ONLINE SAFETY BILL REACHES SECOND READING
The government’s flagship legislation to protect people’s activities online had its second reading in Parliament last week.
The government has announced the progression of the Online Safety Bill as it set out a £2.5 million commitment to invest in training and research into using the internet safely.
Dubbed the Media Literacy Taskforce, the funding will go towards identifying and training people who are less savvy internet users to help them think critically about what they are exposed to online.
“The time has come to properly protect people online and this week MPs will debate the most important legislation in the internet age,” said culture secretary, Nadine Dorries.
“It has been significantly strengthened following a lengthy period of engagement with people in politics, wider society and industry.”
Alongside the progression of the Bill, the government has also produced a revised factsheet summarising the key provisions.
CALL FOR PORN AGE VERIFICATION IN ONLINE SAFETY BILL
A coalition of children’s campaigners have called on PM Boris Johnson to include age verification for viewing pornography in the Online Safety Bill.
The group of charities, experts and victims of abuse have argued that failure to implement measures in the 2017 Digital Education Act on age verification, led to 4 million extra children being exposed to pornographic material online.
“Children currently have unfettered access to online pornography which normalises and legitimises misogyny, coercion and sexual violence against women and girls,” the group say in the letter.
“Pornography is shaping our children’s sexual attitudes and undermining their capacity to form healthy and satisfying sexual relationships, wreaking damage which can last a lifetime.”
The current provisions of the Online Safety Bill do impose a requirement on porn websites to prevent access to children. However, the campaigners have asked that the measure be strengthened to introduce a statutory deadline for age verification of 6 months following the date the Online Safety Bill becomes law.
APPLE TO BLOCK NUDE IMAGES FROM CHILDREN
Apple is to block access to nude images from child iPhone users in the UK under new safety measures.
Dubbed the Communications Safety Tool, the measure will automatically scan images children receive on the Messenger app on their iPhones for evidence of nudity and hide ones in which it finds any evidence.
After being hidden, children will still have the option to view the images after following a series of prompts from Apple which say, “this could be sensitive to view” and “it’s your choice, but your parents want to know you’re safe.”
Children who are under the age of 13 will be invited to start a conversation with their parents before viewing the material.
The tool can also be switched off in device settings. It follows an earlier roll-out of the service in the US.
YOUNG MORE THAN TWICE AS LIKELY TO TRUST SCAM MESSAGES
Young people aged 18-34 are more than twice as likely as people aged over 55 to trust scam messages, according to a new study.
Young people were also unlikely to review scam messages for evidence of spelling and grammar problems, research by Aston University suggests.
Scam messages regularly use bogus links to lure victims into handing over money, the study found, with scammers often posing under familiar brand names or referring to cryptocurrencies like bitcoin.
Marton Petyko, a researcher at Aston University, told the Financial Times: “By highlighting the communicative strategies, words and phrases used by fraudsters, we hope people can more easily spot the language of fraud as it stands today, which ultimately helps to protect them.”
Gooseberry Planet offers a package of over 50 lesson plans, slides, digital workbooks and online games for children aged 5-13 years. Visit our website for more details.
