September 2015
‘Life on Mars more likely than Facebook charges’
Facebook has reacted to the latest round of hoax posts about privacy settings, saying life on Mars is now more likely than the introduction of charges for a private profile setting. Rumours about Facebook’s privacy settings have resurfaced on the social network and been shared thousands of times. One claimed that the firm planned to charge £5.99 to keep profiles private. Facebook moved quickly to quash the rumour.
BBC News Online 30/9/2015
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UK mobile ad spend ‘to overtake print and TV’
The explosion in the popularity of handheld devices will see mobile advertising overtake the £2.6bn newspaper and magazine market this year, and leapfrog TV to become the biggest ad medium in the UK, according to a new forecast. Mobile ad spend is expected to increase by 45% this year to £3.26bn in the UK, easily surpassing the £2.67bn that will be spent on print advertising across national and local newspapers and magazines, according to a report published on Wednesday by eMarketer. Mobile ad spend will see a further surge of 35% next year, to £4.4bn, which will see it nudge ahead of traditional TV advertising which will account for £4.26bn of spend.
The Guardian 30/9/2015
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Is this nasty little peep show the seediest Channel 4 series ever?
Angel and Daygon in Sex Diaries: Webcam Couples (C4) started off performing DIY porn for web viewers but discovered their customers were so desperate for companionship and human contact that the X-rated element wasn’t required.
MailOnline 29/9/2015
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Audience left feeling ‘physically sick’ after watching The Walk as 3D effects of stuntman walking across skyscrapers trigger vertigo
Audiences who have watched the first screenings of a biopic of a stunt man who walked a tight rope between New York’s Twin Towers have complained some the movie’s 3D effects left them feeling sick. The Walk by producer Robert Zemeckis, rated PG, tells the story of French daredevil Philippe Petit, who walked between the two skyscrapers in Manhattan 1,300 feet above the ground in 1974 without a safety net. Mr Zemeckis has previously said that he hoped the 3D effects used in the film would give cinema-goers a sense of vertigo, while watching the movie.
MailOnline 29/9/2015
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Kelly Brook Most Dangerous Celeb To Search For
You might want to think twice before Googling Kelly Brook in future - the star has been named the riskiest British celebrity to search for online. A study into computer viruses and how hackers entice users to dangerous websites has shown that the model’s name is one of the most dangerous search terms. Intel Security’s report looked at the most famous people in popular culture, and analysed how many search results linked to them actually led to websites containing malicious software and viruses.
Sky News 29/9/2015
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Parents must police their screen time, too
The old dictum “do as I say, and not as I do” has become more and more relevant where the use of technology is concerned. I despair that my three kids seem to have their faces permanently bathed in the light from one screen or another, yet cheerfully flit from mobile phone to iPad to laptop in front of them as I dish up supper. I’m ashamed to admit that the nine-year-old recently admonished me for sneaking a look at my phone under a restaurant table. “I sometimes think you love that thing more than you do me,” she complained. It’s not a good feeling to be caught. What is worse is that these double standards amount to more than hypocrisy: parents like me are teaching our children by example that there really is no off-switch. And that makes it difficult to lay down the law with conviction and a straight face when your offspring are catching up on Facebook when they are supposed to be concentrating on their homework. Data from research specialist Childwisepublished in the past week reveals that by the age of seven many youngsters will have spent what equates to one full year in front of a screen, rising to three by adulthood. That is a terrifying statistic.
The Daily Telegraph 28/9/2105
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Government may privatise Channel 4, document reveals
The government has inadvertently provided further evidence that it is looking at privatising Channel 4, after an official was photographed entering Downing Street with a document setting out options for a sell-off. After months of ministerial obfuscation on whether the sale of the state-owned, commercially funded broadcaster was being considered, the document reveals that proposals have already been drawn up in a bid to raise an estimated £1bn for Treasury coffers. The leaked document reads: “Work should proceed to examine the options of extracting greater public value from the Channel 4 corporation, focusing on privatisation options in particular.”
