Regulating The Web, Social Media

Andrew Keen speaking for more regulation and self-regulation, 7'34



Guardian article about MPs action, including Diane Abbot, the Shadow Home Secretary, who received 45% of all abusive tweets during the election.

The limits of branding written about in this Guardian piece.

Theresa May's ultimatum to Facebook and Google
TWITTER
Anmesty International Report

INSTAGRAM
Upskirt Controversy



Political pressure from the Labour Party, with a petition started (BBC report)

Shadow justice secretary Richard Burgon has written to Justice Secretary David Lidington calling for a change in the law in England and Wales.
He said: "I am writing in support of the campaign, started by Gina Martin, to make disgraceful, invasive 'upskirting' photographs a sexual offence in law.
"The scope for people to take 'upskirting' photographs has clearly increased with developments in mobile phone technology since the enactment of the Sexual Offences Act 2003.
"At present, there is a gap in the law that has allowed - and is continuing to allow - people who have taken such photographs in public places to escape prosecution. This needs to be changed."
Ms Martin's petition has attracted over 58,000 signatures.

Issue with effective regulation in the UK alone, in Scotland it's illegal but not in England and Wales (what about Northern Ireland).

How much power can the victim use to bring about tougher regulation?

Telegraph

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SNAPCHAT

ISSUES WITH PRIVACY
In June 2017, Snapchat introduced Snap Map

This video from Snapchat's YouTube Channel, specifically targets teen to early 20s audiences, especially female:

The Verge:

Earlier this week, Snapchat introduced Snap Map, an opt-in function that allows you to share your location with your friends on a map. Snapchat’s introduction video to Snap Map, seen above, focuses on sharing the location of posted Snaps to Our Story, which is public, and could be useful for, say, seeing a collection of Snaps from a particular event.
But what Snapchat doesn’t tell you in the video, or in the app, is that if you aren’t careful, Snap Map will broadcast your exact location to anyone on your friends list every time you open the app.
When you update Snapchat and get to the Snap Map walkthrough, as seen below, only three screens need to be clicked through to complete it. Though it mentions sharing your location, it’s vague on what that exactly means. Users might not understand that Snap is posting your location on Snap Map every time you open the app. Not just when you share Snaps to Our Story.

Some facts that are not made evident:

• If you are choosing to share your location on the Map, your location is updated every time the Snapchat app is opened.
• If a Snapchatter chooses to share their location with all of their friends on Snapchat, the app will remind them of that choice periodically to make sure they are still comfortable with this.
• Only mutual friends can see each other on the Map.
• Snapchat will delete precise location data after a short period of time. (This period of time was not specified.) Some more general location data may be retained a little longer (this time was also not specified), but the company says that is also subject to regular deletion.
• If you tap on your friend, you will see when their location was updated (i.e., 1 hour ago, 2 hours ago). Their location reflects where they last opened Snapchat.
• A friend’s location will remain on the Map for up to 8 hours if they do not open the app again, causing their location to update. If more than 8 hours has passed and a Snapchatter has not opened the app, their location will disappear from the Map entirely.

It is possible to disable it however for free, unlike your preferences being passed on to advertisers by Google and Facebook:

If you want to disable Snap Map, select “Ghost Mode” upon Snapchat’s initial walkthrough. If you’ve already enabled location sharing for Snap Map, tap the settings gear in the top right while viewing the Map, and select Ghost Mode from there.

The police had to get involved, as described in The Telegraph:

Police forces have raised child safety concerns about a new Snapchat feature that reveals users' locations amid fears it could be used for stalking.
Parents have been warned to turn off "Snap Maps" on their children's phones after Snapchat, which is wildly popular among teenagers, introduced the location-sharing mode this week.
The feature displays a map of nearby friends, showing their latest location gathered using a smartphone's GPS sensor.  Users of the app can also search for locations such as individual schools, with the app displaying public photos and videos sent by students.

The Guardian addressing issues of bullying and stalking:

The new feature has raised concerns among safety experts who fear it could be used to stalk or bully others.
“Given how specific this new feature is on Snapchat – giving your location to a precise pinpoint on a map – we would encourage users not to share their location, especially with people they don’t know in person,” said child safety group Childnet International in a blogpost.
“It is important to be careful about who you share your location with, as it can allow people to build up a picture of where you live, go to school and spend your time.”
“Parents need to sit down with their kids and get them to really consider which friends they are sharing with,” added Larry Magid, the CEO of ConnectSafely.org.
“Users should be aware of the feature and review it periodically – if a friend becomes an ex-friend, for example.”

EyeWitness Report:

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MUSICAL.LY

There being calls for a similar regulator like OfCom for social media, mentioned in this Channel 4 report.



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