Latest news with #CSEA
Associated Press
09-04-2025
- Associated Press
When dating apps turn dangerous
EDINBURGH, United Kingdom, April 09, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Women looking for love online are being warned of a sinister side to dating apps, with new evidence that abusers may try to groom them to gain access to their children. Research by Childlight Global Child Safety Institute finds men who sexually offend against children are nearly four times more likely to use dating sites than non-offenders. The unit, hosted by the University of Edinburgh and University of New South Wales, found nearly two thirds (66%) of men who sexually offended against children used dating platforms – and over one in five (22%) used them daily. The report is part of a broader investigation into the multi-billion-dollar industry of child sexual exploitation and abuse, which financially benefits perpetrators, organised crime and even mainstream companies. While Childlight warns that sexual exploitation and abuse of children has become a pandemic, affecting over 300 million every year, it says education, legislation and technological measures can help prevent it. Its findings, based on a survey of about 5,000 men in Australia, the UK and US, represent the latest evidence of the risk of dating site misuse by people who sexually offend against children. It follows a separate recent survey by the Australian Institute of Criminology that found 12% of dating apps users received requests to facilitate child sexual exploitation and abuse – often related to their own children. Recent high-profile cases include Scottish lorry driver Paul Stewart who manipulated single mothers via dating apps to gain access to their children for sexual abuse. He was jailed for over three years last December. Around 381 million people use dating apps like Tinder, according to Statista. Report co-author Professor Michael Salter, director of the Childlight East Asia and Pacific Hub at UNSW, said: 'Our findings provide clear evidence that dating apps lack adequate child protection measures, and loopholes are exploited by abusers to target single parents and their children.' The survey of 5,000 men found 11.5% admitted having sexual feelings towards children, while 11% confessed to sexual offences against minors. Most dating sites do not require new users to provide evidence of their identity. Salter recommends user verification processes, like mandatory ID checks, and tools to detect predatory behaviours like grooming language or suspicious messaging patterns. Childlight's research also reveals that mainstream companies profit from and perpetuate the global trade in technology-facilitated sexual exploitation and abuse of children (CSEA). They include payment transfer firms and social media platforms where illegal child sexual abuse images are present and where abuse-related traffic can increase advertising revenues. Debi Fry, Childlight's Global Director of Data and Professor of International Child Protection Research at University of Edinburgh, said: 'Child sexual exploitation and abuse is a global public health emergency that requires emergency measures but it's preventable. We must mobilise globally, focusing not just on reactive law enforcement but on prevention strategies tackling underlying determinants of abuse — including financial and technological ecosystems sustaining it.'
Yahoo
11-03-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
‘There is nothing good in that bill': Retired deputy superintendent speaks out against HALT Act & striker firings
AUBURN. N.Y. (WSYR-TV) — The state-wide prison strike is over, but the court battle might just be getting started. On Tuesday, March 11, the governor said the 2,000 correction officers who didn't go back to work by Monday's, March 10, deadline, the ones now being fired, will never be able to apply for a state job again. Big 12 commissioner believes NCAA Tournament expansion is due. He says 76 teams is the right number Trump doubles down on tariffs threat amid market downturn U.S. says Ukraine has agreed to ceasefire proposal Temperatures dropping; how much cooler Wednesday?? Texas measles outbreak rises to 223 cases 'It has been all consuming. It has been wildly expensive for taxpayers, approaching $100 million. It created a very dangerous situation, which I called out from the second day,' Gov. Kathy Hochul said. 'Individuals walked off their job and left the incarcerated population alone, left fellow union members from PEF and CSEA who work in healthcare and food support area, left them alone. Thank God we were able to get this done. And there are consequences for people who break the law, and that means you're not working in our state workforce ever.' Years before the strike, a leader of a local state prison saw the writing on the wall, worried about changes to the correction system. After working 27 years in corrections, Stephen Woodward, a former deputy superintendent at Five Points Prison in Seneca County, retired the same month Governor Andrew Cuomo signed the HALT Act. 'There is nothing good in that bill,' Woodward said. 'The discipline of the inmates was going to go out the door.' That new law is blamed for allowing violent inmates to be put into special housing and then leave 15 days later. 'They could come out, punch an officer in the face, break their eye socket, get 15 days in a special housing unit or rehabilitation unit, come right out and do it over again,' Woodward explained. What Woodward saw early is why thousands of officers skipped their shifts the past three part of a deal to end that strike, parts of the HALT Act are paused for 90 days. Woodward believes it should be suspended forever. 'They can recruit all they want, but no one is going to take this job,' he said. 'Even if you had 100 officers in an academy right now to start coming in refilling the system, it's not going to help any.' The governor announced on Tuesday that 10,000 officers are back at work and will be supported by over 6,000 national guard service members. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Yahoo
