Missing The Mark Yet Again When Aiming For Online Child Safety.
The half-baked leftovers of yesteryear's mouldy meal are still being served up today as if it was was fresh and not past the expiry date for safe human consumption.
I have stayed awake far too long to temper my pen, to turn it down a notch or two.. Still, I hold my tongue when writing about established entities with their new mission statements for the 21st century. Those who know me and my writing, know that I cannot abstain for long or restrain what I consider to be some #OPToughLove.
Despite this, I will withhold my criticism for this front cover article printed in Saturday 25th May 2019's issue of the Weekend West until after I give a fairly comprehensive look into what this e-safety business actually is (and not just what it purports to be).
I promise I will not be excoriating the skein of expressed concern or the rhetorical platitudes by the Commissioner of E-Safety in this Weekend West's front page article. My restraint is such because I want be of good character. I want to believe that such restraint will be appreciated.
There is a caveat applied to my quelling of vitriol though. I reserve the rightful ire to write a logical, measured and critical response. I do this because the Weekend West would do the same for me. Without a doubt this established and well respected source of investigative reporting would extend the same good nature to me, I could never, ever doubt such old copperplate font to be remiss of displaying such good behaviours as honesty and politeness.
I could never doubt the press much like I could never doubt the State and Federal powers that be...
Yeah, right....
It really really pissed me off when I read this so proceed with trepidation, my dear State and Press as you should expect some evisceration of what you all have implied in this article. Do not take it to heart but I just don't fucking trust you or your investigative reporting. Maybe I will be able to write out the reasons why, maybe I wont. But I just need to express these thoughts.
This a serious topic that is close to my heart and one I am all too intimate with. So please, bear with me. I may get fired up.
Neither The E-Safety Commissioner nor The Weekend West deserver anything even slightly close to criticism opined in a fake-news style of reporting from me, nor a half-arsed obscure retort of their ideas. Therefore, it is my absolute pleasure to provide my honest written response to both Julie Inman Grant and the Weekend West Australian Newspaper.
I do take pleasure in writing it because I hope dialogue commences from my efforts as currently "e-safety" floats on its own ether unable to take root or fill any space in an online world already far ahead of its current mission statement. And legacy media, well... suffice to say I admit that it holds none of the legacy which the stately & authoritative copperplate font used for it's brand once symbolised. Much like how such font on any newspaper worldwide once symbolised truth, importance and journalistic authority, it now symbolises a floating on its own ethereal platform made of gaseous ghosts from eras long gone.
E-Safety? Is That Like An E-Celeb?
What is E-Safety?
If you are unfamiliar with the term "e-safety" and the paradoxical positions those in the field represent, then I suggest you do your own pre-peremptory research. I will give a background for "e-safety" in an open manner in an Australian context.
For the reader to benefit most from my exploration into the context, make sure to be unbiased, hold no cynicism nor sympathy in your logical faculties while continuing to read on. If you do this, I guarantee to my reader that there will be an exposure of the preponderance for all e-safety and child online safety organisations to boil down to the same essential core: that of a clueless collective.
So let us proceed, into the scenes of "e-safety" and how the old legacy of being a source of authority is being upheld in the mainstream media ( upheld like a heredity disposition for elevated chances of cancer). By the way, there is still no cure for cancer discovered or commonly believed to exist...
Ether as Law, Haste as Action
Making Laws that Appear Unworkable & Misguided
Prior to the Christchurch shooting occurring and after it happened, there was a large change in focus for the Australian Office of E-Safety Commission which Julie was the masthead for. It was like she was committed to making the Office of the E-Safety not just an additional agency that law enforcement agencies who pursue online crimes/ exploitation would welcome, but something of a social justice online agency.
It is around this time when my previous admiration faltered and and eventuated in a quelling of my optimism in the efficacy of any such Commission. Nimble agency and innovation were probably the terms that made me hopeful that E-Safety was "leading the first and only government agency in the world dedicated to protecting the online safety of its citizens." So why their change in focus?
i'm not surprised that this shift in E-Safety's primary focus came during the Christchurch shooting and I don't think anyone who grew up with computers, consoles and internet connectivity from an early age could have been surprised either. Their response and the hastily drafted amended to the Australia Commonwealth Crimes Act which they had input into drafting was a puzzle.
