Category Archives: Google

Government in a muddle over porn

Posted on May 15, 2021 by John Carr

On the morning of 11th May the Queen’s Speech was delivered and published. In the afternoon, Caroline Dinenage MP appeared before the Communications and Digital Committee of the House of Lords. Ms Dinenage is the Minister of State responsible for … Continue reading →

Posted in Age verification, Facebook, Google, Internet governance, Pornography, Privacy, Regulation, Self-regulation | Leave a comment

Move slow and leave things broken

Posted on May 11, 2021 by John Carr

On 20th December, 2020, a new EU-wide law took effect. An unintended consequence appeared to call into question the legality of companies continuing to look for child sexual abuse materials being exchanged over messaging platforms. It also appeared to call … Continue reading →

Posted in Child abuse images, Facebook, Google, Internet governance, Regulation, Self-regulation | Leave a comment

Great news for children coming out of Brussels

Posted on April 30, 2021 by John Carr

Last night in Brussels it was announced that a political agreement had been reached on the interim derogation. In plain English what that means is, pretty much immediately, we can go back to the position we all thought we were … Continue reading →

Posted in Child abuse images, Default settings, E-commerce, Facebook, Google, ICANN, Internet governance, Privacy, Regulation, Self-regulation | Leave a comment

The shame continues

Posted on February 8, 2021 by John Carr

Last Thursday afternoon the LIBE Committee of the European Parliament met. The proceedings are viewable. The meeting was scheduled to take two hours.  It had several items to discuss. The earlier ones overran. When the question of the derogation and … Continue reading →

Posted in Child abuse images, Consent, Facebook, Google, Internet governance, Microsoft, Privacy, Regulation, Self-regulation, Uncategorized | Leave a comment

Regrets? I’ve had a few….

Posted on January 24, 2021 by John Carr

Last week (20th January) the UK Parliament’s Home Affairs Select Committee interviewed representatives of Facebook, WhatsApp, Twitter, Google, Snap and Tik Tok. The Chair of the Home Affairs Select Committee is Yvette Cooper, an intellectual heavyweight of the first water. … Continue reading →

Posted in Child abuse images, Facebook, Google, Internet governance, Regulation, Self-regulation | Leave a comment

Absurdities and atrocities

Posted on January 12, 2021 by John Carr

Voltaire famously said “Those who can make you believe absurdities, can make you commit atrocities.” History is littered with examples of this and last week in the USA we saw the same thing played out again. Lies and travelling trousers … Continue reading →

Posted in Facebook, Google, Internet governance, Privacy, Regulation, Self-regulation | Leave a comment

A very bad day for children in Europe

Posted on December 21, 2020 by John Carr

If you live in an EU Member State and you have used Facebook Messenger or Instagram Direct today you probably saw this message. “Some features are not available. This is to respect new rules for messaging services in Europe. We’re … Continue reading →

Posted in Child abuse images, Default settings, Facebook, Google, Microsoft, Privacy, Regulation, Self-regulation | 1 Comment

Let’s not make TWO mistakes

Posted on September 27, 2020 by John Carr

Nobody had spotted it. The European Commission openly acknowledged an error had been made. If left uncorrected it would bring to an end measures which have been protecting kids since 2009. On 10th September the Commission published a proposal.  It … Continue reading →

Posted in Default settings, E-commerce, Facebook, Google, Regulation, Self-regulation | Leave a comment

President Trump gets it wrong

Posted on May 29, 2020 by John Carr

So it wasn’t an empty threat.  President Trump did it. He signed an Executive Order which, in essence, seeks to change the law on platform immunity, as conferred by s.230, Communications Decency Act 1996. It is doubtful the Executive Order … Continue reading →

Posted in Facebook, Google, Internet governance, Privacy, Regulation, Self-regulation | Leave a comment

Failures of contingency planning worsened by delay

Posted on May 18, 2020 by John Carr

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 | Leave a comment