Category Archives: Internet governance

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

Time to vaccinate against porn-fuelled violence against women

Posted on March 17, 2021 by John Carr

I am pleased to welcome guest blogger Baroness Tanni Grey-Thompson who speaks about the  threat posed to women by the violent porn which is commonplace on the internet and about the British Government’s failure to address it. This is particularly … Continue reading →

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

Trends and Facebook on manoeuvres

Posted on March 1, 2021 by John Carr

Last Wednesday the USA’s National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC) published its numbers for 2020. 16.9 million reports received in 2019  grew to 21.7 million in 2020. That’s up over 25%. Messaging platforms remain the largest source. 21.4 … Continue reading →

Posted in Child abuse images, Facebook, Internet governance, Privacy, Regulation, Self-regulation, Uncategorized | 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 →

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Adding insult to irony

Posted on January 20, 2021 by John Carr

If, like me, you were brought up a Catholic or in another Christian denomination, likely you will know 6th January is celebrated by the faithful as the “Feast of the Epiphany.“ Well, in a secular sense, 6th January 2021 definitely … Continue reading →

Posted in 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

We need to treat Treaties seriously

Posted on January 5, 2021 by John Carr

The North American Free Trade Association (NAFTA) was a free trade agreement between the USA, Canada and Mexico. It became operative in 1994, although free trade between two of the three, Canada and the USA, had existed since 1989. In … Continue reading →

Posted in Age verification, Default settings, Internet governance, Regulation, Self-regulation | Leave a comment

The questions to be asked in Brussels

Posted on December 3, 2020 by John Carr

Crunch time approaches in Brussels. Members of the LIBE Committee and later the plenary need to focus on the following questions: When the GDPR was making its way through the European Instistitions do you think the co-legislators expressly intended to … Continue reading →

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Privacy warriors arrive late

Posted on November 20, 2020 by John Carr

Governments and legislators stood by and watched for years while the internet exploded, bringing in its wake huge benefits but also several downsides, particularly for children. “Permissionless Innovation” was the watchword. We even created special legal immunities to help things … Continue reading →

Posted in Child abuse images, Default settings, Internet governance, Privacy, Regulation, Self-regulation, Uncategorized | 2 Comments