Online abuse

Child abuse site creator jailed for 30 years

Steven Chase set up the Playpen site on the Tor dark web network in early 2014.

By the time it was shut down a year later it had more than 150,000 users and hosted more than 50,000 images and videos.

The FBI said the removal of Playpen had led to almost 300 abused children being identified or rescued.

Monkey advertised for sale on social media rescued

Officers found Lola living in "hugely inappropriate conditions" in a house in Blaenymaes, Swansea.

She was running loose in the living room with a cage and a UV lamp in the corner, along with a dog she would often try to attack.

She now lives at a wildlife centre with other monkeys. RSPCA wants a ban on keeping primates as pets in Wales.

RSPCA Inspector, Neill Manley, said: "Sadly, some people like the idea of keeping a monkey as a pet, but this is another example of how unsuitable they are.

Caution! The celebs who are wary of Twitter

Watson is playing the lead role in The Circle, the film adaptation of Dave Eggers's novel about an all-seeing tech corporation.

She plays a graduate who joins Hanks's company and soon finds herself joining an experiment that pushes the boundaries of privacy and ethics.

Watson said at the New York premiere: "For my sanity, I cannot, I just cannot even go there (reading comments)."

Facebook launches tools to combat revenge porn

The term refers to non-consensual pornography that's distributed online to shame, exploit or extort its victims.

And on Wednesday, the company said it would apply photo-matching to ensure intimate, nonconsensual images that are reported once aren't able to be uploaded again through Facebook's properties, including Messenger and Instagram.

Anti-bullying campaigners call for a ban on chatbot app

Now there are calls by anti-bullying campaigners to ban the app in the UK too.

The app, called SimSimi, can be "taught" responses by any user when certain names or words are typed in.

It means that users - many of whom are school pupils - are getting abusive replies when they type their own names in to the app.

"I think they have a duty of care of suspend the service for all young people," says Liam Hackett of anti-bullying campaign Ditch the Label.

"Their content is predominantly negative, abusive, sexually graphic or violent."

Child porn case dropped to prevent FBI disclosure

The Playpen site was located on the Tor network which is used to anonymise web-browsing activity.

The FBI found a way around this to reveal the users' real IP addresses and led to 200 prosecutions.

But it refused to reveal to the court how it managed the feat.

The site was located on the Tor network which many people use to browse the web anonymously. It conceals their location and identity by routing their connections through a chain of different computers and encrypting data in the process.

Three arrested in Sweden over 'gang rape' on Facebook Live

The alleged crime took place in an apartment in Uppsala, a city about 50 miles north of the capital, Stockholm.

In a statement, the Uppsala County police said they were alerted at 8:24am Sunday.

"This rape was broadcast live on a Facebook group and numerous people have been in touch regarding seeing this broadcast," they said.

Online safety: Internet 'not designed for children'

Anne Longfield said children did not know how their data was being used due to "impenetrable" terms and conditions.

She said the internet was not designed for children even though they are now the biggest users.

She has called for a digital ombudsman to be created to uphold their rights.

 

'Give them power'

Twitter announces more tools for dealing with abuse

The "mute" button, which enables users to not see tweets from individual accounts, is being extended to prevent tweets containing chosen key words or phrases appearing in the notifications bar.

It will also enable users to opt out of seeing conversations they are added to.

There will be more categories for reporting offensive material as well.

Twitter admitted the steps would not remove abusive conduct from the platform altogether.

Europol report reveals rise in child sex abuse online

In its cyber crime report, Europol said the use of encrypted tools, which enable offenders to stay anonymous, were now "becoming the norm".

With millions of children online, access to them was "higher than ever".

Cybercrime reporting in Europe had surpassed traditional crimes, it said.

Europol called the ability for child sex offenders to communicate, store and share materials and hunt for new victims online "one of the internet's most damaging and abhorrent aspects".