Guidance comes after calls for a total ban for under-16s and a statuary ban on mobile phone use in schools Primary school children should not be given smartphones by their parents, one of the UK’s largest mobile phone operators has warned. EE is advising parents that children under 11 should be given old-fashioned brick or “dumb” phones that only allow them to call or text instead. Continue reading...

Counsellors are receiving an increasing number of calls from young people being blackmailed over faked indecent images * National Crime Agency threatens extraditions over rise in sextortion cases * How west Africa’s online fraudsters moved into sextortion It was a phone call that has become all too common for Childline counsellors in recent months. The 17-year-old boy said he was scared and did not know what to do. He had been contacted by a “girl” on social media claiming to be his own age and, after an exchange of messages, had sent her an intimate image. And then the blackmail demands started. Continue reading...