All the media coverage I've read delving into it and it's ramifications are somewhat messy and confused. I've read the new legislation and the changes to the existing Criminal codes, I even attempted putting it to the test... I'm still confused. It requires further investigation and maybe I will revisit it in greater detail because it truly is a world-first in terms of what it attempts to enforce globally onto social media platforms, yet I envisage it will not be enforced anytime soon.
Cliques for Cash? Conferences and Celebrity?
Are Expensive Exclusive Conferences of Any Value?
Keep it short and sweet to get it sold. A good rule of thumb to apply when making these conferences full of global handpicked experts in fields that have never existed until recently.
E-Safety '19 Conference Website
I think that the upcoming e-safety conference 2019 could actually offer something to someone as cynical as me. I'm not sure what that could be but I could be persuaded to giving it a try.
(I can't help but smirk at what sort of world we are meant to want when they say We)
Reviewing this conference website
I like the eSafety19 Conference preamble that summarises the conference offerings (honestly I do!). But unless these foremost academics, policy implementer's, educators and young people (that's me!) are able to do more than tackle what is strangely phrased as the most important online safety issues of our time, then I hypothesise online safety issues will get worse.
Why? Well, one thing all online child safety and self-aggrandising governmental agencies in this area tend to do with unwavering consistency is present a staid, obsolete and increasingly censorious doggedness in getting things wrong. Core issues are not captured in the majority of mission statements or online safety goals I have seen. Cynicism strikes and I wonder whether any such mission statements or goals every will..
Nevertheless, here are the keynote speakers which are going to inspire us and shape the online world we want.
Julie Inman Grant
Julie Inman Grant is the eSafety Commissioner of Australia, leading the first and only government agency in the world dedicated to protecting the online safety of its citizens.
- “If we are going to stay ahead of tech, teens and tots, eSafety needs to be an innovative, nimble agency, delivering compassionate citizen services to those experiencing online abuse. Prevention through
awareness and education, takedown services that remove and minimise harmful content, and proactive measures like #SafetybyDesign are key interventions to helping Australians realise the online world we want.”
I actually don't mind Julie. I have been following her for a while; listening to the occasional podcast, reading the insightful opinion pieces and enjoying her reporting of facts regarding online child safety. So I am reticent to pass early judgement or be too critical on her and her position as Commissioner of E-Safety in Australia.
I cant judge yet because like Julie quipped earlier: "we all need to help tackle the most important online safety issues of our time" . But I do feel confounded when seeing the phrases citizen services, takedown services, "#SafetyByDesign" thrown in together with key interventions, the online world we want, prevention through awareness and education and finally delivering compassion to those experiencing online abuse.
A small suggestion: If we are going to stay ahead of tech and become a nation of visionary tech savvy Aussies like you gleefully tweeted a few weeks ago...
https://twitter.com/tweetinjules/status/1132543020786626561
- tweetinjules
Then you might engender yourself more to them youngins like me by being more critical.
https://twitter.com/IXinIXinIXin/status/1132721668097396737
- IXinIXinIXin
Martin Cocker
Martin Cocker has been Chief Executive Officer of Netsafe New Zealand since 2006.
- “We need to energise people and organisations to make positive contributions to our online world. That means promoting a vision people can believe in and providing pragmatic solutions to bring that vision to life.”
I have naught to say about this guy. I do not know him or his organisation, nor have I researched them. I would raise the question of being an not for profit organisation for a decade before becoming sanctioned and funded by the government under the introduction of new legislation such as the Harmful Digital Communications Act 2016.
This legislation seems like something that a not for profit online safety organisation such as Netsafe New Zealand would be perfectly suited to advise and enforce upon, as a lead role for the NZ Government.
Seems like since the Christchurch shooting, his organisation (or ones like it) have been drumming up wrong-thinking insurrectionists by stalking NZ citizen facebook profiles though..
Tessy Ojo
Tessy Ojo is Chief Executive of The Diana Award – the only charity that bears the name of Diana, Princess of Wales – and has developed internationally recognised programs that give young people the skills to create positive change. Tessy is a passionate campaigner for social equity and justice for young people.
At the heart of her work is the belief that with the right support and investment, young people are the best instigators for achieving sustainable change for both themselves and society.
- “More than ever before, protecting children and vulnerable adults from online harm must be a collective effort – bringing together our combined expertise from all walks of life to tackle, prevent, intervene and support young people to thrive. From my experience at The Diana Award, the distinction between online and offline is becoming increasingly blurred. There is an urgent need to ensure young people have the tools and skills to live their best lives and this must include their safety online.
