Hi-Tech Crime CRIM30375

Web 3.0: the decentralised web promises to make the internet free again Khakimullin Aleksandr/Shutterstock Edina Harbinja , Aston University and Vasileios Karagiannopoulos , University of Portsmouth Have you recently considered deleting your Facebook account, boycotting Amazon or trying to find an alternative to Google ? You wouldn’t be alone. The tech giants are invading our privacy , misusing our data, strangling economic growth and helping governments spy on us . Yet because these few companies own so many of the internet’s key services, it seems there is little people can do to avoid having to interact with them if they want to stay online. However, 30 years after the world wide web was created , a third generation of web technology might offer a way to change things. The DWeb , a new decentralised version of cyberspace, promises to enable better user control, more competition between internet firms and less dominance by the la...

YouTube's paedophile problem is only a small part of the internet's issue with child sexual abuse Evdokimov Maxim/Shutterstock Belinda Winder , Nottingham Trent University and Hany Farid , Dartmouth College YouTube has, yet again , failed to protect children online. Recent investigations by Wired and video blogger Matt Watson have alleged that paedophiles were using the site’s comments section to leave predatory messages on videos containing and uploaded by children, and to share links to child sexual abuse material. In response to the investigations – and the threat of an advertiser boycott – YouTube has now said it will disable comments on videos containing young children. But sadly, this is not an isolated incident. In January 2019 was alleged that Microsoft’s Bing search engine was surfacing and suggesting child sexual abuse material. And these kind of incidents are repeats of similar problems that have occurred over t...

India's WhatsApp election: political parties risk undermining democracy with technology Shutterstock/lidear21/AshTProductions/Dishant Shrivastava/Rawpixel Philippa Williams , Queen Mary University of London and Lipika Kamra , O.P. Jindal Global University India’s 2019 national elections are widely anticipated to be the “WhatsApp elections”. Against a backdrop of rapidly improving internet connectivity and rising smartphone use , the number of people using private messaging service WhatsApp has soared since its India launch in mid-2010 to more than 200m – more users than in any other democracy. And now the country’s political parties are moving to capitalise on this mass communication channel. But given WhatsApp has already been used to misinform voters in other elections and spread damaging “fake news” that has led to serious violence in India, there’s a danger this could also pose a threat to the democratic process. Keen to ex...

Facebook ten year challenge: how our need to belong trumps our distrust of social media ra2studio via Shutterstock Ana Isabel Domingos Canhoto , Brunel University London When the ten year challenge began doing the rounds on social media, people rushed to post profile pictures of themselves from 2009, side by side with one from 2019, to highlight how much they had changed (or not) in the meantime. It is estimated that more than 5.2m social media users participated in this challenge. It started on Facebook towards the end of January 2019, and it didn’t take long for experts like tech author Kate O’Neil to suggest that the trend could have harmful consequences. Specifically, by posting the now-and-then photos with the #10yearchallenge hashtag, social media users were, possibly, helping to train facial recognition software to recognise – or predict – age-related changes. Facebook has denied that it is behind the viral trend or that it had...

Facebook needs regulation – here's why it should be done by algorithms Shutterstock Emanuele Giovannetti , Anglia Ruskin University Facebook has been likened to a “digital gangster” by a critical parliamentary report into disinformation and fake news. One witness in the 18-month inquiry into the way digital platforms have transformed the flow of information describes the current use of technology as “hijacking our minds and society”. The report, commissioned by the Digital, Culture, Media and Sport select committee, concludes that “political choices might be influenced by online information”. It goes on to say: We must use technology, instead, to free our minds and use regulation to restore democratic accountability. We must make sure that people stay in charge of the machines. It is an indisputable conclusion. But there is a lot less certainty around what this regulation should look like. I would argue that the algorithms th...

Why regulating facial recognition technology is so problematic - and necessary There are many questions over how facial recognition technology can impinge on people’s privacy rights and whether it will worsen discrimination in policing practices. Shutterstock Liz Campbell , Monash University The use of automated facial recognition technology (FRT) is becoming more commonplace globally, in particular in China, the UK and now Australia. FRT means we can identify individuals based on an analysis of their geometric facial features , drawing a comparison between an algorithm created from the captured image and one already stored, such as a driving licence, custody image or social media account. FRT has numerous private and public-sector applications when identity verification is needed. These include accessing a secure area, unlocking a mobile device or boarding a plane. It’s also able to recognise people’s moods, reactions and, apparently,...

How facial recognition technology aids police Technology can only do so much – it still needs human input. Arten Oleshko/Shutterstock Bethan Davies , Cardiff University ; Andrew Dawson , Cardiff University , and Martin Innes , Cardiff University Police officers’ ability to recognise and locate individuals with a history of committing crime is vital to their work. In fact, it is so important that officers believe possessing it is fundamental to the craft of effective street policing, crime prevention and investigation. However, with the total police workforce falling by almost 20% since 2010 and recorded crime rising , police forces are turning to new technological solutions to help enhance their capability and capacity to monitor and track individuals about whom they have concerns. One such technology is Automated Facial Recognition (known as AFR). This works by analysing key facial features, generating a mathematical representation of ...