Category Archives: Self-regulation

The bad news just keeps on coming

Posted on November 11, 2019 by

Swift on the heels of the New York Times piece the UK’s Daily Telegraph publishes, for the first time, figures provided by the IWF showing how social media and other services operating on the open web  in UK are failing … Continue reading →

Posted in Child abuse images, Regulation, Self-regulation

Voluntarism just isn’t working. Again.

Posted on November 10, 2019 by

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

A sad sequel

Posted on October 31, 2019 by

I have every sympathy for Nicky Morgan MP  who, last night, announced she was standing down from Parliament, essentially because she has had enough of being a politician. The abuse and the toll it was taking on her family life … Continue reading →

Posted in Age verification, Pornography, 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 | 1 Comment

Is the Internet Governance Forum to be reborn?

Posted on October 11, 2019 by

At the moment there is a “High Level” review going on within the United Nations.  It was commissioned by the Secretary General of the UN  who appointed Melinda Gates and Jack Ma as co-chairs. With this type of backing it … Continue reading →

Posted in Internet governance, Regulation, Self-regulation

On encryption and child protection

Posted on October 5, 2019 by

A company is normally driven by a desire and a legal obligation to build “shareholder value”. In the case of one company, Facebook, Mark Zuckerberg owns a majority of the voting stock so when looking at its big decisions we … Continue reading →

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