News: Ineffective age controls putting children at risk on social media; Ireland’s first free voluntary tax clinic arrives in NUI Galway

Ineffective age controls putting children at risk on social media

AGE restrictions on social media apps aim at protecting children are ineffective and easily bypassed, according to new research.

A study carried out by Dr Liliana Pasquale (pictured), from the UCD School of Computer Science, found young people of all ages can sidestep age verification measures when signing-up to popular social media apps like Snapchat, Instagram, TikTok, and Facebook by simply lying about their age. "This results in children being exposed to privacy and safety threats such as cyberbullying, online grooming, or exposure to content that may be inappropriate for their age," she said.

The study, published in the peer-reviewed jouranl IEEE Software, carried out by researchers at Lero, the Science Foundation Ireland Research Centre for Software, examined ten well known apps and found each allowed users setting up accounts to avoid giving proof of their age if they first claimed to be 16. Under the GDPR, children below the age of digital consent (13-16) need parental permission for their data to be collected and processed. “Our study found that some apps disabled registration if users input ages below 13, but if the age 16 is provided as input initially then none of the apps requires proof of age,” Dr Pasquale said, calling for much more robust age verification methods. “Providing mechanisms that deter a user from installing an app on a device on which they have previously declared themselves to be underage is currently one of the most sensible solutions not to incentivise users to lie about their age.”

The researchers studied the age verification process of Snapchat, Instagram, TikTok, HouseParty, Facebook, WhatsApp, Viber, Messenger, Skype and Discord in April 2019 and again one year later.

Ireland’s first free voluntary tax clinic arrives in NUI Galway

IRELAND’S first free tax clinic has been set up in NUI Galway to educate students about entitlements, obligations and how to run their tax affairs.

The pioneering initiative will see tax students in the J.E. Cairnes School of Business and Economics work in partnership with teaching staff and professional, external tax advisors in providing an online and confidential service.

The NUI Galway Tax Clinic is being established initially to assist the University’s students, with a view to extending its services to community groups which are unable to access or afford tax information. The service will run for at least six weeks at first, offering practical tax information and support to students with tax concerns and queries arising from a change in their circumstances, particularly as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic.

RECENTLY PUBLISHED ........................................................................................................... Voices: An Open Door Book of Stories

Edited by Patricia Scanlon

SINCE 1998, Open Door has been introducing readers new and old to some of Ireland’s finest writers. In this our first collection of stories, we have gathered a range of voices to suit every taste. With themes ranging from family and friendship to ageing, love and childhood, there is something for everyone.

Featuring writing from: Blindboy Boatclub, Dermot Bolger, Marita Conlon-McKenna, Sinéad Crowley, Martina Devlin, Roddy Doyle, Christine Dwyer Hickey, Rachael English, Patrick Freyne, Yan Ge, Carlo Gébler, Ciara Geraghty, Ruth Gilligan, Emily Hourican, Úna-Minh Kavanagh, Louise Kennedy, Sinéad Moriarty, Graham Norton, Nuala O’Connor, Roisín O’Donnell, Sheila O’Flanagan, Colm O’Regan, Paul Perry, Deirdre Purcell, Donal Ryan, Patricia Scanlan, Melatu Uche Okorie.

New Island • Around €10

Beyond the Tape

By Marie Cassidy

IN 1997, Dr Marie Cassidy arrived in Dublin from Glasgow. There to discuss a possible deputy state pathologist post with Professor John Harbison, instead she was whisked by police escort to a Grangegorman murder scene. There was no turning back. She became Ireland’s State Pathologist from 2004 until 2018, her image synonymous with breaking news of high-profile cases – a trusted figure in turbulent times.

Here, with the scalpel-like precision and calm authority of her trade, Marie shares her remarkable personal journey from workingclass Scotland into the world of forensic pathology, describing in candid detail the intricate processes central to solving modern crime. Beyond the Tape is a unique behind-the-scenes journey into the mysteries of unexplained and sudden death.

Hachette Ireland • Around €16

Flann O’Brien: Gallows Humour

By Ruben Borg and Paul Fagan

THE essays collected in this volume draw unprecedented critical attention to the centrality of politics in Flann O’Brien’s art. The organising theme of Gallows Humour focuses these inquiries onto key encounters between the body and the law, between death and the comic spirit in the author’s canon.

These innovative analyses explore the place of biopolitics in O’Brien’s modernist experimentation and popular writing through reflections on his handling of the thematics of violence, justice, capital punishment, eugenics, prosthetics, skin, prostitution, syphilis, rape, reproduction, illness, auto-immune deficiency, abjection, drinking, Gaelic games and masculinist nationalism across a diverse range of genres, intertexts, contexts.

Cork University Press • Around €39

The Last Day at Bowen's Court

By Either Walshe

This remarkable novel explores the life of the Irish novelist, Elizabeth Bowen, her time in London during the Second World War and her ‘reporting’on Irish neutrality for the Ministry of Information.

At the centre of the novel is her Blitz love affair with the Canadian diplomat, Charles Ritchie, a wartime romance that inspired her most famous novel, The Heat of the Day, a gripping story about espionage and loyalty that became a bestseller.

At the centre of the novel is a portrait of Elizabeth Bowen, one of Ireland’s most influential writers.

Somerville Press • Around €10

Making Belfield - Space and Place at UCD

By Ellen Rowley & Finola O'Kane (editors)

RICHLY designed and illustrated, Making Belfield reflects on the making and shaping of UCD to celebrate 50 years of college life (Belfield 50).

Dipping in and out of recent architectural histories and older and more far flung landscapes, it brings key UCD thinkers on spatial and cultural history together as well as highlighting the Libraries and collections of the university. "Making Belfield describes the UCD’s campus’s significant international impact on the historiography of the Modern Movement, as well as placing it firmly within Irish cultural and institutional history. Intrinsically significant, the book’s thematic analysis of Belfield as a large-scale Modernist complex is pioneering for Ireland." Prof Miles Glendinning, University of Edinburgh.

UCD Press • Around €35 Hardback

Ireland - A Directory 2021

By the Institute of Public Administration

Do you need to know who’s who in government and business life in Ireland? Do you want to have at your fingertips the name of the human resources director of Diageo? Or the CFO of Smurfit Kappa? Or the secretary general of the Department of Justice? Or any leading business person in this country? The IPA’s Ireland – A Directory provides all of that and more in mobile App and hard copy formats.

The IPA’s Ireland is now in its 55th year, this resource lists the details of over 9,000 organisations and 11,000 contacts across both the private and public sectors. The Ireland – A Directory App is available from 1st December on Apple App Store and Google Play.

IPA • Around €70