UK Government to Require Schools to Teach Online
- Ministers are using powers under the Coronavirus Act to require schools to offer pupils who are not in school the same lessons as those in class
- Teaching unions reacted angrily to the move calling it a “grave error” which risks damaging the government’s relationship with the profession
- It comes after official figures showed one in six secondaries in England were partially closed to some pupils
- The government said it was formalising pupils’ rights to remote learning
- It comes as huge swathes of the north-east and north-west of England are under stricter lockdown measures
US Senate Summons Tech Bosses
- The US Senate Commerce Committee has voted to subpoena the heads of Google, Facebook, and Twitter
- It means that Sundar Pichai, Mark Zuckerberg and Jack Dorsey face being quizzed by senators about their policies on different types of content
- One focus will be the legal protections they enjoy regarding what they leave up and take down on their platforms
- They are also likely to be challenged over controversies about privacy and misinformation
- Both Republicans and Democrats on the committee voted unanimously to summon the chief executives
- However, each side is likely to have different priorities – with some Republican members speaking about the alleged censorship of conservative views online, while Democrats focus on competition and misinformation
Chinese Vlogger Dies After Being Set on Fire by Ex During Live Stream
- A Chinese influencer has died after her ex-husband allegedly doused her in petrol and set fire to her as she was attempting to live stream, said local media reports
- Lamu was popular on Douyin, which is China’s version of TikTok, where she had hundreds of thousands of followers
- Lamu suffered burns on 90% of her body and died two weeks after the attack
- The case has prompted conversation on social media about violence against women in China
- Lamu, 30, from China’s Sichuan province, was known for her happy posts on rural life and was praised for not using make up in her videos, which had millions of likes
Bank Details and Passwords of Charities at Risk Due to Hack
- Bank account information and users’ passwords are feared to be stolen by hackers in a security breach at a service used to raise donations from millions of people
- Many UK universities and charities, as well as hundreds of other organisations worldwide, use the software involved
- Its developer Blackbaud made the admission in a regulatory filing.
- The firm previously said the theft had been limited to other personal data – but not payment details
- Blackbaud said it was contacting affected clients, who will need to send follow-up alerts to at least some of the donors they had already contacted about the incident
- “We have informed the small subset of Blackbaud customers who were part of this development, we apologise that this happened and will continue to do our very best to supply help and support as we and our customers jointly navigate this cyber-crime incident’ the company said in a statement.