The Guardian 24/9/2015
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Miley Cyrus MAC ad avoids ban after complaints it was overtly sexual
An ad campaign featuring a scantily-clad Miley Cyrus has avoided a ban from the advertising regulator despite complaints it was overtly sexual and could be seen by children. The Wrecking Ball singer, who has a penchant for wearing skimpy and outrageous outfits, featured in a billboard and poster campaign for cosmetic company MAC. The campaign, which included a billboard at a large shopping mall and posters on the underground, featured the singer lying on her back wearing a low-cut bodysuit with her legs apart against a mirrored wall. The Advertising Standards Authority received complaints that the ads were offensive because they were overtly sexual and that they were unsuitable for display as posters in public areas where children could see them.
The Guardian 23/9/2015
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South Korea child monitoring phone app ‘flawed’
A child monitoring phone app funded by the South Korean government has major security flaws, a new report says. The popular Smart Sheriff app has vulnerabilities that could leak children’s personal details or allow the phone to be hacked, the study says. The app’s developer says it has since addressed some of the issues raised in the report, although this has not been independently verified. South Korea mandated in April that all children’s phones must be monitored. Anyone under 19 who buys a smartphone must install an app that can filter and block harmful content.
BBC News Online 21/9/2015
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Porn’s effect on youth ‘is catastrophic’: Top Met officer despairs of boys and girls brutalised by extreme films online
A tidal wave of graphic online pornography was blamed for the ‘catastrophic sexualisation’ of young people yesterday. Easy access to extreme material is corroding the lives of children and destroying their innocence, a senior police officer warned. Chief Superintendent John Sutherland said he has been left speechless by the impact of hardcore pornography available to anyone with a smartphone – and listed a series of violent sex crimes by children which he believes have been fuelled by the internet. These included teenage boys coolly planning the gang-rape of a young girl and forensically cleaning up afterwards, and the knife-point rape of a boy by another teenage boy.
The Daily Mail 16/9/2015
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BBC could be forced to change time of 10pm news programme
Culture secretary John Whittingdale has raised the prospect of the BBC being forced to move its main 10pm news programme as part of a review of its impact on commercial rivals. In a speech that questioned the way the BBC competed against rivals such as ITV and Sky, Whittingdale also criticised BBC1 for failing to show more distinctive programming. The corporation’s most popular and expensive channel, with a £1.4bn budget, has recently been criticised for scheduling Strictly Come Dancing at the same time as ITV’s The X Factor.
The Guardian 16/9/2015
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Waking for social media leaves pupils ‘always tired’
More than one out of every three 12 to 15-year-olds wakes in the night at least once a week just to use social media, a study suggests. The Cardiff team found more than one in five did so almost every night, leaving most constantly tired at school. Out of all the 848 pupils surveyed in schools across Wales, one out of every three was constantly tired, but that proportion was smaller among those who got up at the same time every morning. Staying up late had less of an impact.
BBC News Online 15/9/2015
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Something doesn’t add up! Parents warned of the dangers of smartphone secrecy app that looks like a calculator but can be used to conceal photos and video
An Alabama district attorney has posted a video warning parents about the dangers of an app that allows children to hide photos and videos from their parents. According to Pamela Casey, the Calculator % app looks similar to a regular calculator but allows users to input a pass code to reveal a vault of hidden images. Worryingly, tech experts say the app is ‘one of many’ secret photo vaults that are being used to conceal images and videos from parents.
The Daily Mail 14/9/2015
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Loose Women escapes investigation over rape poll
Media regulator Ofcom has decided not to launch an investigation into an edition of ITV’s Loose Women that included a viewers’ poll about rape. The broadcasting watchdog received 74 complaints about the 1 September programme, in which viewers were asked whether rape was ever a woman’s fault. ITV later apologised for the programme, saying the wording of its online poll had been “misjudged”. After assessing the complaints, though, Ofcom chose to take no further action. “We carefully considered a number of complaints that it was offensive for this programme to ask the audience ‘are women ever to blame’ in cases of rape,” said an Ofcom spokesperson.
BBC News Online 14/9/2015
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Michael Dugher replaces Chris Bryant as shadow culture secretary
Michael Dugher, a former spokesman for Gordon Brown, is to replace Chris Bryant as shadow culture secretary, a brief that will see him challenge the Tories on the future of the BBC and press regulation over the next year. A campaigner for Andy Burnham during the Labour leadership election, a man party insiders describes as a “fierce northern attack dog” is understood to have been promised the job on Sunday following Jeremy Corbyn’s election as Labour leader. When he was appointed shadow transport secretary in October 2013, a profile in the New Statesman called this son, grandson and great-grandson of railwaymen a natural fit. His knowledge of, and involvement in, media and culture seem less obvious, although his first shadow cabinet role for Ed Miliband was helping to coordinate political attacks on government policies as minister without portfolio.
