British Peadophile would not have been caught if Facebook was encrypted 

  • A paedophile, who targeted at least 500 children, would not have been caught under Facebook’s proposed end-to-end encryption plans, according to the National Crime Agency (NCA)
  • Labourer David Nicholas Wilson, admitted 96 sex abuse offences against 51 boys aged four to 14, whom he conned into sending him sexual images or blackmailed into abusing their younger siblings or friends
  • The NCA investigation uncovered evidence that Wilson, who pretended to be multiple teenage girls online, blackmailed 500 boys to send sexual abuse images to his fake identities and had approached more than 5,000 boys globally
  • The NCA found 250,000 messages communicating with boys in his Facebook, Snapchat, Google and Instagram accounts after obtaining access to them through an International Letter of Request to the US authorities
  • David Nicolas Wilson would not have been caught without Facebook providing 90 referrals of suspect accounts linked to Wilson – evidence that would not be available if the social media giant goes ahead with its encryption plans, said Rob Jones, the NCA Director of Threat Leadership

Twitter is now warning users who like tweets that include misinformation

  • Twitter is now warning users when they attempt to ‘like’ a disputed tweet as part of its efforts to tackle misinformation
  • Twitter said it was “vital” the company gives additional context about why labelled tweets were misleading, whether those tweets were about the US election or COVID-19
  • Currently,  users are unable to retweet a message that has received a label  because it  includes disputed messages
  • Users can ‘quote’ tweet messages which include misinformation, which allows them to share it alongside their own tweet
  • When the prompts were previously shown to quote tweet users, they lowered the spread of misleading information by 29% according to the platform, which is why the feature is being added to likes as well

Education Secretary acted unlawfully in relaxing safeguards for children

  • Education Secretary Gavin Williamson acted unlawfully by failing to consult children’s rights bodies before watering down safeguards for children in care, a court has ruled
  • Judges at the Court of Appeal found against Mr Williamson over his actions in relaxing some of the obligations on local councils over the 78,000 children in care in England during the coronavirus pandemic
  • Among the safeguards relaxed by the government were timescales for social worker visits, six-monthly reviews of children’s welfare, and independent scrutiny of children’s homes
  • The Court of Appeal has now ruled that there was “no good reason” why Mr Williamson excluded England’s Children’s Commissioner, Anne Longfield, and other bodies representing children in care from his decision-making

Independent school found inadequate by Ofsted

  • The safeguarding of children at a Reading school needs to be improved, following an inspection from Ofsted
  • The Vine Christian School in Reading was found to be ‘inadequate’ last year, and that staff need to be more aware of how to notice and report concerns about the health and welfare of students
  • The independent school, was assessed by the watchdog in June 2019
  • During a monitoring visit in October this year, Ofsted published an updated report which says that, overall, the school does not meet all of the independent school standards, and that several improvements have not yet been made
  • The school teaches children between the ages of three to 18