US Facebook death threats troll: Reece Elliott jailed
9 July 2013Last updated at 08:59 ET Reece Elliott posted his comment on online memorial pages A British man who threatened to kill 200 people in the US, in posts he made under a false name on Facebook, has been jailed for more than two years. Reece Elliott, 24, of Foss Way, South Shields, made the threat in February on online memorial pages for two Tennessee girls killed in car accidents. About 3,000 pupils in Warren County missed school the next day as a result. Elliott, who pleaded guilty at Newcastle Crown Court in April, was jailed for two years and four months. The father-of-one admitted one count of making a threat to kill and eight of sending grossly offensive messages. Elliott targeted a tribute page to 17-year-old Caitlin Talley, a popular pupil at Warren County High, who had died in a car accident in October. He also posted comments on the site of a 15-year-old girl who cannot be named. Schools 'lockdown' "Then I'm taking the motor and I'm going in fast. “Start Quote
Teenager's death sparks cyber-blackmailing probe
16 August 2013Last updated at 08:20 ET The teenager had been told to pay money into an account or a video or images of him would be made public Police in Fife are investigating claims that a 17-year-old boy killed himself because he was being blackmailed on the internet. It is thought Daniel Perry had become involved in a scam where victims are befriended and tricked into making explicit webcam recordings. These are then used for blackmail. It has also emerged that the teenager had previously been urged to kill himself by anonymous users on the social media website ask.fm. The site has been linked to the deaths of other youngsters. Continue reading the main story “Start Quote "Knowing him as I do, he has felt embarrassed, horrified and has thought he's let everybody down.” End QuoteDaniel Perry's mother Hannah Smith, 14, was found hanged at her home in Lutterworth, Leicestershire, on 2 August, and is thought to have killed herself after being bullied on the website. Internet extortion Analysis
Ask.fm unveils changes to safety policy
19 August 2013Last updated at 10:44 ET By Pia Gadkari Technology reporter David Smith, father of Hannah, on Ask.fm's new safety policies: "The government needs to bring in new regulations." Social networking site Ask.fm has unveiled changes to make its site safer after recent online bullying cases. It said it would view all reports within 24 hours, make the report button more visible, and include bullying and harassment as a category for a report. It said some of the changes would be live on the site by September. The father of Hannah Smith, 14, who is believed to have killed herself at home in Leicestershire after she was bullied on the site, welcomed the changes. "I think it's too late, but it's not too little," Dave Smith said in an interview with the BBC. 'New laws needed' Mr Smith said Ask.fm did not need to be shut down, since it had shown it was ready to make its site safer. Continue reading the main story Monday's announcement has been welcomed by child safety experts. Report abuse
Risk Factor: Ceop help for teenage boy made to perform sex online - 4/22/2010
A case study revealing how the Child Exploitation and Online Protection Centre stepped into to help a teenage boy who had been targeted by paedophiles using social networking websites Practitioner: Pauline Hyde, senior child protection adviser, NSPCC, Child Exploitation and Online Protection Centre (Ceop). Field: Child protection. Location: Central London. Client: Gary* who was 14. Case history: Gary’s parents have become extremely concerned about a sudden change in him. Dilemma: Can the local police and children’s services handle the case adequately or can it only be properly dealt with by specialist professionals? Risk factor: A criminal investigation and a therapeutic intervention are required. Outcome: A criminal investigation is carried out which results in criminal prosecutions. * Name has been changed The story Like many teenagers, 14-year-old Gary* was a prolific internet user, writes Mark Drinkwater. Hyde says that the relationship continued developing in an unhealthy way.
Sexting research
A qualitative study of children, young people and 'sexting' A report prepared for the NSPCC May 2012 We asked researchers from the Institute of Education, King’s College London, London School of Economics and Open University to conduct a small scale qualitative study to improve our understanding of sexting and the use of mobile technology by young people. This report details the research and their findings. See also Sexting: an exploration of practices, attitudes and influences which builds on the findings of this research. A qualitative study of children, young people and 'sexting': a report prepared for the NSPCC (PDF, 901KB) What is sexting? Sexting has been defined as the “exchange of sexual messages or images” and “creating, sharing and forwarding sexually suggestive nude or nearly nude images” (see report for references). Aim of the study Methodology The researchers conducted focus groups with 35 young people aged 12 to 14 years from inner city London schools. Key messages Please cite as:
US music file-sharer must pay damages
24 August 2012Last updated at 11:36 ET Joel Tenenbaum has been fighting the case since 2003. Joel Tenenbaum must pay $675,000 (£426,000) in damages awarded to the major US music labels after his request for a retrial was turned down. Mr Tenenbaum, 25, was found guilty of illegally downloading and distributing 31 songs in 2007. A judge in Massachusetts ruled that the damages, set by a jury in 2009, had been fair. Mr Tenenbaum was 16 years old when a letter was sent to his parents' home accusing him of illegal file-sharing. He was asked to pay $5,250 (£3,319) for downloading seven songs. In 2007 the case went to court for the first time. He refused to settle and a new trial was set for 2009. In the US a jury can set a fine of up to $150,000 for every occasion of wilful copyright infringement, meaning that Mr Tenenbaum's fine is below the maximum he could have received for the 31 songs he was found guilty of illegally sharing. In court Mr Tenenbaum had admitted to file-sharing around 800 songs.
A social media company's social-emotional learning
One of the fascinating impacts of our now very social media environment is technology companies having to learn a whole lot about the best and worst of humanity – and, for their own and their users’ sake, about how to foster the best of it. Facebook, for example, has an engineering team working with empathy researchers, and this has direct impact on young users’ social experiences, wherever FB’s embedded in them. Psychologist Marc Brackett at Yale University, who developed a social-emotional learning (SEL) program for schools, has been working with Facebook on its social-reporting tools for 13- and 14-year-olds. [Social reporting is basically abuse reporting with additional options to "report" offending content or behavior to people who can help with the problem in "real life," which is typically the context of whatever goes on in Facebook.] Here’s part of Facebook’s reporting flow that, in a simple way, gets users to think about and accurately express what bothers them about a photo
Digital Learning Futures