The Guardian 14/9/2015
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Impartiality: the impossible battle that the BBC cannot win
Waiting for Godot? Try its natural successor, Searching for Impartiality. On the one hand, we celebrated a monarch widely praised for never saying anything interesting or remotely controversial. Impartiality as silence and/or discreet boredom. On the other, we watched over a fraught 24 hours while the BBC got it in the neck again. Impartiality as dream and delusion. Here’s Lord (Michael) Dobbs tearing into the BBC’s continuing problem with older female presenters (such as Miriam O’Reilly, lately of Countryfile): “Being a great newscaster isn’t simply a matter of getting lip gloss around the words on a teleprompter. Experience and understanding count.” Here’s the Countryside Alliance on remarks by Chris Packham, currently of Springwatch, about fox hunting, badger culling and the plight of hen harriers: “There is no issue with people voicing such opinions, but using the position granted by a public service broadcaster to promote an extreme agenda is a different thing entirely”.
The Guardian 13/9/2015
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Facebook leads children to suffer depression and disturbed sleep over fear of missing out on constant chat, study finds
Keeping up with their friends online is fuelling disturbed sleep, depression and anxiety among teenagers, according to researchers. The fear of missing out on social media – referred to as FOMO by the internet-savvy younger generation – means teenagers are under greater pressure to stay connected for as long as possible. Around 90 per cent of adolescents are estimated to have a presence on social media, and those who stay glued to gadgets well into the night are most at risk of developing emotional problems, the study found.
The Daily Mail 11/9/2015
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Not all comments are created equal: the case for ending online comments
As the internet and audiences grew, so did the bile. Now if feels as if comments uphold power structures instead of subverting them: sexism, racism and homophobia are the norm; threats and harassment are common. (That’s not even counting social media. Comments sections also give the impression that all thoughts are created equal when, well, they’re not. When Popular Science stopped publishing comments, for example, it was because “everything, from evolution to the origins of climate change, is mistakenly up for grabs again…scientific certainty is just another thing for two people to ‘debate’”. When will we see the humanity and dignity of women as a fact, rather than an opinion?
The Guardian 10/9/2015
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BBC licence fee replacement gets backing from culture secretary
Culture secretary John Whittingdale has offered support to replacing the BBC licence fee with a household levy collected in a similar way to the council tax, but said no decision had been made ahead of legislation expected next year. Whittingdale’s comments to MPs on Wednesday came two days after the BBC itself backed the household levy system, outlined in the government’s green paper on the future of the BBC, as one way of modernising the current system. The culture secretary said such a system could help tackle the issue of non-payment, which is currently a criminal officence, as well as introducing a progressive element absent from the flat-rate licence fee.
The Guardian 10/9/2015
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Now Chrissie Hynde attacks today’s lewd pop stars branding them ‘sex workers’ who have created a ‘pornography culture’
She provoked fierce debate by saying it was her own fault for being sexually assaulted at 21. And now Chrissie Hynde has waded into another contentious area – the overly sexualised nature of modern pop music. In an obvious reference to scantily-clad stars such as Miley Cyrus and Rihanna, the former Pretenders lead singer branded them ‘sex workers’ for selling music by ‘bumping and grinding’ in their underwear. The 64-year-old also accused them of doing ‘a great deal of damage’ to women with their risque performances. Miss Hynde launched the scathing attack during a tense interview on BBC’s Woman’s Hour yesterday. She suggested that today’s provocatively-dressed stars are sending the wrong message about how people should view sex. Miss Hynde added: ‘I don’t think sexual assault is a gender issue as such, I think it’s very much it’s all around us now.
The Daily Mail 9/9/2015
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Children as young as SIX questioned by police over sending indecent images as number of child arrests increases five-fold
Children as young as six have been questioned by police in the wake of a 500 per cent increase in the number of those arrested for ‘sexting’, it has emerged. New figures show that since 2012 more than 1,000 children have been spoken to by police in connection with the sharing of indecent photos via mobile phones, Facebook and Snapchat. It has led campaigners to express concerns about the growing trend amid fears that the pictures may fall into the hands of paedophiles.
