Author Archives: John Carr

About John Carr

John Carr is one of the world's leading authorities on children's and young people's use of digital technologies. He is Senior Technical Adviser to Bangkok-based global NGO ECPAT International, Technical Adviser to the European NGO Alliance for Child Safety Online, which is administered by Save the Children Italy and an Advisory Council Member of Beyond Borders (Canada). Amongst other things John is or has been an Adviser to the United Nations, ITU, the European Union, the Council of Europe and European Union Agency for Network and Information Security and is a former Board Member of the UK Council for Child Internet Safety. He is Secretary of the UK's Children's Charities' Coalition on Internet Safety. John has advised many of the world's largest internet companies on online child safety. In June, 2012, John was appointed a Visiting Senior Fellow at the London School of Economics and Political Science. More: http://johncarrcv.blogspot.com

The bad news just keeps on coming

Posted on November 11, 2019

Swift on the heels of the New York Times piece the UK’s Daily Telegraph publishes, for the first time, figures provided by the IWF showing how social media and other services operating on the open web  in UK are failing … Continue reading →

Posted in Child abuse images, Regulation, Self-regulation

Voluntarism just isn’t working. Again.

Posted on November 10, 2019

Another excellent major story  has appeared in The New York Times. It details the failings of high tech businesses to address the scourge of child sex abuse still images and videos on the internet. The failures of voluntarism are again … Continue reading →

Posted in Child abuse images, Facebook, Google, Microsoft, Regulation, Self-regulation

A sad sequel

Posted on October 31, 2019

I have every sympathy for Nicky Morgan MP  who, last night, announced she was standing down from Parliament, essentially because she has had enough of being a politician. The abuse and the toll it was taking on her family life … Continue reading →

Posted in Age verification, Pornography, Regulation, Self-regulation

A letter from the Government

Posted on October 30, 2019

Here is a link to a reply from the Government on the question of age verification for pornography sites. No surprises but, equally, confirmation that age verification  remains as part of the plan.

Posted in Uncategorized

Age verification for porn sites. How we got here.

Posted on October 22, 2019

Online gambling in the UK began to take off in the early 2000s. It sprang out of the rapid growth of the consumer oriented internet. I was soon getting calls from distressed parents whose children, typically 14/15 year old boys, … Continue reading →

Posted in Age verification, E-commerce, Regulation, Self-regulation

Journalism and wishful thinking

Posted on October 21, 2019

Today there is much concern about the accuracy of words appearing on the internet. That being the case is it unreasonable to hope journalists make clear when they are offering an opinion about, or an interpretation of, events? If that … Continue reading →

Posted in Age verification, Default settings, E-commerce, Pornography, Regulation, Self-regulation | 1 Comment

Age verification update

Posted on October 17, 2019

Brexit madness is intensifying (and I didn’t think that was possible) so today’s media coverage of yesterday’s announcement by the Government of a delay in implementing age verification has not been anything like it would have been in more normal … Continue reading →

Posted in Age verification, Pornography, Privacy, Regulation | 1 Comment