THE TROUBLING NEWS

Article 1 Time to make 'revenge-porn' sharing a criminal act in Canada EMMA WOOLLEY “A friend sends you a naked picture of a girl he knows. Is it a big deal to share it with others?” asks one scenario from Draw the Line, a campaign targeting youth that challenges problematic behaviours and ideas, especially regarding sexual harassment and violence against women. This “big deal” is happening – a lot. There is limited data (mostly anecdotal and from the U.S.), but one online survey found that 20 per cent of teens and 33 per cent of young adults polled had sent nude pictures of themselves via text or e-mail. Another recent study at a private high school found that nearly 20 per cent of students had sent a sexually explicit image of themselves, and that 25 per cent admitted to forwarding similar images to others. This isn’t just a teen issue. A survey of adults between 18 and 54 found that 1 in 10 ex-partners threatened to post intimate photos online – and in 60 per cent of cases, the exes made good on that threat. There’s a plethora of consenting nude adults in the professional and amateur porn communities, yet there are sites and businesses built on sharing photos and videos of (mostly) women without their consent – the now defunct r/creepshots on Reddit, disturbingly popular “check out my ex” websites, and all kinds of nastiness from Hunter Moore. Currently in Canada there is no real legal recourse for such awfulness – but that’s changing. On Friday, a longawaited report from the CCSO Cybercrime working group was released, recommending changes to the Criminal Code regarding harassment and bullying via electronic communications (or “cyberbullying”), and modernizing investigative processes. If you can get over the comically outdated tendency of placing “cyber” in front of every word, it’s a great report. It also recommends creating an entirely new criminal offence for the nonconsensual sharing of intimate photos. Dubbed by many news outlets as the Rehteah Parsons law, a private member’s bill proposing just that was read in the house in late June by NDP MP Robert Chisholm. It places a great emphasis on proof of consent, but will be further refined by parliamentary experts. Similar laws already exist in New Jersey, several Australian states, Germany and has been proposed in Florida. Ms. Parsons, a 17-year old Nova Scotia teen, killed herself in April after being relentlessly harassed online and in person since November, 2011. Her family alleges that four boys sexually assaulted her at a party while she was intoxicated and vomiting. Allegedly, one boy took and shared a photo of the incident, that photo was shared widely in her school and town within three days. Even without her face prominently in the photo, Ms. Parsons was reportedly shamed and called a “slut” by her peers. She received Facebook messages and texts requesting sex with her. Prime Minister Stephen Harper said that what happened to her was “simply criminal activity.” It was strikingly similar to what happened to then 12-year-old Amanda Todd, who flashed someone via webcam on a whim. A year later someone used that photo (along with knowledge of where she lived and went to school) to allegedly blackmail her into “putting on a show,” before posting the images online anyway. Though Ms. Todd switched schools, talked openly about what happened to her, and made presentations on dealing with “cyberbullies,” she killed herself one month before her 16th birthday. Too often it’s Ms. Parsons (why was she drinking with boys?) and Ms. Todd (why would she ever flash someone?) who are blamed for what happened to them. Victim blaming is, of course, nothing new, but it is disturbing and seems to happen to every woman exploited in this fashion. The top-voted comment on a Gawker story about Holly Jacobs, the advocate behind End Revenge Porn and who was tormented by an ex who shared pictures of her with friends, coworkers and the Internet, is this: “…the best advice remains, DON’T MAKE PORNOGRAPHIC VIDEOS FOR YOUR BRAINDEAD MOUTH-BREATHING BODY SPRAY WEARING MEDIOCRE FRATBOY OF A BOYFRIEND. Like, EVER.” Except it’s often regular men, everyday Joes, sharing this stuff. When Ms. Todd died, I ranted on Facebook about the injustice of not ever being able to safely share something with a partner. I received messages from protective friends urging me to never do so. The problem always seems to be women’s sexuality – never the eagerness with which people exploit it or hate on it. Equally heinous is the tendency to write off what happened to Ms. Parsons and Ms. Todd as simple “cyberbullying,” when in both cases it was actually malicious exploitation. As Beth Lyons wrote about on the Shameless Magazine blog after Ms. Parsons died: “…bullying has become a catch-all term that means everything and nothing. Its ubiquity renders it benign as a concept, which is a disservice to those who are bullied as well as those who are dealing with other kinds of conflict and violence.” The report recommends that all levels of government take a comprehensive approach to cyberbullying and nonconsensual media sharing, because these behaviours won’t change unless attitudes do. That will be a much bigger challenge than updating the Criminal Code, but there are initiatives like Creating Consent and Internet activists like Stephanie Guthrie working on it. The days of treating the Internet (and other electronic means of communicating) as the Wild West, free of consequences, have been over for a long time – and this report and proposed legislation prove it. I’m glad accountability is finally being placed where it belongs.