The Daily Mail 9/9/2015
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Paddy Power newspaper ad calling on Sepp Blatter to “f*** off already” cleared by watchdog
The ad showed an image of Mr Blatter revealing the winner by holding up a piece of paper which said “Me”, while text at the top stated: “Just f*** off already!” A Paddy Power advert calling on football chief Sepp Blatter to “f*** off already” has been cleared by a watchdog which ruled it was unlikely to cause serious offence. The ad in the sport section of the Guardian newspaper featured odds on the candidates for the 2015 Fifa presidential election. It showed an image of Mr Blatter revealing the winner by holding up a piece of paper which said “Me”, while text at the top stated: “Just f*** off already!” One reader complained that the use of the word “f***” was likely to cause serious or widespread offence.
The Mirror 9/9/2015
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BBC should help fund hyperlocal news sites, says report
The BBC should help fund Britain’s emerging hyperlocal journalism sector in the same way it supported the rollout of local TV, according to a report from Cardiff University and innovation charity Nesta. The report, which concludes that an “urgent intervention” is needed to keep hyperlocal journalism financially sustainable, says that the BBC should be playing a much greater role and outlines a range of recommendations. The report says that the BBC could more actively link to hyperlocal content – a thorny issue also raised by local and regional newspapers – and purchase material from the UK’s 400-plus hyperlocal and community sites. The model would operate in a similar way to the relationship the BBC has with local TV companies with a deal to buy up to £5m of content a year from 2013 to March 2017.
The Guardian 9/9/2015
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Microsoft battles US over warrant for drugs case emails
Microsoft is returning to court to continue its fight against the US government’s demand that it hand over emails stored at an Irish data centre. The messages involved are alleged to contain details of narcotics sales. In 2014, a court ruled in favour of the government’s claim that because it had jurisdiction over the US-based company, it could force it to hand over data it controlled, even if stored abroad. But Microsoft suggests that would put it in breach of privacy laws.
BBC News Online 9/9/2015
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Apple brings ad-blocker extensions to Safari on iPhones
Faster iPhones and a new TV box are likely to dominate Apple’s launch event on Wednesday, but a tweak to the firm’s mobile web browser will arguably be just as far-reaching. For the first time, Apple will allow adverts to be blocked by the iPhone and iPad versions of Safari. The move is likely to please users, but will concern the many companies that depend on advertising.
BBC News Online 8/9/2015
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If you’re too ashamed to speak to children about sex, exploitative free porn will fill the gaps
It seems doubtless to me that the staggering rise in reported sex assaults in primary and secondary schools – more than 5,500 alleged sex assaults, on boys as well as girls, in three years – goes hand-in-hand with the unfettered availability of extremely hardcore pornography to minors. Today’s children are exposed to the sort of specialist sex scenes which would have taken their parent’s generation months of grubbily determined research to set eyes upon.
The Indpendent 7/9/2015
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Porn app took secret photos of users
A malicious Android app that held people to ransom has been found by US security firm Zscaler. Adult Player appeared to offer pornography, but secretly took pictures of users with the phone’s front-facing camera. It then locked the user’s device and displayed a demand for $500 (£330) which was difficult to bypass. One security expert told the BBC that ransomware was a lucrative and growing area of cybercrime.
BBC News Online 7/9/2015
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BBC pledges to become ‘open platform’ for creativity
The BBC has pledged to work more closely with the UK’s arts and science institutions to “make Britain the greatest cultural force in the world”. BBC director general Tony Hall set out plans for the next decade, saying the corporation will become an “open BBC for the internet age”. A children’s iPlayer and a pool of local reporters who will share work with local newspapers are also planned. Yet he said funding cuts would mean the loss or reduction of some services. Lord Hall laid out the plans at the Science Museum on Monday, ahead of the BBC’s charter renewal in 2016.
BBC News Online 7/9/2015
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Asia’s smartphone addiction
Nomophobia - or no mobile phone phobia - the onset of severe anxiety on losing access to your smartphone has been talked about for years. But in Asia, the birthplace of the selfie stick and the emoji, psychologists say smartphone addiction is fast on the rise and the addicts are getting younger. A recent study surveyed almost 1,000 students in South Korea, where 72% of children own a smartphone by the age of 11 or 12 and spend on average 5.4 hours a day on them - as a result about 25% of children were considered addicted to smartphones. The study, to be published in 2016 found that stress was an important indicator of your likelihood to get addicted.
