Scottish man jailed for online sexual abuse of child in the USA
- A 26 year old man from Dundee, who was the subject of an FBI probe in 2014 after he coerced a child in the USA into sending a video of herself performing a sex act, has been jailed
- The offender narrowly avoided extradition due to a scottish judge’s concerns regarding his human rights, and a judicial review which ruled that the UK Government had acted unlawfully during the extradition proceedings
- The offender used Xbox live to communicate with the girl and managed to hack into her Skype account in order to monitor her movements, after first meeting her on the popular game – ‘Gears of War’
- The 26 year old then proceeded to threaten and control her, demanding sexual images, whilst convincing her to self harm and even commit suicide
- Sheriff Alastair Carmichael jailed the offender for 23 months and placed him on the sex offenders register for 10 years
UK Government considers back door entry to Facebook encrypted messages
- The UK has not ordered Facebook to provide law enforcement agencies with a way to access end-to-end encrypted messages on WhatsApp, according to Sky News, despite a legal power that could allow it to do so in secret
- The power may be used to prevent Facebook from applying the same encryption protocol to its other services, something the company plans to do despite concerns the move will make convictions for online child sex abuse more difficult
- The notice would allow Facebook to use a weaker form of encryption to protect users’ messages, while also retaining the ability to monitor messages and be able to deliver decrypted conversations in response to a warrant – something it cannot do with WhatsApp
Vulnerable teen given tent to live in, watchdog report finds
- A teenager was given a tent to live in, and a child denied the chance to say “goodbye” to his dying mother feature in a report revealing heart-breaking decisions about children in care
- The watchdog report also includes a case of siblings abruptly removed from a foster family wanting to adopt them
- Another account details how a fostered girl returned home to find her bags packed and a taxi waiting to take her to a hostel
- The cases are revealed by the Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman
- Ombudsman Michael King said even one case like this was one too many, and urged all councils, when making decisions about children in their care, to ask: “Would this decision be good enough for my child?”
- None of the councils in England are named in the report
Mastercard and Visa block transactions on Pornhub
- Further to our story on Wednesday, Mastercard and Visa have now said they will block their customers from using the credit cards to make purchases on Pornhub following accusations the pornographic website showed videos of child abuse and rape
- This news follows an investigation by the opinion columnist Nicholas Kristof of the New York Times that also alleged the site depicts revenge pornography and videos taken without the consent of participants. Pornhub has denied the allegations
- Mastercard said it is terminating the use of its cards on Pornhub after its own investigation confirmed violations of standards prohibiting unlawful conduct on the site
- Mastercard said it was also investigating other websites for potentially illegal content
- Visa said it was suspending the use of its cards on Pornhub on Thursday, even though its own investigation was incomplete.
- In a statement, Pornhub called the actions “exceptionally disappointing”