Article 2 Teen girls plead not guilty in prostitution-ring trial: Charges range from human trafficking to robbery and sexual assault CBC News

The trial has begun for three teenage girls facing a total of 74 charges related to an alleged teen prostitution ring in Ottawa, revealing a bigger investigation than previously thought. Last June, police in Ottawa and Gatineau arrested and charged the three accused with allegedly using social media to lure nine girls between 13 and 17 years of age to a home at a Walkley Road community housing project in southeast Ottawa. That is also where one of the accused lived, neighbours said. The Crown said Monday the accused may have started trying to recruit other girls as early as November of 2011, six months before their arrests. Victims lured with party invite

The victims were allegedly invited online to a physical location with promises of a sleepover or party, and encouraged to drink or smoke marijuana once they were there. One was allegedly drugged with ecstacy. They were then allegedly taken in taxis to the homes of men who would pay as much as $400 to have sex with them. The Crown said if they resisted, the accused pimps would beat them. Two of the accused girls were 15 and the third was 16 at the time of their arrests, police said. The three accused, each represented by a different lawyer, are expected to testify at the trial. A fourth accused, also a young woman, was mentioned in court Monday for the first time. Details are scarce, but the Crown said she will be tried separately. One of four accused "johns," who are facing a charge of sexual assault related to the prostitution ring, is also expected to testify. Facebook messages, tweets

The Crown said its evidence includes Facebook messages and tweets that correspond to the incidents, along with nude or semi-nude photos seized from a cellphone that were allegedly used to market the victims. Neither the victims nor the accused can be named due to provisions of the Youth Criminal Justice Act. The 74 charges — including human trafficking, procuring for prostitution, abduction, forcible confinement, robbery, sexual assault, assault, uttering threats and printing and publishing child pornography — are related to three separate incidents in 2012: one between May 16 and 19, another on May 30 and a third on June 3. Police have said they don't believe the accused girls had any guidance from an adult. The trial, expected to last about four weeks, will include testimony from detectives, victims and the mother of one of the accused.

Article 3 Criminals lurking in underbelly of internet By Adrian Weckler

Confused? You're not alone. For many people, the underbelly of the internet is a technically prohibitive place. What we have learned in recent years is that it may not be prohibitive enough. What geeks have created in good faith, paedophiles and criminals are exploiting. One of the services to come under the spotlight is Tor (or 'Tor Project', to give it its full name). Tor creates anonymous routes of communication over the internet. The whole point is that no one can tell where a communication came from, either by name, location or computer server. Unfortunately, that makes it a relatively efficient conduit for those peddling illegal content (such as child abuse material) and criminal activity (such as money laundering). This perversion of Tor's technology is distracting from its original purpose, which is grounded in legitimate reasons to surf the web anonymously. One such reason is the safe dissemination of free information in countries with oppressive regimes. In Europe and the US, it is also sometimes used by people who simply dislike advertising services following them around from site to site. ANONYMOUS Another facet at the heart of the internet paedophilia mess are darknets. Put simply, these are entire networks where communication is technically anonymous, meaning that authorities cannot track users. Again, the original concept behind such networks (which include Freenet) is a noble one: to protect users from being persecuted for their views. The problem is darknets are now indelibly linked with all sorts of illegal activity. When people talk about online child pornography 'rings', they are usually referring to some type of darknet. Unfortunately, it is rare that illegal darknets are exposed, which is one reason that the FBI's claims of having broken up a child abuse material darknet is making news. Can anything be done about these dark, anonymous recesses of the internet? US authorities have been trying to give it a go in recent times. They have been aided, oddly, by the online hacker group Anonymous, which has pledged to destroy child abuse material networks. However, it is unlikely that darknets will recede anytime soon.

