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Articles for Category Tag - Internet Privacy

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Comms Council UK publish data-sharing guidance for tackling telephone fraud

16th September, 2026 (1 Comment)

The Comms Council UK, which represents the national Unified Communications and Voice-over-Internet-Protocol (VoIP) phone industry, has this morning published its data-sharing guidance – produced with support from the Home Office, Ofcom, and Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) – for tackling telephone-enabled fraud (e.g. scam calls and messages).

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Government look to impose mandatory age verification on UK Smartphones

9th September, 2026 (30 Comments)

The government’s Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS), Lisa Nandy, has revealed that they’re planning to introduce new legislation that will have the power to force the likes of Google and Apple to introduce mandatory Age Verification measures on Smartphones. The goal is the stop children sharing nude images of themselves, but it will also impact adult users.

Lancashire Man Sent to Prison for Operating Rogue UK Cell Phone Tower

3rd September, 2026 (10 Comments)

The City of London Police (CLP) have revealed that Mohammed Faiyaz Iqbal (43) of Preston in Lancashire has been sentenced to more than 3 years and 8 months in prison for setting up a rogue cell phone tower, which was then used to bypass mobile network security protocols in order to send masses of fraudulent texts (aka – SMS Blaster).

Tesco Mobile Launch Safe Start Plans to Help UK Parents Setup Phones for Kids

20th August, 2026 (1 Comment)

Mobile provider Tesco Mobile, which is one of the UK’s largest virtual (mvno) mobile network operators (uses O2) and home to a customer base of c.6 million, has launched a new Safe Start plan to help parents feel more confident their child’s phone is safe, set up correctly and ready for day one.

NordVPN Launch Free SCAM Checker AI Tool Called NordBot on Messaging Platforms

29th July, 2026 (2 Comments)

The NordVPN service, which is a popular Virtual Private Network (VPN) provider, has today launched NordBot, which is described as being a free “experimental” AI tool that lets people submit suspicious messages, links or images through WhatsApp, Instagram, Messenger, Telegram or X for a quick risk assessment to see if they’re scams or not.

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Ofcom Rejected More Effective Method of Blocking UK Messaging Scams

17th July, 2026 (3 Comments)

Earlier this week Ofcom introduced new measures to help UK mobile operators “block, limit and disrupt scammers” from sending messaging scams (here). The changes, while positive, overlooked the fact that the regulator ended up rejecting an already adopted (in other countries) and UK developed fix that would have been more effective, partly due to BT and others complaining that it would be too “onerous“.

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Ofcom Investigate TikTok Over Weak UK Internet Age Verification Measures

16th July, 2026 (1 Comment)

Popular video streaming site TikTok, which can be used by those who are 13 years of age or older (18+ for livestreaming), appears to have landed itself in hot water with Ofcom’s enforcement of the UK’s Online Safety Act (OSA) over their use of “age inference” technology to identify the age of their users (i.e. this is not something the regulator considers to be “highly effective” for age verification).

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Cifas Joins Global Signal Exchange to Help UK Telecoms Providers Tackle Scams

16th July, 2026 (0 Comments)

The UK’s fraud prevention service, Cifas, which is home to over 775 members including major telecoms providers such as Virgin Media and O2 (VMO2), BT, Sky Broadband and more, has joined the Global Signal Exchange (GSE) to “strengthen the global fight against” online scams by collaborating to identify, disrupt, and prevent online scams at scale across borders and sectors.

Virgin Media O2 Publish First Quarterly Scam Index to Track UK Scam Calls and Texts

15th July, 2026 (0 Comments)

Broadband and mobile operator VMO2 (Virgin Media and O2) have today decided to complement Ofcom’s new anti-scam rules for telecoms providers (here) by publishing their first quarterly Scam Index, which among other things reveals that more than 18.5 million adults in the UK have been targeted by scammers in just three months.

Ofcom Introduce New UK Rules to Tackle Mobile Messaging Scams UPDATE

15th July, 2026 (7 Comments)

The UK internet content, telecoms and media regulator, Ofcom, has this morning published a “comprehensive package of practical measures” to help UK mobile network operators “block, limit and disrupt scammers” from sending messaging scams. In addition, they’ve strengthened rules to help protect people from international calls that imitate – or “spoof” – UK mobile numbers.

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Gov Sets Out More Detail of UK Social Media Curfews and Restrictions for Under 18s

14th July, 2026 (6 Comments)

The Government has tonight set out more details of how they intend to implement their recently announced internet Social Media ban for children under 16 (original news), which among other things includes new details on overnight curfews and breaks in infinite scrolling for under 18s.

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ISPs Say Rights Holders Must be Held Accountable for Blocking Innocent Websites

1st July, 2026 (4 Comments)

The EuroISPA (European ISP Association), which represents over 3,300 Internet Service Providers (ISPs) across the EU and EFTA countries (including the United Kingdom), has called for copyright holders to be “held accountable” when their measures to stop access to online piracy (copyright infringement) creates “collateral damage [due to] overbroad blocking actions“.

O2 UK Warns Mobile Customers Over New Inactive SIM Scam

30th June, 2026 (2 Comments)

Mobile operator O2 (Virgin Media) has warned customers that fraudsters are using a “new” phishing tactic to steal their private personal and security details (i.e. granting them access to their MyO2 accounts), which involves criminals posing as the telecoms company while claiming that the customers’ SIM cards are about to expire.

Stop Killing Games Forms Sister Campaign to Stop Killing the Internet

17th June, 2026 (8 Comments)

The Stop Killing Games group, which is a consumer campaign that seeks to preserve video games after they are taken offline, has joined with a number of global rights respecting organisations to create a sister campaign called Stop Killing the Internet. The aim is to defend the open internet against policies and practices that “impose surveillance, exclusion and excessive centralised control” in the name of online safety.

Government Confirms UK Internet Social Media BAN for Children Under 16 UPDATE2

15th June, 2026 (39 Comments)

The Prime Minister of the UK Government, Sir Keir Starmer, has today confirmed that they will introduce an internet Social Media Ban for children under the age of 16 against ten popular platforms (TikTok, Snapchat, Instagram, YouTube, Reddit, Twitch, X, Threads, Facebook and Kick). But that’s not the only restriction they’ll be introducing.

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Gov Publish Response to Revision of UK Telecommunications Security Code

3rd June, 2026 (1 Comment)

The UK Government (DSIT) has today published its response to a planned revision of the Telecommunications Security Code of Practice (2022), which will update the code to reflect changes in what sort of specific security measures public telecoms providers (broadband, mobile etc.) must take in order to protect their networks from attack.

Rights Holders Gain More Control to Block UK Access to Internet Piracy Sites

26th May, 2026 (15 Comments)

The High Court has granted rights holders, such as Columbia Pictures and others, more flexibility to require the UK’s major broadband ISPs (e.g. BT, EE, Plusnet, Virgin Media, Sky Broadband and TalkTalk) to block customers from accessing websites that have been found to facilitate internet copyright infringement (piracy).