Twitter acts against child sex abuse accounts

Child protection groups warned Twitter members not to retweet or point their followers towards such accounts if they appear in their feed, but to report them to Twitter and law enforcement authorities.

The Internet Watch Foundation, a non-profit body funded by internet firms that seeks to remove child abuse material from the web as quickly as possible, said it had receive more than 200 complaints about the accounts over the weekend.

“Nearly 500 reports to the Hotline this weekend. 200+ for Twitter content which is now down,” said Emma Lowther, the organisation’s communications director.

The name of the one illegal accounts became a trending topic on Sunday as Twitter members were outraged by its content. Twitter itself has not commented on the incident.

The firm has a special email address, cp@twitter.com, for reporting illegal material.

“We do not tolerate child sexual exploitation on Twitter,” its child protection policy states.

“When we are made aware of links to images of or content promoting child sexual exploitation they will be removed from the site without further notice.”

It was criticised in January for being “a little bit behind” other websites in creating ways for members to report abuse material.

“They are a little bit behind some other sites that have been around a little bit longer," said Peter Davies, the chief executive of Ceop, Britain’s specialist child protection police unit.

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Steelers' Roethlisberger to start against Chargers

PITTSBURGH (AP) — The Pittsburgh Steelers aren't taking any chances with their franchise quarterback's sprained right shoulder and dislocated rib.

Though the Steelers confirmed Ben Roethlisberger will return to the starting lineup on Sunday against San Diego after missing three weeks due to injury, Roethlisberger will take the field with a little extra protection.

Roethlisberger will play with a custom-fit rib/chest compression shirt and a layer of Kevlar-lined composite in his shoulder pads to help absorb hits to his clavicle and shoulder joint regions.

The padding, made by Unequal Technologies, has grown popular across the NFL. Philadelphia Eagles quarterback Michael Vick wore a similar compression shirt after injuring his ribs a few years ago and dozens of players — including Pittsburgh safety Troy Polamalu and linebacker James Harrison — use Unequal CRT in their helmets.

The padding — about a half-inch thick— in Roethlisberger's shoulder pads is similar to the gear the company puts in its chest protectors for baseball catchers. Roethlisberger said last week his shoulder pads had been "juiced up" by the team trainers.

Whatever he's wearing, the Steelers (7-5) are eager to have him back on the field. Roethlisberger took "90 percent" of the first-team snaps on Thursday without any major issues.

"He looks like himself for the most part," offensive coordinator Todd Haley said. "Now I don't know what he's feeling when he's doing some of those things. But it looks like he's moving around pretty good."

Roethlisberger said he felt "good" but declined to expand. Haley doesn't expect there to be any limitations to the playbook though he joked he might not call as many designed run plays for his quarterback, who never met a play he didn't like to extend.

"I think he understands his body better than anybody," Haley said. "He's the one that's got to make the decisions and we'll just try to put him in the best positions to succeed."

The Steelers went 1-2 in Roethlisberger's absence, including a 23-20 victory over Baltimore last week behind backup Charlie Batch. While Batch's steady performance against the Ravens kept Pittsburgh's playoff hopes alive, the team hopes to hit its stride with a healthy Roethlisberger under center.

"When Ben's in it's just a whole different level of game planning and things that teams have to do just to compensate for how athletic he is," wide receiver Mike Wallace said. "I think he brings a dimension to the team that nobody else can bring."

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