Article 4 Twitter abuse stirs unease in Britain By Bloomberg LONDON — Hours after successfully campaigning to have a woman — Jane Austen — featured on a new British banknote, Caroline Criado-Perez was bombarded with rape and death threats. The vast majority came via Twitter. At the peak of the frenzy last month, the 29-year-old freelance journalist was receiving about a threat every minute. Some of the politer messages said "no means yes" and "kill yourself before I do," and were written, she said, by "men who want women to shut up." While online abuse is not new to these isles, the threats against Criado-Perez have emerged as the highest profile of several similar incidents, with the sheer quantity and graphic nature of the missives shocking the usually unshockable British public. The uproar is the latest in Britain's uneasy relationship with Twitter, a site that has become a tool for democracy in many countries but that has come under heavy fire here from government officials, sports stars and celebrities, among others. After Criado-Perez and a Labor Party member of Parliament, Stella Creasy, reported the abuse to police, two people were arrested on suspicion of harassment. Twitter bosses, who are expected to be called in front of a British parliamentary committee in the fall to discuss online abuse, struck a conciliatory note Saturday with Tony Wang, general manager of Twitter UK, tweeting an apology to women who have been subjected to threats on Twitter. "The abuse they've received is simply not acceptable. It's not acceptable in the real world, and it's not acceptable on Twitter," he said. What to do about the abuse has become a major topic of discussion here after several prominent women publicly complained about harassment, including Creasy and another member of Parliament, Claire Perry. In addition, several female journalists received an identical bomb threat via Twitter. The threat was also sent to Sara Lang, social media manager for Washington-based AARP. The current system of reporting abuse on Twitter is "completely impractical for someone drowning under a wave of threats," Criado-Perez said. Most of the threats against her probably came via Twitter, she said, because "it's public yet anonymous. There's a kind of game element involved as well ... there's a sense of mob mentality that encourages people to get involved." In response to Criado-Perez's case, a petition on Change.org calling for Twitter to add a "report abuse" button has attracted more than 125,000 signatures. Twitter on Saturday said it is working to install such a button on all of its platforms — one already exists on its iPhone app — and that the changes will apply worldwide. "It comes down to this: people deserve to feel safe on Twitter," Del Harvey, Twitter's senior director of trust and safety, and Wang wrote in a blog post Saturday, insisting they take online abuse seriously. They said they were hiring extra staff to monitor reports of abuse and were "exploring new ways of using technology to improve everyone's experience." But some have wondered whether Twitter, which has long described itself as merely a platform that enables communication, should even be in the hot seat. One Twitter user on Saturday told Wang that his apology was akin to Microsoft saying it was sorry for an unkind email sent via Hotmail. Wang responded by saying that while Twitter isn't responsible for the abuse written by others, "platforms have rules of engagement and we are working hard on them." His apology came as the London Metropolitan Police said they were investigating allegations made by eight people relating to "harassment, malicious communication or bomb threats" sent via Twitter. Faced with the daunting logistics of playing sheriff in a world where 400 million tweets are sent every day, the police have also been urging Twitter to take more responsibility over how to respond to users who violate their rules. But advocates of free speech are nervous about the implications of Twitter cracking down on torment, however cruel. "The worry is that the abuse button will be abused," said Robert Sharp, a spokesman for English PEN, a literary group that promotes freedom of expression. "It puts the power of censorship into the hands of those who would be offended, which is fine when it's a rape threat. But the same technology will be used by Christians to censor atheists, used by atheists to censor Christians, and so on." Although some women seem to ignore the abuse, an increasing number are shouting back by retweeting. Mary Beard, a professor of classics at Cambridge University and a TV host, retweeted a vulgar note from a user. One of her followers saw it and offered to supply her with the postal address of the user's mother. The user immediately expressed regret, tweeting: "I was wrong and very rude. Hope this can be forgotten and forgiven."

