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Scroll down and read the discussion forum paper, "Child Protection and Freedom of Expression Online". The report aims to open discussion and reframe the debate surrounding child protection by bringing together, rather than isolating, advocates of online child protection and those of freedom of expression. It rejects the current moral panics that dominate the debate, particularly in the media, which over-represents the likelihood of harm to children online. It highlights the unproductive nature of framing online protection as a moral panic because it obscures and undermines the work of both freedom of expression and child protection advocates. Rather than keeping these two parties as diametrically opposed the discussion laid the first steps in finding common ground between the two. From here they can work together to advance both of their agendas and therefore achieving a more desirable balance between defending the rights of children and maintaining freedom of expression.

Government instructs web users to 'not feed the trolls', following scandals involving the defacement of Facebook pages. An 'Online Ombudsman' is proposed. This raises the question of whether and how Government is able to intervene in online forums. In these cases, no law has been broken, just moral codes.

A plan to create an internet domain specifically for adult websites will be resurrected three years after it was rejected by internet regulators. The net's governing body ICANN will reconsider the .xxx scheme on 12 March.

Some western companies (Yahoo, Cisco) operating in China have handed over information leading to the arrest of dissidents. Others have happily ignored the censorship and oppression in an attempt to garner market share. Google is the first and only western company operating in China to make a stand against the Chinese regime, even if this has only happened after operating in China for four years. The author argues that two things will need to happen to end internet censorship: other companies need to follow suit and a social movement from the society of internet users needs to gather force.

Apple has taken down two apps from German media, as they were considered offensive. This moves towards censorship could extend to a larger control of editorial content. Do media have to comply? 

Blog post #2