plus)

Producer: Ania Lichtarowicz