Out of all of the presenters and guests at this year's eSafety Conference19, I think Tessy's statements are the most agreeable. There is an inextricable human cost to online safety and in particular online child safety which is not sufficiently defined. Nor are these costs investigated adequately, which is expected considering these risks are still relatively new and of a much different scope to previous risks of a similar nature.
I am a passionate supporter of building resilience amongst young people online. To me this is far more important than "protecting them" or "providing them with the right support and investment". Young people online should be teaching us. Whatever vulnerable situations they find themselves in online, whatever victimisation by a constantly expanding field of predators they could be prey to is for them to teach and educate us on.
I say this because the only ones who know more about predation online than the victims are the predators themselves. Law Enforcement, Not For Profit agencies, charities and even parents cannot keep up with the scope and evolving nature of threats online. There are professionals out there who generally do it for free and even they are often overwhelmed by the sheer complexities of the dangers and risks online which they try to stop or prevent.
I envisage an online world where the empowerment of young people online is one where they are the frontline defenders of online child safety. Potential victims become empowered to be a computer/tech/online savvy community that act as hall monitors for their own demographic. Any ancillary support steps in when crimes are identified and evidence gathered. Oversight is administered by the most successful of young people online, not by adults in not-for-profits funded by governments run by older generations.
Dr Sameer Hinduja
Dr Sameer Hinduja is a Professor at the School of Criminology and Criminal Justice at Florida Atlantic University and Co-Director of the US Cyberbullying Research Center.
- “Tap into the gifts and abilities that youth have and equip and inspire them to share stories – not just of their successes, but also their struggles.”
Half-way there Dr Hinduja with the above quote because you mention inspiring the youth to share their struggles. With the viral rise of suicidal ideation amongst youth online as well as cyberbullycide, I have found very little spaces online for the safe sharing of such struggles. The major hubs for sharing such dark emotional angst online today (such as the site mentioned in the Weekend West) are hubs for exploitation and cyberbullycide.
Sonia Livingstone OBE
Sonia Livingstone OBE is a Professor of Social Psychology at London School of Economics and Political Science.
- “Taking the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child is a great starting point for action which reflects children’s voices, builds on shared values and inspires the innovative thinking that’s vital to create the online (and offline!) world we want.”
I'm not sure you can create the online world that WE want.
David Finkelhor
David Finkelhor is the Director of the Crimes against Children Research Center, Co-Director of the Family Research Laboratory and Professor of Sociology at the University of New Hampshire, USA.
- *“The line between the online world and the offline world is about to get very fuzzy. So let’s talk about the world we want.”
I would be keen to hear his thoughts and positions from such a long history of expertise in related fields. Although I do baulk at the use of WE in terms of the "online world WE want".
Stephen Balkam
Stephen Balkam is founder and CEO of the Family Online Safety Institute (FOSI): an international, non-profit organisation based in Washington, DC.
- "Let's begin by dropping fear-based messaging. Scaring kids or their parents is counter-productive and leads to overreactions. Let’s inform, empower and encourage healthy and civil online behaviors - beginning with us adults!”
Totally disagree. By perpetuating naivety in relation to the very real risk of extreme dangers online, especially for the vulnerable, you are not empowering anyone except for predators and predatory behaviours. Lulling anyone into a false sense of security is not empowering, knowledge and truth is.
Useless Mainstream News
Can you blame them?
Perhaps you can't blame the mainstream media for being so far behind their nemesis, which is the open free and 24/7 endless stream of information that is accessible online.
But when they so obtusely present facts in this article on Pro-Suicide when they are just sanctioned fictions, I get angry.
I know which site they are talking about, I know that the Australian Federal Police did not block access to it as claimed. I have been able to access the website without having to use any avoidance of filters, bans or ISP blocks from three different ISPs. Completely unhindered...
The way the article is presented as a special investigation is insincere too. Aggravating and completely selling the public short on information which could assist in the prevention of another such suicide. This level of irresponsibility in reporting demands further inquiry and I intend to pursue this further.
Lastly, I would like to provide some context into why both the media, and the state's apparatus does not inspire any confidence to the average Australian internet user.
Since 2007, it has been a veritable laughing stock...
Conclusion
LIVES ON THE LINE
BUT THE RISKS REMAIN UNKNOWN?