Child Protection&Online Safety
07 October 2011
Californian police arrest man for child pornography after tipoff from burglars CNN
A central California man has been arrested for possession of child pornography, thanks to a tip from burglars who robbed the man's property, authorities said.
02 October 2011
Alarm over secret Facebook accounts that allow children to slip safety net The Observer
Are you a parent who keeps an eye on who posts what on your child's Facebook account? Perhaps you know their password and sneak a look at their messages from time to time? You may even enjoy the trusted privilege of being a "friend".
27 September 2011
Bill to crack down on cyber-bullies introduced in New York Reuters
New York State Senator Jeffrey Klein introduced a new "cyber-bullying" bill on Monday, saying outdated pre-digital harassment laws fail to punish bullies who use the Internet and smartphones to torment others.
24 September 2011
Bullying as True Drama New York Times
The suicide of Jamey Rodemeyer, the 14-year-old boy from western New York who killed himself last Sunday after being tormented by his classmates for being gay, is appalling. His story is a classic case of bullying: he was aggressively and repeatedly victimized. Horrific episodes like this have sparked conversations about cyberbullying and created immense pressure on regulators and educators to do something, anything, to make it stop. Yet in the rush to find a solution, adults are failing to recognize how their conversations about bullying are often misaligned with youth narratives. Adults need to start paying attention to the language of youth if they want antibullying interventions to succeed.
18 September 2011
Comment: Cyber bullies are vile, but should we be locking them up? The Observer
An 18-week sentence for Sean Duffy, a young man who posted astonishingly malevolent messages on a Facebook memorial page, one set up to mourn Natasha MacBryde, a teenager who had committed suicide, has been attacked by some people as too lenient. Another bereaved parent, who feels he may also be Duffy's victim, thought 18 months would be more like it. Duffy, aged 25, was the second such offender to be prosecuted under the Malicious Communications Act; last year, Colm Cross was jailed for posting obscenities on Facebook tribute sites, including that of Jade Goody.
16 September 2011
FTC proposes new children's online privacy rule Washington Post
The Federal Trade Commission Thursday announced it is seeking comment on revisions to the Children's Online Privacy Protection Act that would extend it to cover evolving technologies such as web and mobile platforms for children under the age of 13.
FTC Seeks Comment on Proposed Revisions to Children’s Online Privacy Protection Rule - Changes in Technology Drive Proposed Updates Federal Trade Commission
The Federal Trade Commission is seeking public comment on proposed amendments to the Children's Online Privacy Protection Rule, which gives parents control over what personal information websites may collect from children under 13. The FTC proposes these amendments to ensure that the Rule continues to protect children's privacy, as mandated by Congress, as online technologies evolve. The Commission proposes modifications to the Rule in five areas: definitions, including the definitions of "personal information" and "collection," parental notice, parental consent mechanisms, confidentiality and security of children's personal information, and the role of self-regulatory "safe harbor" programs.
15 September 2011
Record number of child porn sites investigated in Australia ABC AM
A record number of internet sites containing child pornography were discovered during National Child Protection Week.
14 September 2011
EU countries must do more to protect children online; But not at the expense of civil liberties, advocacy groups say Computerworld
European Union states are failing to sufficiently protect children online, a new European Commission study contends.
02 September 2011
Identity thieves increasingly target children NextGov
A recent investigation into illegal immigrants who were hired by a Texas nursing home after they bought Social Security cards revealed that seven of the identification numbers on the fake cards belonged to children, a Social Security Administration special agent said Thursday. Increasingly, identity thieves are hacking computers at schools and pediatric centers to retrieve this lucrative personal information, experts say.
04 August 2011
Study warns parents about rise of children multi-screening The Guardian
Parents should be aware of the rise of "multiple screen" viewing among children on devices including televisions, smartphones and portable games consoles, when monitoring whether they are being active enough, researchers say.
US charges 72 over global child porn operation BBC News
The US has charged 72 people it alleges were part of a global child pornography network used to share photos and videos of sexual abuse.
02 August 2011
One in five children is victim of cyber-bullying - with girls targeted most The Independent
One in five young people has been a victim of cyber-bullying, which experts warn can cause more psychological damage than traditional forms of bullying.
25 July 2011
Australia needs a new classification system: Google Computerworld
Google has added to the growing number of voices arguing that Australia's current classification system is unworkable in today's converged environment.
23 July 2011
Cyberbullying on rise, warn UK charities The Guardian
Charities have warned of an increase in cyberbullying after an inquest this week disclosed that a teenage girl killed herself in February just hours after receiving an abusive and threatening message on a social networking site.
22 July 2011
Facebook could become adults only in Australia Sydney Morning Herald
Ways to force Facebook to give parents access to their kids' profiles will be discussed today by state and federal attorneys-general in a meeting that will also examine an 18 Facebook age limit.
21 July 2011
Australian Attorney-Generals to probe kids' privacy on Facebook The Australian
The nation's attorneys-general will discuss whether laws should be introduced to allow parents access to their children's Facebook accounts and social networking sites, allowing them to legally breach their privacy.
20 July 2011
Australia's internet censorship machine quietly revs up Sydney Morning Herald
As Australia's biggest internet providers begin blocking an Interpol list of child abuse websites, the communications regulator is quietly compiling its own similar blacklist.
12 July 2011
Teen sexting's main danger lies in adult overreaction The Age
The idea of young people facing child porn charges is preposterous.
11 July 2011
Teen sexting: it's illegal, but it's in every high school The Age
Police and schools are struggling to cope with a surge in teenage ''sexting'', forcing senior police to commission guidelines on how to respond to new cases.
07 July 2011
Delays in UK paedophile database putting victims at risk BBC Newsnight
Delays in introducing a national paedophile database are hindering Britain's ability to identify and rescue victims, the BBC has learned.
06 July 2011
Microsoft Attacks Online Child Pornography by John Carr Huffington Post
They say when you walk along the streets of London you are never more than six feet away from a rat. Looking at some of the headlines carried by newspapers in the early days of the internet you could be forgiven for thinking every user was never more than two mouse clicks away from child pornography. In the public's consciousness the propagation of child pornography became one of the signature crimes of cyberspace.
29 June 2011
Cyber bullying likened to human rights abuse: Australian Human Rights Commission ABC News
The Australian Human Rights Commission says in the world of the web, cyber bullying is an abuse of human rights.
28 June 2011
Interpol list not censorship: Australian internet body ZDNet
Australia's peak internet industry body, Internet Industry Association, has stated that its fledgling child pornography filtering scheme was not a form of censorship but was more akin to internet service providers (ISPs) cooperating with law enforcement authorities, and should not be compared with the Federal Government's mandatory filtering policy.
US court rejects California ban on violent video games BBC News
The US Supreme Court has struck down a Californian law banning the sale or rental of violent video games to those aged under 18.
