Category Archives: E-commerce

Facebook’s very poor example

Posted on July 25, 2020 by

I have lost count of the number of times child safety advocates from around the world have got in touch with me because, in relation to something they think is important and urgent locally, they cannot get any response from … Continue reading →

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

Something could be done now?

Posted on June 21, 2020 by

If you click here you will see a copy of a letter I sent today to Information Commissioner, Elizabeth Denham CBE, the UK’s chief privacy enforcement official. In the letter I suggest the fact that the Government called a halt … Continue reading →

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

Good but nowhere near good enough

Posted on May 27, 2020 by

Last Thursday Facebook made an announcement about its plans for Messenger. In truth the substance of the announcement concerned great stuff I thought they were already doing, at least on their main Facebook platform, so discovering they were now going … Continue reading →

Posted in Child abuse images, E-commerce, Facebook, Privacy, Regulation, Self-regulation

Failures of contingency planning worsened by delay

Posted on May 18, 2020 by

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

Another advertising scandal

Posted on May 2, 2020 by

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

No room for complacency

Posted on February 20, 2020 by

My last blog was fairly upbeat about the UK Government’s interim response to the consultation on Online Harms. True the response was light on concrete proposals but much of the language was excellent. The overall tone was tough and purposeful. … Continue reading →

Posted in Age verification, Child abuse images, Default settings, E-commerce, Internet governance, Regulation, Self-regulation, Uncategorized

The long and winding road

Posted on February 13, 2020 by

It has been a busy week in the UK. Yesterday the Government finally published  its “initial response” to the Online Harms consultation. That’s the consultation which was concluded in July last year (admittedly a lot has happened since then e.g. … Continue reading →

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

Is the cure worse than the disease?

Posted on December 23, 2019 by

In a blog which focuses on the meaning of “privacy” in the modern world, Privacy International published an excellent summary of key international instruments which address the subject. At the end they announce their conclusion Privacy is a qualified, fundamental … Continue reading →

Posted in Apple, Child abuse images, Default settings, E-commerce, Internet governance, Privacy, Regulation, Self-regulation

Age verification for porn sites. How we got here.

Posted on October 22, 2019 by

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 by

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