18-02-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Children will be ‘left exposed to sexual abuse online under current safety rules'
Children will not be protected from child sexual abuse on private messaging platforms under current plans for the Online Safety Act, a group of charities have warned. In a joint letter to Home Secretary Yvette Cooper and Technology Secretary Peter Kyle, the charities argue current wording of the rules creates an 'unacceptable loophole' for encrypted messaging services to avoid taking down illegal content. The letter points to wording in online safety regulator Ofcom's codes of practice, which say that platforms must remove illegal content where it is 'technically feasible' – a phrase the charities claim will be used by encrypted messaging services to argue that they 'cannot be held accountable for the take down of illegal content'. End-to-end encryption, offered by a number of messaging platforms such as WhatsApp, and by other services, means that no other than those in a conversation can access its content, including the firms hosting the messages. In its letter, the charities said they were 'deeply concerned' about the Ofcom codes of practice as they stand, and that it would enable 'some services to evade delivering the most basic protections for children'. They said: 'It is important to be clear about the implications of this decision. 'Whether it is a child being sent a nude image of themselves as a form of sexual extortion, or an adult being exposed to child sexual abuse material in a group chat, on some sites users will not be able to confidently report and have this content removed. 'Child sexual exploitation and abuse (CSEA) material will stay in circulation, continuing to put children at extreme risk and resulting in great harm for victims, in direct contradiction of the Act.' The letter has been signed by the NSPCC and Barnardo's, as well as the Marie Collins Foundation, the Lucy Faithfull Foundation, and the Centre of expertise on child sexual abuse. It comes as the debate over encrypted services and potential access to them has reignited after it was reported that the UK Government had ordered Apple to allow it to access encrypted files uploaded to the cloud. Police and security services around the world have pushed for more access to encrypted communications in recent years, warning that it allows criminals such as terrorists and child abusers to more easily hide and hampers their efforts to catch them – an issue also raised by online safety campaigners. In response, tech firms have argued that users have a right to privacy and that any backdoors into software created for intelligence and security services could also be exploited by criminals or authoritarian regimes. In their joint letter, the charities have called on the Government to 'set out how they will be upholding their responsibilities to children and ensure that private messaging spaces to not become a safe haven for the most egregious forms of online abuse'. The letter follows the recent publication of Home Office data which showed more than 38,000 child sexual abuse image crimes were logged by police forces in England and Wales over the past year – an average of more than 100 every day. Last month, The Internet Watch Foundation (IWF), a charity which proactively finds and helps remove child sexual abuse material from the internet, also raised concerns about the wording of the codes of practice, calling it a 'blatant get-out clause' for platforms and could be used to help them evade compliance with online safety laws. An Ofcom spokesperson said: 'The law says that measures in our codes of practice must be technically feasible. 'However, we expect the vast majority of platforms will be able to take content down and we will hold them to account if they don't. 'There'll be measures all platforms will need to take to protect children, such as reviewing child sexual abuse material when they become aware of it and reporting it to law enforcement.' Sign in to access your portfolio
Yahoo
18-02-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Children will be ‘left exposed to sexual abuse online under current safety rules'
Children will not be protected from child sexual abuse on private messaging platforms under current plans for the Online Safety Act, a group of charities have warned. In a joint letter to Home Secretary Yvette Cooper and Technology Secretary Peter Kyle, the charities argue current wording of the rules creates an 'unacceptable loophole' for encrypted messaging services to avoid taking down illegal content. The letter points to wording in online safety regulator Ofcom's codes of practice, which say that platforms must remove illegal content where it is 'technically feasible' – a phrase the charities claim will be used by encrypted messaging services to argue that they 'cannot be held accountable for the take down of illegal content'. End-to-end encryption, offered by a number of messaging platforms such as WhatsApp, and by other services, means that no other than those in a conversation can access its content, including the firms hosting the messages. In its letter, the charities said they were 'deeply concerned' about the Ofcom codes of practice as they stand, and that it would enable 'some services to evade delivering the most basic protections for children'. They said: 'It is important to be clear about the implications of this decision. 