Web watchdog warns over knee-jerk regulation of social networks
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Government regulation of social media and the internet could have "unintended consequences" for victims of sexual abuse, a charity has warned.
The Internet Watch Foundation said that "knee-jerk regulation" in response to a string of data and privacy scandals could come at a "heavy cost".
The UK government is expected to publish a White Paper that will lay out how it plans to tackle "online harms".
Culture Minister Jeremy Wright said it would be published in the coming weeks.
He told the BBC's Dave Lee: "We are taking our time to get it right".
What will the White Paper say?
The White Paper will detail new rules that the government wants introduced for social networks and web giants if they want to operate in the UK, or target services at British citizens.
Mr Wright told the BBC that the White Paper would lay out a "scheme" and "how it can be paid for".
There has been speculation that the government is going to announce an internet regulator, similar to the one for TV and telecoms, Ofcom.
"The period of time that we've been through, where we simply urged social media companies to do better and left them to regulate themselves, is a period that is now coming to an end," Mr Wright said.
The full details of the White Paper will not be published for another few weeks.
Image copyright Getty Images Image caption Culture secretary Jeremy Wright will meet Mark Zuckerberg for 30 minutes
But there are suggestions the government plans to:
The Internet Watch Foundation aims to stop the exchange of child sexual abuse images online.
It has urged the government to take a "balanced approach to internet regulation", warning that badly-planned legislation could have unexpected results.
It has previously criticised the European Commission's e-privacy proposals, suggesting they would help abusers hide their illegal activity online.
Mr Wright told the BBC he had a "scheme" in mind, and that it would not be optional for the tech companies.
He spoke to the BBC while on a visit to Silicon Valley, California, where he was meeting some of the tech industry's biggest names, including Facebook's chief executive Mark Zuckerberg.
Mr Wright said: "If we do it effectively, as we seek to do, and we construct a system that will work, then it may be that other countries will look carefully at that model and seek to do something similar.
"So there's good reason for these companies, be it Facebook or any other, to engage with us."
Anthem video game set for tough debut
Image copyright EA Image caption In Anthem, players are freelancers who use flying exosuits to take on alien enemies
Highly-anticipated video game Anthem launches on Friday.
The squad-based shooter challenges players to complete a variety of missions to defeat a series of enemy aliens or "exos".
The online game is made by Bioware, which is best known for its stand-alone role-playing titles such as Mass Effect and Dragon Age.
Some experts said the game may struggle to attract players, because competition in the industry is so fierce.
Story time
The game is set on a lush planet infused with a strange creative energy force that has left it populated by a wide variety of strange and hostile creatures.
In the far future, mankind has partially colonised the planet and players take on the role of a "freelancer" who seeks to help the colonies survive and prosper. Each freelancer wears a javelin exosuit that lets them fly, and holds the weapons and other gear used to fight the aggressive exos.
Players tackle the various quests and missions in the game world in squads of four, each person using a javelin with a specific role.
The game will be available on PC, Xbox One and PlayStation 4.
Image copyright EA Image caption Bioware has produced a series of critically acclaimed role-playing games including Mass Effect
Zachary Beaudoin, an associate producer at BioWare, who worked on Anthem, said the game's six-year development effort had sought to make the title stand out.
"It's for players who are looking for a strong social experience, who also want to be part of a greater story they get to be the hero of," he told the BBC.
Mr Beaudoin said the game had "challenging" encounters that players would need to prepare carefully for, by equipping their javelin suit with a huge variety of upgrades and weapons.
It also had a "compelling" background story that players could explore.
"We want it to be a social game with players to tell stories and experiences over a longer period of time," he said. "It's not just launch and here you go."
Tough times
Game industry analyst Steve Bailey, from IHS Markit, said "Anthem is launching into a competitive landscape of unprecedented intensity.
"Never have there been so many large-scale, live-operation action games vying for player attention across console and PC," he said.
Mr Bailey added that success in the form of a significant and dedicated player-base would be "hard won".
Image copyright Fortnite Image caption The success of games such as Fortnite could dent Anthem's ability to attract players
Early reviews suggest Bioware has some work to do to get players interested and keep them coming back.
"Anthem looks beautiful, its javelins are all fun to fly, and the fundamentals of its combat and character building are solid," said Richard Scott-Jones from the PCGamesN review site.
"But there's little variety in its gameplay or mission design, which makes its campaign feel like a chore," he told the BBC. "Its endgame is based on repeating that chore on higher difficulties, which I doubt will keep a broad audience engaged for the long term."
The popularity of rival games could also spell trouble, said Mr Scott-Jones
"Hooking interest with a strong first impression is critical - Apex Legends has pulled it off - and Anthem is already looking shaky on this point," he said.
Jussie Smollett: Judge calls alleged hoax attack 'despicable'
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Media captionJussie Smollett: What Chicago Police say happened
A Chicago judge has said charges that US actor Jussie Smollett staged a hoax hate crime against himself are "utterly outrageous" and "despicable" if true.
The 36-year-old African-American actor is accused of filing a fake police report claiming he was the victim of a homophobic and racist assault.
Judge John Fitzgerald Lyke, who is also black, said the "most vile" part of the incident was the use of a noose.
Police say he staged the attack because he was "dissatisfied with his salary".
The star's lawyers issued a strongly-worded statement after the hearing, calling it an "organised law enforcement spectacle" and describing Mr Smollett as "a young man of impeccable character".
Image copyright EPA Image caption Jussie Smollett emerged from the Cook County Court complex after posting 10% of a $100,000 bond in Chicago What happened in court?
"That symbol conjures up such evil in this country's history," Judge Lyke said of a rope that Mr Smollett claimed the attackers had hung round his neck, according to the Chicago Tribune.
