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

Failures of contingency planning worsened by delay

Posted on May 18, 2020

UK Children’s organizations have written a letter of protest to the Government. The media have covered in some detail certain headline failures of contingency planning in relation to Covid-19 and lockdown. Less well remarked has been the failure of contingency … Continue reading →

Posted in Age verification, Consent, Default settings, E-commerce, Facebook, Google, Privacy, Regulation, Self-regulation

The scandal that keeps on harming kids

Posted on May 15, 2020

Behind the reflecting glass windows of a modern office block at 12025 Waterfront Drive, Los Angeles, are the people who have the power to end one of the great scandals of modern technology. The question is: why are they not … Continue reading →

Posted in Child abuse images, Default settings, Internet governance, Regulation, Self-regulation

Enfeebled enforcers

Posted on May 4, 2020

In yesterday’s “Observer” the ever-excellent John Naughton drew attention to a survey carried out by a new kid on the block, a company called “Brave”.  And they obviously are because Brave is trying to get going in the web browser … Continue reading →

Posted in Privacy, Regulation, Self-regulation

Another advertising scandal

Posted on May 2, 2020

Apologies for the fact I missed this at the time it hit the regular news cycle but when I read  about it yesterday I felt I still had to write something. Regular readers will know my blogs are occasionally partly … Continue reading →

Posted in E-commerce, Facebook, Google, Pornography, Regulation, Self-regulation

A chance to amend the GDPR?

Posted on April 28, 2020

The European Union is currently reviewing aspects of the operation of the GDPR. The consultation closes tomorrow so if you want to stick something in you better move fast. Below is a submission I just made on behalf of various … Continue reading →

Posted in Child abuse images, ICANN, Internet governance, Regulation, Self-regulation

A look inside the Internet Watch Foundation

Posted on April 22, 2020

You might be interested in this chilling but extremely well-produced and informative insight into the workings of a hotline, in this case the Internet Watch Foundation: “Pixels from a Crime Scene”.

Posted in Child abuse images, Regulation, Self-regulation, Uncategorized

More bad news about children and the lockdown

Posted on April 22, 2020

In England the Department for Education(DfE) has lead responsibility for child protection. In 2019 the total school population for England was 8.7 million pupils. A shocking story broke today on the BBC and  in The Guardian about what is happening to some of England’s … Continue reading →

Posted in Regulation, Self-regulation, Uncategorized

When the schools go back

Posted on April 20, 2020

A distinguished Prussian General, Helmuth von Moltke, famously said “no battle plan survives actual contact with the enemy”. The truth of that is all too apparent in the way a great many Governments around the world, not least the British … Continue reading →

Posted in Regulation, Self-regulation

Minor correction

Posted on April 19, 2020

Minor correction to my last blog. Iraq and the Philippines come ahead of Bangladesh in terms of csam uploaded.  The corrected version can be seen here. No change to the top two and no change to any of the percentages. … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized

Big numbers again and countries named

Posted on April 16, 2020

Under US Federal law every electronic service provider (esp) within the US jurisdiction is required to report all child sex abuse material (csam) found on their virtual properties.  They must report to NCMEC, the US hotline, in a form described here. … Continue reading →

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