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Articles for Category Tag - Internet Privacy

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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).

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Gauging Support for Cross-Platform E2EE RCS Messaging on UK Mobile Operators UPDATE

20th May, 2026 (6 Comments)

Google and Apple recently began bringing cross-platform end-to-end encryption to Rich Communication Services (RCS), which is a data-only messaging service that’s intended to replace traditional SMS text messaging (you need a mobile internet / broadband connection for it to work). But it’s not yet fully available from all UK mobile operators.

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2026 Kings Speech – New UK Cyber Security Laws and Broadband Rights for Leaseholders

13th May, 2026 (4 Comments)

The State Opening of Parliament – often referred to as the “King’s Speech” – took place today, which once again saw the new UK Government set out their agenda for the coming session. The speech included mentions of several bills related to telecoms network security and broadband connectivity, which we’ve summarised a bit below.

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Ofcom Prep New UK Telecoms Security Reporting Rules for Mobile Networks

12th May, 2026 (0 Comments)

The UK telecoms regulator, Ofcom, has today proposed changes to “improve the consistency of security compromise incident reporting” (i.e. when broadband or mobile networks are disrupted by cyberattacks). The changes will, for example, change how outages are reported for mobile networks in rural areas, which recognises that outages in urban and rural areas affect users differently.

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Tech and Civil Society Groups Warn Against Blanket UK Internet Restrictions

5th May, 2026 (2 Comments)

The Open Rights Group, Index on Censorship, Mozilla, Tor Project, Big Brother Watch, plus many other technology and civil society groups, have signed a new statement that urges UK policymakers to reconsider their approach to online safety legislation – warning that proposed age-gating measures and access restrictions threaten to fragment the open internet and erode the rights of all users.

EE UK Launch Upgraded AI Scam Guard Service to Protect Mobile Users

29th April, 2026 (2 Comments)

Broadband ISP and mobile operator EE (BT) has today launched an upgraded version of their existing ‘Scam Guard‘ add-on, which is a network-level security defence that was first launched in July 2024 and has already stopped 169 million scam and spam attempts (here). The hope is that the upgraded add-on will “prevent at least twice as many scams” over the next 12-months.

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Gov Intend to Restrict Social Media for Under 16s Even Without Full UK Ban

28th April, 2026 (18 Comments)

The government’s Education Secretary, Bridget Phillipson, has revealed that – regardless of the outcome from their current consultation on a proposed internet Social Media ban for children under the age of 16 (here) – they will still “impose some form of age or functionality restrictions” even if they stop short of a full ban.

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Ofcom Asks UK Telecoms Providers to Assess Security Risks of Frontier AI

27th April, 2026 (0 Comments)

The UK broadband, mobile and internet content regulator, Ofcom, has published a new open letter that they sent to UK Communications Providers last week, which called on them to “assess [the] security risks arising from frontier AI [Artificial Intelligence] models and take appropriate mitigating action“.

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Virgin Media O2 UK Warn AI Tools Directing Customers to Fake Support Lines

24th April, 2026 (2 Comments)

Broadband and mobile operator VMO2 (Virgin Media and O2) has warned UK customers to keep an eye out after it identified that criminals were exploiting AI‑powered tools and search engines. In short, consumers looking to contact trusted brands are being shown fake phone numbers, websites and search results, which fraudsters then use to capture data and perpetrate fraud.