Week 8 no\tes Safety

Rights

Freedom of expression 

•Article 19, Universal Declaration of Human Rights (1948)

Freedom from discrimination

 •Article 2, Universal Declaration of Human Rights (1948)

Right to privacy 

•Article 12, Universal Declaration of Human Rights (1948)

Safety 

-refers to freedom from various types of harm 

The 4 Cs of online safety risks 

Content

-Exposure to illegal or harmful or inappropriate content

(Pornography, Violent/ Gore content, Racist content)

Conduct

-Online behaviour the causes harm 

Contact 

-Hateful or harmful online interactions

Commerce 

-Gambling, inappropriate advertising, scams, phishing etc

Digital safety in law:

Online safety bill (2023)

Became law in October 2023 and aims to protect children and adults online .

The law made digital platforms amore responsible for online safety on their platform.

Which organisations are effected

Category 1 

•User-to-user services where users generate/upload/share content

•High risk of offences

•Most social media platforms 

Category 2a 

•Search platforms

Category 2b 

•Low risk user-to-user services

Measures towards children

Social media platforms have to:

•Remove illegal content quickly or prevent it appealing

•Prevent children from accessing harmful/age-inappropriate content

•Enforce age limits and age-checking measures

•Publish risk assessments

•Provide parents and children with clear and accessible ways to report problems online

Measures towards adults 

social media platforms have to 

•Category 1 organisations must remove content banned by their terms and conditions

•Category 1 organisations must give adult users tools to control what they see/engage with

•All services have to put in place measures to prevent services being used for illegal activity

•All services must remove illegal content 

Types of content 

Illegal

Sexual violence

Child sexual abuse 

Hate crime 

Inciting violence 

Promoting suicide 

Revenge porn

Legal but harmful to kids 

Pornographic content 

Content which encourages self-harm, 

suicide or eating disorder 

Content depicting or 

encouraging serious violence 

Bullying content

New Offences 

•Cyber-flashing (sending unsolicited sexual imagery)

•Sending flashing images with intent to cause seizures

•Sharing deep-fake pornography

•Threatening communications   

Criticisms

•Requirement to scan all media sent between users for illegal content – threat to right to privacy (no more end-to-end encryption) 

•Potential for “mass surveillance by the backdoor” (Electronic Freedom Foundation, 2023)

•Prior versions of the bill included rights on “legal but harmful” content – potential censorship

•The technology required to implement requirements doesn’t yet exist (e.g., better age verification that doesn’t breach right to privacy) 

Some companies have threatened to pull their product from UK markets because of the rights to privacy

some of these laws go against 

 

Safety blog draft 

Targeted towards parents

Research here:

https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2021/12/09/us/where-the-despairing-log-on.html

Online forum that promoted ways young people could commit suicide 

Online safety for children: Is the UK government doing enough for you kids? 

As the digital age continues to re-define the way we communicate and meet new people. There have been growing concerns over the way teens and young adults form relationships over the online space. As malicious groups, or individuals, can target vulnerable people looking to make online connections. We will delve into how governments are enforcing new laws over safety, and how they will be preventing your children from accessing content or people that could potentially harm them. 

As the new generation of kids grow up surrounded by pandemics and a cost of living crisis. Studies from children's health organisations, such as the 2018 survey by 'The American Phycological Association', have found that children report 'a higher level stress than adults'. With children, mental health can be a hard discussion with family and friends. So conversing with a stranger, on an online communication service, who "feels the same" can seem like a promising way to talk to someone. However, for many young people, they were instead pulled into a public forum that encouraged users suffering from mental illnesses, to end their life, and promoting a payment system that gave users descriptive instruction on the many methods they could pick. A BBC article about the website mentioned how the website was 'Linked to 50 deaths in the UK' and described how British authorities 'Failed to act' on multiple official warnings over the website since its inception in 2018, before it was closed earlier this year. Within the new online safety bill, which was passed this year, Social media platforms and websites have to 'Prevent children from accessing harmful/age-inappropriate content and provide a place for them to report it' If this bill was passed prior to the creation of this website, many peoples lives may have been saved. If you, or your child, is suffering from mental health issues. Ensure that the content they access, and people they talk to, is safe. 

According to the UK government. The introduction of this new bill, will make the UK 'The safest place in the world, to be online.' Meaning your children will find it harder to interact with users, or content, that could potentially be harmful towards them. The magazine and website 'Children and Young people now' posted an article that explained the impact this would have of children accessing the internet. Stating how the bill puts 'protecting children first' by creating a "zero tolerance approach" to harmful content on social media, including age-checking measurements, and content filters that aim to stop cyberbullying and user targeting. A quote from Technology secretary Michelle Donelan, that they included, states that they hope to 'crack down on heinous crimes' that have been targeted towards children.

So, While it has taken the government an excruciating amount of time to enforce these new laws. They are stated to be 'protecting children first' and to be 'deliver a better future for British people, by making sure that what is illegal offline is illegal online' (Technology secretary Michelle Donelan). These laws have already seemed to have taken affect, with the aforementioned website promoting suicide has been taken down. However, as a parent a big responsibility in the digital age, is ensuring your child is safe on the digital space. While also ensuring they safe offline, and are able to talk to you face to face; rather then over a message board, to a stranger.

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