Category Archives: Internet governance

Facebook moving in the right direction

Posted on September 19, 2019 by

That is not a headline I thought I would write any time soon. However, I have to say I applaud Facebook’s announcement earlier this week concerning the company’s plans to address the standards they will adopt in relation to content … Continue reading →

Posted in Default settings, E-commerce, Facebook, Internet governance, Privacy, Regulation, Self-regulation

Trying to hang on to a failed past

Posted on August 24, 2019 by

Remember when Facebook point blank refused to tell the UK Government anything meaningful about a range of issues connected with children’s use of their platform? We have just had an even bigger example of very similar behaviour, involving at least … Continue reading →

Posted in Default settings, Internet governance, Regulation, Self-regulation

Something to think about

Posted on August 20, 2019 by

All of the early thinking about the internet – thinking which determined how it was set up at a fairly fundamental level – was framed by a belief that overwhelmingly the future users would be highly educated, therefore literate and … Continue reading →

Posted in Advertising, Age verification, Consent, Default settings, E-commerce, Internet governance, Privacy, Regulation, Self-regulation

Facebook, Google and data about porn

Posted on July 29, 2019 by

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

More detail on that FTC decision on Facebook

Posted on July 28, 2019 by

When the UK Government published its White Paper on Online Harms one of the provisions which caused hearts to start beating faster, either from anxiety or joy depending on where you stood, was the possibility of Directors of internet companies … Continue reading →

Posted in Facebook, Internet governance, Privacy, Regulation, Self-regulation

Alarming noises fom Google

Posted on July 23, 2019 by

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

UK children’s groups responses to the Online Harms White Paper now available

Posted on July 12, 2019 by

The detailed responses to the UK Government’s Online Harms White Paper by UK children’s organizations is now available plus a summary of the recommendations: http://www.chis.org.uk/ In the larger document there are several examples or case studies which illustrate very clearly … Continue reading →

Posted in Default settings, E-commerce, Internet governance, Regulation, Self-regulation

A few choice quotes

Posted on July 7, 2019 by

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 →

Posted in Google, Internet governance, Regulation, Self-regulation

About encryption

Posted on June 22, 2019 by

Not long ago Mark Zuckerberg announced Facebook was going to “pivot to privacy”.  Apparently the company will apply this idea to WhatsApp, Messenger and Instagram (but not the Facebook platform itself). This announcement caused all kinds of fluttering in the dovecotes. … Continue reading →

Posted in Child abuse images, Default settings, Internet governance, Privacy, Regulation, Uncategorized

Serious money

Posted on June 19, 2019 by

Interesting story today. Seems the  UK gambling industry is willing to pay a levy which would generate £100 million pounds to tackle problem gambling. At the moment they contribute 0.1% of their profits (not turnover) to this kind of work. … Continue reading →

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