'Whether it is a child being sent a nude image of themselves as a form of sexual extortion, or an adult being exposed to child sexual abuse material in a group chat, on some sites users will not be able to confidently report and have this content removed. 'Child sexual exploitation and abuse (CSEA) material will stay in circulation, continuing to put children at extreme risk and resulting in great harm for victims, in direct contradiction of the Act.' The letter has been signed by the NSPCC and Barnardo's, as well as the Marie Collins Foundation, the Lucy Faithfull Foundation, and the Centre of expertise on child sexual abuse. It comes as the debate over encrypted services and potential access to them has reignited after it was reported that the UK Government had ordered Apple to allow it to access encrypted files uploaded to the cloud. Police and security services around the world have pushed for more access to encrypted communications in recent years, warning that it allows criminals such as terrorists and child abusers to more easily hide and hampers their efforts to catch them – an issue also raised by online safety campaigners. In response, tech firms have argued that users have a right to privacy and that any backdoors into software created for intelligence and security services could also be exploited by criminals or authoritarian regimes. In their joint letter, the charities have called on the Government to 'set out how they will be upholding their responsibilities to children and ensure that private messaging spaces to not become a safe haven for the most egregious forms of online abuse'. The letter follows the recent publication of Home Office data which showed more than 38,000 child sexual abuse image crimes were logged by police forces in England and Wales over the past year – an average of more than 100 every day. Last month, The Internet Watch Foundation (IWF), a charity which proactively finds and helps remove child sexual abuse material from the internet, also raised concerns about the wording of the codes of practice, calling it a 'blatant get-out clause' for platforms and could be used to help them evade compliance with online safety laws. An Ofcom spokesperson said: 'The law says that measures in our codes of practice must be technically feasible. 'However, we expect the vast majority of platforms will be able to take content down and we will hold them to account if they don't. 'There'll be measures all platforms will need to take to protect children, such as reviewing child sexual abuse material when they become aware of it and reporting it to law enforcement.' Sign in to access your portfolio
Yahoo
07-02-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
CSEA: D11's name change policy would 'sidestep' state law if passed
(COLORADO SPRINGS) — The Colorado Springs Education Association (CSEA) claims that a new name change policy introduced by Colorado Springs School District 11 (D11) would 'sidestep state law' if passed. The School Board introduced a new ACA policy that outlines the process where a student may change the name they are referred to at school to align with their gender identity. Under the policy, schools could only acknowledge students' requests to be called a name on their preferred gender after parents are notified. According to the CSEA, the policy goes against HB24-1039, an act that requires schools to address students by their chosen name. 'School should be a place where students receive the support they need to thrive,' said Kevin Coughlin, President of CSEA. 'This isn't about ideology. We need to support our students, not instill fear in them. Every D11 student deserves to feel safe and respected in their learning environment. The law supports our students' well-being.' The act states that it is discriminatory to knowingly use another name other than the student's chosen name. The refusal to address a student by their chosen name allows a student to file a report with the school or a federal civil rights complaint. The D11 School Board said the policy is about being transparent and unbiased with parents. 'The safety and security of our students is paramount for the Board of Education. We value parents and guardians as the constant and primary influence in a child's life. As we say in our foundational policy (AKB), the Board recognizes that parents are responsible for determining the upbringing, education, care, and moral development of their child. We have committed to parents that we will provide transparent, complete, and unbiased information about their child and our schools and that we will involve parents in decisions regarding the overall well-being and healthcare of their children. As we consider the policy regarding nonlegal name change requests to be used at school, we believe parental consent is part of our ongoing commitment to engage parents as partners in the education of their children. The Board firmly believes that parents should always be part of the conversation when it comes to their children.' Parth Melpakam, President of the Colorado Springs Board of Education CSEA said D11's proposal comes after recent controversial decisions. 'The Board is more interested in playing politics than focusing on real solutions that will improve student success,' Coughlin said. 'Our students, families, community, and educators deserve better. Our district needs leaders who prioritize our schools and stakeholders over political agendas. We have pressing issues that must be addressed, from supporting educators to ensuring every student has the resources they need to thrive. If we truly want D11 to be the best in Colorado, we must refocus on what matters most—our students' future.' The board must make a decision on the policy on Wednesday, March 5 at the next School Board meeting. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
