Nearly 9m attempts to access child sexual abuse material online were made in the UK last month during the coronavirus lockdown, according to an internet watchdog.
UK Watchdog reveals 8.8m attempts to access online child abuse in April
Category Archives: Child Protection&Online Safety
Why we adopt then abandon online safety practices
We try to follow experts’ cybersecurity and privacy recommendations but quite often many of us do so halfway or we give up.
France to force Web giants to delete some content within the hour
Social networks and other online content providers will have to remove paedophile and terrorism-related content from their platforms within the hour or face a fine of up to 4% of their global revenue under a French law voted in on Wednesday.
A $5 Billion Proposal to Fight Online Child Sexual Abuse
Lawmakers in Washington, after years of inattention, have identified child sexual abuse imagery and exploitation on the internet as an urgent problem. But as new legislation demonstrates, there are differing approaches to fighting a surge of the illegal activity, which tech companies are detecting in record numbers.
Children at risk as pandemic pushes them online, warns U.N. agency
Children are accessing the internet at a younger age, spending longer online and are at greater risk of cyber bullying as the COVID-19 pandemic keeps them at home, a U.N. agency said on Tuesday.
COVID-19: How do we contain the spread of disinformation on digital platforms?
[ITU] In times of crisis when confronted by new, inadequately understood threats, rumours and conspiracy theories are quickly born and quickly multiply.
‘Terrifying escalation’ in battle to keep children safe online as new figures reveal 300,000 people in the UK could pose sexual threat to children
The IWF says new figures claiming at least 300,000 people in the UK pose a sexual threat to children is a “terrifying escalation” in the battle to keep children safe online.
The National Crime Agency (NCA) has today (3 March) revealed it believes there are a minimum of 300,000 individuals in the UK posing a sexual threat to children, either through physical “contact” abuse or online.
https://www.iwf.org.uk/news/‘terrifying-escalation’-battle-to-keep-children-safe-online-as-new-figures-reveal-300-000
‘Zoombombing’ Becomes a Dangerous Organized Effort
In recent weeks, as schools, businesses, support groups and millions of individuals have adopted Zoom as a meeting platform in an increasingly remote world, reports of “Zoombombing” or “Zoom raiding” by uninvited participants have become frequent.
While those incidents may have initially been regarded as pranks or trolling, they have since risen to the level of hate speech and harassment, and even commanded the attention of the F.B.I.
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/04/03/technology/zoom-harassment-abuse-racism-fbi-warning.html
Internet ‘is not working for women and girls’, says Berners-Lee
Women and girls face a “growing crisis” of online harms, with sexual harassment, threatening messages and discrimination making the web an unsafe place to be, Sir Tim Berners-Lee has warned.
The inventor of the world wide web said the “dangerous trend” in online abuse was forcing women out of jobs, causing girls to skip school, damaging relationships and silencing female opinions, prompting him to conclude that “the web is not working for women and girls”.
https://www.theguardian.com/global/2020/mar/12/internet-not-working-women-girls-tim-berners-lee
U.S. to Hold Tech Firms Accountable for Spread of Child Sex Abuse Imagery
Legislation announced on Thursday aimed at curbing the spread of online child sexual abuse imagery would take the extraordinary step of removing legal protections for tech companies that fail to police the illegal content. A separate, international initiative that was also announced takes a softer approach, getting the industry to voluntarily embrace standards for combating the material.
The two measures come as tech companies continue to detect an explosion of abusive content on their platforms, and amid complaints that neither Congress nor the companies have been aggressive enough in stopping its spread. An investigation last year by The New York Times found that many companies knew about the problem but failed to quash it, despite having the tools to do so, and that the federal government had not been adequately enforcing a previous law meant to stem the abuse.
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/03/05/us/child-sexual-abuse-legislation.html