Category Archives: Google

More progress in the fight against online child sex abuse

Posted on March 13, 2020 by John Carr

Last week representatives from the Governments of the “Five Eyes” nations, (Australia, Canada, New Zealand, the UK and the USA) gathered in Washington DC. They endorsed a set of eleven voluntary principles to combat a range of online threats to … Continue reading →

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

Voluntarism just isn’t working. Again.

Posted on November 10, 2019 by John Carr

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 | Leave a comment

Once more unto the breach

Posted on August 21, 2019 by John Carr

The dust has settled on the European elections. The President of the Commission has been appointed, congratulations to Germany’s Ursula von der Leyen. However, we don’t know who the individual Commissioners will be, much less how the portfolios will be … Continue reading →

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

Facebook, Google and data about porn

Posted on July 29, 2019 by John Carr

Facebook and Google have very strict rules about porn. Essentially it is banned from both platforms. Here is what Google says Sexually Explicit Material “Do not distribute sexually explicit or pornographic material. Do not drive traffic to commercial pornography sites”. … Continue reading →

Posted in Age verification, Consent, E-commerce, Facebook, Google, Internet governance, Pornography, Privacy, Regulation, Uncategorized | Leave a comment

Alarming noises fom Google

Posted on July 23, 2019 by John Carr

My clever radio alarm clock normally wakes me me up by blasting out the BBC’s “Today” programme. This is the UK’s  prime, agenda-setting current affairs programme. Pretty much the whole of our political class tunes in. And me. Four days … Continue reading →

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

A few choice quotes

Posted on July 7, 2019 by John Carr

The Sunday Times is behind a pay wall so many of you might miss an article with  some great quotes from Tristan Harris of the Center for Humane Technology, ex of Google. As a service to my readers, here are … Continue reading →

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The only show in town

Posted on May 11, 2019 by John Carr

Recently I took part in a couple of events attended by high level professional child welfare and child development experts from across Europe, EU and non-EU. A great crowd. I thought I spotted someone at the second event whom I … Continue reading →

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

Scary stuff

Posted on April 13, 2019 by John Carr

Over 90% of households in the UK receive their domestic broadband service via one of the “Big Four” ISPs. Each supplies customers with a set of family filters to restrict access to content considered unsuitable for children. These filters are … Continue reading →

Posted in Default settings, Google, Internet governance, Location, Privacy, Regulation, Self-regulation, Uncategorized | Leave a comment

A bulletin from California

Posted on February 21, 2019 by John Carr

The UK’s Secretary of State responsible for internet policy, Jeremy Wright MP, is in California this week meeting various high tech companies ahead of a soon-to-be-released White Paper which will shape Britain’s future policy on a range of internet harms … Continue reading →

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The net tightens

Posted on September 13, 2018 by John Carr

On 2nd September the Financial Times reported on a remarkable letter which had appeared that day in the Sunday Telegraph. Because it is behind a paywall, I reproduce the text of the epistle here: SIR – The Government launched its Green … Continue reading →

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