Tag: bbc

The BBC Own It APP

Social media is a great invention and for many people it can be a lifeline, communications with friends, a creative outlet and much more.

But there is of course a darker side to it – bullying, fake news, false images, scams and for many a place to vent their opinions and sometimes prejudices to the cost of others.

The BBC has created an APP called Own It, aimed at children and is advertising it regularly on its channels.

The APP monitors how a young people interacts with friends and family online and through messaging apps.

It evaluates a child’s mood so it can offer advice or encourage them to talk to trusted adults.

The app is designed to offer help and support especially if children are about to share sensitive data or send an upsetting message.

Alice Webb of the BBC said the app would act as a “helping hand” to guide children into developing good habits when using their first phone and avoid some of the potential pitfalls of digital life.

The Own It app also has its own content that aims to help children manage the amount of time they spend looking at their screen and passes on other advice about responsible online interaction.

The BBC said the app would also regularly encourage children to talk to parents and guardians about good and bad online experiences and their phone use.

Prof Sonia Livingstone, a social psychologist said “Based on my research on children’s online risks and opportunities, I think it should be very helpful for children, especially younger ones, and ideally would also stimulate constructive conversations between children and parents.”

She said one of the “strengths” of the app was the effort it took to protect a child’s privacy. This stood in contrast to other apps that many parents use to monitor and control their children’s online lives.

The Own It app began development in 2018 and has drawn on input and support from many different child-focused charities and welfare groups, including – the Mental Health Foundation, the Anti-Bullying Alliance, the NSPCC, the Diana Award and Childnet.

The app is being launched against a background of research which shows how concerned some parents are about phone use among their offspring.

Well done the BBC. Let’s hope the APP helps a lot of young people.

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BBC For Love or Money

This is the BBC series that tries to stop romance scams, which have ruined many people’s lives when they were simply seeking love.

Presenters Kym Marsh and Ashley John-Baptiste are on the trail of the criminals extorting vast amounts of money from unsuspecting victims under the guise of love is how the BBC describe the series.

One episode highlighted the case of Pat who had been having an online only relationship with Morgan and he professed great love for her and made her feel she was the one for him. But in time, disaster struck him and he needed money quickly to save his business deal and she obliged – eventually giving him her life savings, convinced she would get the money back. Even after that he continued to contact her. She accused him of being a scam artist but he denied it each time and made her feel guilty for accusing him.

There is a lot of psychological manipulation in these scams.

The TV people investigated Morgan and found the photo of him was a fake – it was an entirely different person and the scammer had borrowed elements from his life and the photo and had fabricated a daughter from more stolen information and another photo. He even fabricated a photo of his fake daughter’s passport to convince Pat.

The TV team then phoned Morgan and told him what they had found and he denied everything and would only talk with Pat.   She told him what she thought of him now and still he wouldn’t admit anything or pay back the money – just going on about how much he loved her and they would be together soon.

The purpose of the call was to expose the criminal and see if they will admit what they do but also to try to provide some closure for the victim.

Pat did fell better afterwards and had finally given up the idea that he was genuine.

The presenter did say at the end of the programme that minutes after they ended the call with Morgan, he had texted them to say Well done. You found me out.

But no apology and no doubt he has dozens if not hundreds of other people he’s trying to steal from.

If you’re in an online romance and have never met the person – do your research to make sure they are real and never ever send money to someone you haven’t met.

If you have any experiences with romance scammers, do let me know, by email.

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Horizon: The Day the NHS Died

We all watched in shock as the NHS was forced  to shut hospitals, send patients home, cancel operations and close surgeries due to the WannaCry ransomware that disabled many of the NHS systems in mid May 2017.

The BBC Horizon programme “The Day the NHS Died” tells the story of what happened – how the NHS coped and the guys who stopped the ransomware in its tracks.

The presenter, Kevin Fong,  is a doctor so the programme was very much about the medical effects of what happened.  The attack started on May1 2th and rapidly spread across the NHS because of certain old computers still on the network and newer computers that weren’t up to date with security patches.

Much of the NHS relies heavily on computer systems – especially radiology  and once the attack was recognised much of that equipment had to be turned off to prevent the attack spreading to those systems as well.

The two guys who stopped the attack work in cyber security and looked at the ransomware code and discovered a website address which turned out to be an off switch for the ransomware and they used it to stop the attacks.

The programme is interesting but also worrying at how badly the NHS fared compared to other organisations. There’s a lot of work to do on the NHS computer systems to make them secure and that means a lot of money needed.

Watch now on iPlayer at

http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b08vfzm0/horizon-2017-cyber-attack-the-day-the-nhs-stopped

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