Article 5 Sexting advice: Keep your private parts private | Amy Johnson By AMY JOHNSON Back to school is just around the corner, and many young people will be heading back with new

smartphones, so let’s review some safety tips for your tweens and teens. We only have to look as far as former New York Congressman Anthony Weiner to know what not to do. Mr. Weiner resigned in 2011 after a scandal where he “accidentally” sent pictures of his private parts electronically to women who were not his wife. This is known as “sexting.” To be perfectly clear, it would still be sexting even if he sent them to his wife. Now, in the midst of a mayoral candidacy in New York City, Anthony Weiner (I know, such an unfortunate name for someone with this problem) is back in the news because some pictures surfaced again — even after he apologized and was really, really sorry and was going to spend more time with his family. Here are my top five tips for you, in case you were thinking you could do a better job with this than Mr. Weiner. 1. Don’t think twice — think about 200,000 times — before clicking and pressing send. Think things like: “Could there be any circumstance ever, in the next, say, 50 years, when I might regret sending this picture to this person?” And “Is there any chance this person might ever find a reason to use this picture in such a way that would unflattering to me?” And “What is the worst case scenario involving this picture?” And “Is there some other way I can convey what I’m hoping to convey besides sending a picture of my genitals electronically, which automatically means the picture is out in the electronic-sphere forever?” 2. If you are under 18, sending any kind of pictures of your genitals or breasts is considered child pornography. Don’t do it. Just don’t. Not even this one time. 3. These are also good things to think if you are over 18. 4. If you’re in a relationship, remember that if your boyfriend or girlfriend is pressuring you to send him or her some pictures, you need a new boyfriend or girlfriend — or at least some new boundaries about what you will and won’t do in a relationship. 5. If you’ve been drinking, give your keys and your phone to a sober friend to keep for you until you can think like a sober person, or at least with the maximum amount of brain cells available. If you want to let someone know you “like them that way,” try telling them straight up, or send a note, or a card, but not a picture of your privates. Find out if the person returns your affections by asking, not by sexting. If they do reciprocate your feelings, talk in person or on the phone, not by texting. Find out what is OK and not OK with this person in terms of showing affection. Private parts are private for a reason, and are best shared — you guessed it — privately. Just because we have the technology doesn’t mean we should use it. Take a breath. Think carefully. Then take your finger off the send button and talk to your intended, privately, instead.