The judge's comments at Thursday's court appearance alluded to the racist lynchings of thousands of black Americans in the post-American Civil War era.
Mr Smollett, who stars on the TV series Empire, is suspected of paying two brothers to stage the attack on himself.
The siblings are co-operating with the investigation, police say.
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Media captionChicago Police Superintendent Eddie Johnson: "Smollett dragged city's reputation through mud"
Chicago officials say Mr Smollett also sent a racist letter to himself at a Fox studio before staging the attack.
Judge Lyke set Mr Smollett's bail at $100,000 (£76,000), which requires him to submit a bond of $10,000 and surrender his passport.
Mr Smollett denies the charge of felony disorderly conduct. His lawyers said they would "mount an aggressive defence".
Jack Prior, one of the actor's attorneys, told the court the accusations were "inconsistent with Mr Smollett's character" and that the actor "wants nothing more than to clear his name".
If convicted, he could be sentenced to three years in prison and made to pay for the cost of the police investigation.
What did police say?
In a news conference earlier on Thursday, Chicago Police Superintendent Eddie Johnson lashed out at the "shameful" scheme.
"Why would anyone, especially an African-American man, use the symbolism of a noose to make false accusations?" he said.
"How could someone look at the hatred and suffering associated with that symbol and see an opportunity to manipulate that symbol to further his own public profile?"
Supt Johnson accused Mr Smollett of taking "advantage of the pain and anger of racism to promote his career".
Image copyright Chicago Police Image caption CCTV image released earlier by Chicago police
He said Mr Smollett had betrayed the city of Chicago, and said "this publicity stunt was a scar that Chicago didn't earn and certainly didn't deserve".
The "hoax", he said, "received national attention for weeks", and may deter future hate crime victims from coming forward for fear that their allegations may be met with scepticism.
He called upon the actor "to apologise to this city that he smeared".
"Celebrities, news commentators, and even presidential candidates weighed in on something that was choreographed by an actor," said Supt Johnson, with palpable anger.
"I'm left hanging my head and asking why," he added, describing Mr Smollett's actions as a "slap in the face" to Chicagoans.
What did Smollett's lawyers say?
They dismissed Thursday's proceedings as "an organised law enforcement spectacle that has no place in the American legal system".
A statement from the actor's legal team added: "The presumption of innocence, a bedrock in the search for justice, was trampled upon at the expense of Mr Smollett and notably, on the eve of a mayoral election.
"Mr Smollett is a young man of impeccable character and integrity who fiercely and solemnly maintains his innocence and feels betrayed by a system that apparently wants to skip due process and proceed directly to sentencing."
Celebrity websites TMZ and Page Six said the actor was back on the set of Empire after the bail hearing.
Image copyright Reuters Image caption Rallies were held after Mr Smollett first announced the alleged "attack" How did the case unfold?
The gay actor said he had gone out to buy food late at night on 29 January from a Subway sandwich shop in Chicago city centre when two white men hurled racial and homophobic insults at him.
He said they also punched him, poured a chemical substance over him and put a rope around his neck.
Mr Smollett also claimed the men had told him "this is Maga country", referring to President Donald Trump's "Make America Great Again" slogan.
An outpouring of support followed, including from Oscar winner Viola Davis and supermodel Naomi Campbell.
In an interview last week with ABC's morning TV show, Mr Smollett tearfully said he had been "forever changed" by the alleged incident.
Image copyright Gabriel Olsen Image caption Mr Smollett has been a vocal social activist for years
But suspicions mounted as police were unable to find any video footage of the incident from over 50 surveillance cameras they reviewed. There were also no witnesses.
Investigators managed to track and identify two men who appeared on video footage near where the actor said he had been attacked through a ride-sharing app.
The men - Ola and Abel Osundairo - had left the US for Nigeria following the alleged attack and were held for nearly 48 hours after they returned last week.
They were released without charges after providing information that "shifted the trajectory of the investigation", police said.
One of the brothers is Mr Smollett's personal trainer and both have worked as extras on Empire, a hit Fox show that depicts the lives of a music mogul and his family in Chicago.
Police say they have a cheque that Mr Smollett signed and that he had agreed to pay $3,500 for the brothers' participation.
Supt Johnson said that Mr Smollett had told at least one of the brothers that he was "dissatisfied" with his salary from Fox.
According to the Huffington Post, Mr Smollett was being paid $65,000 per episode for his starring role in Empire, which has about 18 episodes per season.
Image copyright FOX via Getty Images Image caption Jussie Smollett (left) pictured in an episode of Empire
Investigators said on Thursday that some minor scrapes on Mr Smollett's face were probably self-inflicted.
Supt Johnson said Mr Smollett first "attempted to gain attention by sending a false letter that relied on racial, homophobic and political language" to himself at Fox studios.
Police had confirmed in early February that white powder - later identified as aspirin - was in the letter.
During another news conference on Thursday, police said Mr Smollett had also claimed that three days before the attack he received an unidentified phone call from a man who uttered a homophobic slur then hung up.
He told police that incident happened near a surveillance camera. It was the same camera that police say Mr Smollett would later point out to the Osundairo brothers in preparation for the alleged hoax attack.
On Wednesday, CBS Chicago obtained footage which appeared to show two people buying materials, including balaclavas, that had allegedly been worn by the actor's attackers.
Mr Smollett turned himself in early on Thursday.
Fox Entertainment and 20th Century Fox Television, which make Empire, issued a statement on Thursday saying they were "evaluating the situation" and "considering our options."
In the aftermath of the attack, Democratic White House hopefuls Cory Booker and Kamala Harris both called the incident a "modern-day lynching".
Ms Harris, a California senator, on Thursday said she was "sad, frustrated, and disappointed".
President Trump tweeted his condemnation after the police news conference of Mr Smollett's "racist and dangerous comments".
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