Child Protection&Online Safety
19 March 2009
Leaked Australian blacklist reveals banned sites Sydney Morning Herald
The Australian communications regulator's top-secret blacklist of banned websites has been leaked on to the web and paints a harrowing picture of Australia's forthcoming internet censorship regime.
18 March 2009
Australian web watchdog changes tack after blacklist leak Australian IT
The communications regulator has been forced to change its internal processes after the address of a prohibited anti-abortion web page in its top-secret blacklist was widely distributed on the internet.
16 March 2009
Survey finds 25pc of NZ students sexually solicited online New Zealand Herald
About 25 per cent of secondary school students say they have been aggressively sexually solicited online, according to a survey by the internet safety organisation Netsafe.
14 March 2009
Austria smashes child porn ring BBC News
Austrian police say they have broken an internet child porn ring that spanned 170 countries and involved nearly 1,000 people, including teachers and doctors.
08 March 2009
Merkel media man quits as police probe child pornography links The Independent
A senior member of Chancellor Angela Merkel's government resigned from his political posts yesterday after police said he was under investigation for possessing and distributing child pornography on his mobile phone.
04 March 2009
One in three UK youngsters a cyber-bullying victim; drives Australian teens to suicide Reuters
One in three young Britons have been the victims of cyber-bullying with girls the most likely victims, according to research published on Tuesday. Also, cyber bullying has grown so damaging it is driving some Australian teenagers to suicide, young people have told the NSW State Government.
eu: Child abuse image trade targeted BBC News
Profits made by peddlers of child sex abuse images are being targeted by a pan-European alliance. The European Financial Coalition brings together payment firms, law enforcement agencies and child protection groups to disrupt commerce in the images.
27 February 2009
Australian web censorship plan heads towards a dead end Sydney Morning Herald
The Government's plan to introduce mandatory internet censorship has effectively been scuttled, following an independent senator's decision to join the Greens and Opposition in blocking any legislation required to get the scheme started.
26 February 2009
us: Internet Safety Act: Rashomon in real time? Network World
From what you read in the trade press and blogosphere, you would think that Sen. John Cornyn and Rep. Lamar Smith have decided to use the excuse of fighting child pornography to attack the Internet itself.
100 British children a month alert police to internet predators The Guardian
Police are responding to more than 100 alerts every month from child internet users who are in immediate danger of sexual abuse or violence at the hands of online predators, the Guardian has learned.
25 February 2009
Conroy confesses: web filtering will hit 'other content' Crikey
Stephen Conroy yesterday confirmed that the Government would consider the possibility of legal content being blocked by its mandatory internet censorship scheme.
23 February 2009
UK children's charities demand child porn block BBC News
Children's charities have expressed "serious concerns" many UK households still have access to images showing child sex abuse via their computers.
NZ police target web predators Stuff
A new police unit is being launched to protect kids from online sexual predators and the dangers of social networking sites.
16 February 2009
us: Teens, Nude Photos and the Law Newsweek
Ask yourself: should the police be involved when tipsy teen girls e-mail their boyfriends naughty Valentine's Day pictures?
12 February 2009
eu: Teens targeted in net safety push; half surf web unsupervised BBC News
Half of Europe's teenagers browse the web with no parental oversight or supervision, a survey suggests.
Child safety takes precedence in UK internet regulation debate Computer Weekly
The safety of children online, more than any other issue, is driving the growing move to censor the internet in the UK, but international agendas are making it hard to achieve practical results.
Social Networking: European Commission brokers agreement among major web companies RAPID
17 leading web firms have signed for the first time a European agreement to improve the safety of under 18s who use social networking sites. These include Arto, Bebo, Dailymotion, Facebook, Giovani.it, Google/YouTube, Hyves, Microsoft Europe, Myspace, Nasza-klaza.pl, Netlog, One.lt, Skyrock, StudiVZ, Sulake/Habbo Hotel, Yahoo!Europe, and Zap.lu. Social networking sites are an emerging social and economic phenomenon, attracting 41.7 million regular users in Europe and changing the way we interact with each other on the Web.
Green light for Australian ISP filtering trials Australian IT
The federal Government's controversial live ISP filtering trial will finally kick-off with six internet service providers chosen to participate.
10 February 2009
EC agrees to children's online safety deal The Guardian
The European Commission has brokered a deal with internet companies to help protect children using social networking sites, it announced today.
us: Free speech or cyberbullying? New York Times
Katherine Evans said she was frustrated with her English teacher for ignoring her pleas for help with assignments and a brusque reproach when she missed class to attend a school blood drive.
07 February 2009
Ridding the Internet of Child Porn: Filtering Isn't the Answer Huffington Post
Today's op-ed in Australian IT by Bernadette McMenamin, CEO of an organization called Child Wise is naive at best, dangerous at worst. McMenamin, whose organization seeks to prevent child sexual abuse, claims that Australia's internet filtering scheme is the solution to preventing child pornography on the Internet. She argues that ISP-level filtering is one part of a variety of efforts to curb child sexual abuse.
05 February 2009
MySpace: 90,000 sex offenders removed in two years Reuters
The online networking site MySpace has identified and barred some 90,000 registered sex offenders from using the site over the last two years, MySpace revealed to an investigative task force on Tuesday.
01 February 2009
au: Labor's 'deafening silence' as web censorship trials delayed Sydney Morning Herald
One of the largest ISPs signed up to participate in Labor's ambitious internet censorship trials has said its application has been met with "deafening silence" from the Government, raising questions over the workability of the proposed scheme and the effectiveness of the trials.
31 January 2009
nz: Filter to prevent access to child porn sites Radio New Zealand
The Department of Internal Affairs is setting up a filter system that will allow internet service providers to stop people accessing child pornography.
29 January 2009
au: ISPs clustered for filtering trials Australian IT
Participants in the federal Government's controversial mandatory internet filtering scheme will start live trials in batches, instead of en masse.