BBC News Online 7/9/2015
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Teenager added to police database for sending indecent image
A 14-year-old boy has been added to a police intelligence database after he sent a naked image of himself to a girl at his school. The boy, who lives in the north of England, was not charged — but he has been warned that the offence might have to be disclosed when he applies for jobs. “He was in his bedroom at his dad’s the night before, he was flirting with the girl and he sent a picture of himself via something called Snapchat,” the boy’s mother told Justin Webb.
BBC Today 3/9/2015
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Privacy fears over websites sharing children’s data
Websites and apps aimed at children are gathering unacceptable amounts of personal data, the Information Commissioner’s Office has warned. The UK’s data protection agency took part in an international investigation looking at almost 1,500 websites popular with young people. It found that one in five asked for phone numbers or pictures. “These are concerning results,” said Adam Stevens, head of the ICO’s intelligence hub.
BBCOnline 2/9/2015
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Miley Cyrus shares another topless selfie on Instagram just days after wearing a string of barely-there outfits at the MTV VMAs
She shocked viewers with 11 eyebrow-raising outfits when she hosted the MTV Video Music Awards on Sunday night. And it seems Miley Cyrus isn’t about to stop shocking anytime soon, as the star posted yet another raunchy Instagram photo on Wednesday night.
MailOnline 3/9/2015
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McDonald’s hires YouTube stars to launch youth channel
McDonald’s has jumped on the YouTube bandwagon, launching a youth-targeted channel fronted by British vloggers Gabriella Lindley and Oli White. The fast food giant is to launch Channel Us as part of a new strategy to engage with millenials, the 16 to 24-year-old demographic that is becoming increasingly hard to market to using traditional media.
McDonald’s has signed up White and Lindley, who had a spectacularly public falling out with one-time friend and fellow vlogger Zoella, who have almost 2 million subscribers to their YouTube channels. The vloggers, who will host a weekly show. will promote the channel to their fans with the aim of attracting young people who want to “turn their passions and ambitions into reality in just 72 hours”.
mediaGuardian 3/9/2015
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Corbyn proposes more help for the arts and vows to defend BBC
Public art could be installed in all open spaces and new big buildings to help support the incomes of painters and other creative artists, the Labour leadership contender Jeremy Corbyn has suggested. At the event in Dalston, north-east London, Corbyn also vowed to defend the BBC, suggesting it could be lost, and UK broadcasting could end up commercialised like in the US, due to cuts made by the Conservative government.
mediaGuardian 1/9/2015
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Social media overtakes entertainment as favourite online activity
Social media has overtaken entertainment as the UK’s favourite activity online, accounting for almost a fifth of the two hours and 51 minutes a day people in the UK on average spend on the web. Social media use – including time on sites such as Reddit or Gawker Media that are built on blog platforms – accounted for nearly 17% of all time online, up from 12.2% a year ago, according to research commissioned by the Internet Advertising Bureau. Over the same period, the amount of time spent online on entertainment such as watching TV shows or YouTube videos and listening to music has almost halved from 22.1% to 12.4%. The shift appears to be in part driven by people spending more time on their mobiles, as on desktops entertainment accounts for 18% of time online compared to just 8% on smartphones and tablets such as the iPad.
The Guardian 2/9/2015
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ITV apologises over Loose Women rape poll
ITV has apologised after a poll on Loose Women about rape offended viewers. The show asked whether rape was ever a woman’s fault. The poll followed on from comments The Pretenders’ singer Chrissie Hynde had made in the Sunday Times. She said she blamed herself for a sexual assault she had experienced aged 21 and was criticised when she said women “have to take responsibility”. The Loose Women poll drew criticism on Twitter, with one viewer Rebecca Gill calling it “off the scale of acceptability”.
BBC News Online 2/9/2015
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BBC digital news operation must be curbed, say newspaper publishers
UK national and regional newspaper publishers have called for the BBC’s digital news operation to be curbed to allow commercial players to flourish at home and abroad. The News Media Association, the trade body for the UK newspaper industry, “fundamentally disagrees” with the corporation’s ambition to grow its online news services, according to its submission to the government green paper on the BBC charter review. The NMA, which represents all the major newspaper publishers except Richard Desmond’s Express group and the Financial Times, is calling on the government to implement 10 changes to the BBC’s objectives and governance.
The Guardian 2/9/2015
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