Digital Planet

Welcome to Digital Planet, the weekly BBC World Service programme that reports on technology stories from around the globe.

This week Gareth Mitchell discovers how technology is being used to save lives after natural disasters.

And are people really disappearing into virtual worlds? Latest predictions suggest that as many as 150 million people in North America alone will have a virtual presence on the web by 2011.

SATELLITE LIFE SAVING

The International Telecommunications Union is meeting this week in Geneva to discuss ways of improving access to technology following natural disasters.

Delegates at the Global Forum on Effective Use of Telecommunications and ICT for Disaster Management are hoping to sign new agreements between governments, charities and technology providers, to maximise the use of the latest innovations in these situations.

Gareth Mitchell talks to Sami Al Basheer Al Morshid, the Director of the ITU's Telecommunication Bureau. He says the priority is to get communications back up and running to co-ordinate relief efforts.

SECURE FTP

The mainframe computer is making a comeback. Increasingly businesses are using a mainframe set up with many terminals connected to it.

However this introduces security problems, as individuals need to upload and download data to the mainframe.

This is often done using File Transfer Protocol, FTP, but Bo Sorenson from the Finnish company SSH Communications Security argues that this is insecure.

He tells Gareth Mitchell that FTP allows the sending of unencrypted passwords and login information that could allow hackers access to a company's computer systems.

VOICE PASSWORDS

Voiceprint recognition could replace security questions currently used in telephone banking.

The software has been extensively tested and could even replace PIN numbers when paying for goods.

Tracey Logan finds out how one bank in the Netherlands is preparing to roll out the system next year.

ESCAPE OR REFUGE?

Are virtual worlds a form of escapism or can they even be classed as therapy? Are they an alternative to real life?

Those are just some of the issues raised by leading economist on virtual worlds Edward Castranova.

Gareth Mitchell speaks to him about his new book Exodus to the Virtual World.

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RELATED INTERNET LINKS
International Telecommunications Union
SSH
Voice Biometrics
Edward Castranova
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