Article 6 Report: Comcast Readying Anti-Piracy Initiative By Stephanie Mlot

Comcast is reportedly devising its own anti-piracy initiative and hopes to recruit other major content companies to join the fight. The nation's largest cable operator is in preliminary discussions with film/TV studios and Internet service providers about technology that would briefly interrupt illegal downloads with a pop-up ad containing a link to official content, according to Variety. Those programs, available for purchase or rental, would likely be found in Comcast's On Demand video library, a participating distributor's network, or a third-party seller like Amazon, the entertainment trade journal reported. Comcast did not immediately respond to PCMag's request for comment. There is no timeline yet for when the cable company will move forward with its anti-piracy plan or which suppliers may be on board. If it eventually comes to fruition, this move would act as an alternative to the Copyright Alert System, implemented in February by the Center for Copyright Information (CCI). The CAS provides notices to consumers if their ISP suspects illegal downloading. Ignore the notice and the ISP may resort to pop-ups or redirecting to special websites that display the same alert. If those, too, go unheeded, the ISP will move on to "mitigation measures," which could include service throttling or requiring the review of educational materials. Comcast, along with AT&T, Cablevision, Time Warner Cable, and Verizon, signed up earlier this year to participate. The new initiative from Comcast is reportedly being considered as neither a complement to CAS nor a replacement; it includes real-time notifications and a more educational impact, Variety reported, which added that the project is in the works with help from NBC Universal engineers. Comcast has a lot to lose in the high seas of piracy. Beyond leading the U.S. broadband Internet pack, the company also owns a movie studio, and a number of broadcast and cable TV channels, with a vast array of content from which pirates can choose. But it's certainly not the only organization troubled by virtual bootlegging—HBO's Game of Thrones topped the spring's list of most-pirated TV shows, according to data gathered by TorrentFreak. The estimated 5.2 million illegal downloads of episodes via BitTorrent are almost as high as the show's 5.5 million U.S. TV viewers during the entire season.

Article 7 Connecting the Dots–How Your Digital Life Affects ID Theft and Financial By Robert Siciliano You’re on Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter. You use Gmail, Yahoo! and bank online. You might buy stuff on sites like Amazon and occasionally make purchases from eBay. Sometimes you apply for a loan online and maybe open up a credit card account too. This is all commonplace in today’s digital world. So how does all this lead to identity theft and financial loss? With the convenience of the Internet and all the digital devices available to use today—laptops, smartphones, and tablets—we unknowingly provide a lot of information online that could expose us to identity theft. Access to your personal information is what gives hackers the power to tap into your accounts and steal your money or your identity. Here are some of the ways that hackers use our information against us: Social media: These sites continue to grow in popularity and you may be putting more information on these sites than you should. Even though you may assume that only people in your personal network can access this information, that’s not always the case. Email: It’s been said that if you own a person’s email, you own the person. This means that once your email account is hacked, pretty much your entire digital life is up for grabs. So even if you’ve done your due diligence to have all your passwords be different, if your email is hacked and it is associated with your other online accounts, the hacker could simply use a reset password and get access to all your other accounts. Online shopping: This is another activity where you need to be cautious since hackers can potentially steal your information from an unsecured or phony site. If you’re on a phony site, you are giving your information directly to the hacker or you could be on a site that is automatically downloading malware to your device that could do things like track every site you visit and everything you type on your keyboard and send that to a hacker. Wireless networking—Even if you are being cautious with our online activities, hackers can still grab your information if you aren’t smart when using Wi-Fi connections. That’s why when you’re using those free hotspot connections in cafes or airports, it’s important for you not to access your banking or personal sites as the transmission of data is not secure. There are many ways to skin a cat, as they say (a rather morbid expression), but having your identity stolen and losing money is unfortunately too easy when your information is spread so thin. So it’s not enough to just sit back and hope you aren’t hacked. The fact is you need to up your security intelligence and invest in additional layers of security. All of these scams prey on your trust and on your personal information, so follow these basic steps to protect yourself: Click with caution: Be careful when clicking on links in emails, texts, social media posts, and instant messages, especially if they are from people you don’t know. Be careful what you share: Think about what you post online—is that thing you so badly you want to share something you’re ok with your grandmother or an employer seeing? If not, then don’t post it. In fact, you should consider anything posted on the Internet as something written in permanent pen, not pencil—as in, it’s there forever. Use common sense: Follow the old caveats about not clicking on links in emails, texts, social media posts, and instant messages from people you don’t know, and always exercise caution when it comes to sharing any sensitive information. Educate yourself: Keep up to date about the latest scams and tricks hackers use to grab your information so you can avoid potential attacks. Use comprehensive protection: Because there are a variety of ways in which hackers can access your information, you need to make sure that you employ a comprehensive security solution like McAfee LiveSafe™ service that protects all your devices, your identity and your data.