Facebook: You Have No Rights

The new intellectual property policy, which takes effect on January 16, comes three months after Facebook completed its acquisition of the popular photo-sharing site. Unless Instagram users delete their accounts before the January deadline, they cannot opt out.

Under the new policy, Facebook claims the perpetual right to license all public Instagram photos to companies or any other organization, including for advertising purposes, which would effectively transform the Web site into the world's largest stock photo agency. One irked Twitter user quipped that "Instagram is now the new iStockPhoto, except they won't have to pay you anything to use your images."

"It's asking people to agree to unspecified future commercial use of their photos," says Kurt Opsahl, a senior staff attorney at the Electronic Frontier Foundation. "That makes it challenging for someone to give informed consent to that deal."

That means that a hotel in Hawaii, for instance, could write a check to Facebook to license photos taken at its resort and use them on its Web site, in TV ads, in glossy brochures, and so on -- without paying any money to the Instagram user who took the photo. The language would include not only photos of picturesque sunsets on Waikiki, but also images of young children frolicking on the beach, a result that parents might not expect, and which could trigger state privacy laws.

Facebook did not respond to repeated queries from CNET this afternoon. We'll update the article if we receive a response.

Related stories:

• Instagram rivals try to lure users after photo rights flap
• How to back up your Instagram photos and delete your account
• Amateur hour at Instagram-parent Facebook
• Instagram reminds us that we are the product for sale
• Zuckerberg's sister 'Likes' the Instagram backlash

Another policy pitfall: If Instagram users continue to upload photos after January 16, 2013, and subsequently delete their account after the deadline, they may have granted Facebook an irrevocable right to sell those images in perpetuity. There's no obvious language that says deleting an account terminates Facebook's rights, EFF's Opsahl said.

Facebook's new rights to sell Instagram users' photos come from two additions to its terms of use policy. One section deletes the current phrase "limited license" and, by inserting the words "transferable" and "sub-licensable," allows Facebook to license users' photos to any other organization.

A second section allows Facebook to charge money. It says that "a business or other entity may pay us to display your... photos... in connection with paid or sponsored content or promotions, without any compensation to you." That language does not exist in the current terms of use.

Google's policy, by contrast, is far narrower and does not permit the company to sell photographs uploaded through Picasa or Google+. Its policy generally tracks the soon-to-be-replaced Instagram policy by saying: "The rights you grant in this license are for the limited purpose of operating, promoting, and improving our services." Yahoo's policies service for Flickr are similar, saying the company can use the images "solely for the purpose for which such content was submitted or made available."

Reginald Braithwaite, an author and software developer, posted a tongue-in-cheek "translation" of the new Instagram policy today: "You are not our customers, you are the cattle we drive to market and auction off to the highest bidder. Enjoy your feed and keep producing the milk."

One Instagram user dubbed the policy change "Instagram's suicide note." The PopPhoto.com photography site summarized the situation by saying: "The service itself is still a fun one, but that's a lot of red marks that have shown up over the past couple weeks. Many shooters -- even the casual ones -- probably aren't that excited to have a giant corporation out there selling their photos without being paid or even notified about it."

Instagram CEO Kevin Systrom speaks at the LeWeb conference in Paris. Click for larger image.

(Credit: Stephen Shankland/CNET)

Another unusual addition to Instagram's new policy appears to immunize it from liability, such as class action lawsuits, if it makes supposedly private photos public. The language stresses, twice in the same paragraph, that "we will not be liable for any use or disclosure of content" and "Instagram will not be liable for any use or disclosure of any content you provide."

Yet another addition says "you acknowledge that we may not always identify paid services, sponsored content, or commercial communications as such." That appears to conflict with the Federal Trade Commission's guidelines that say advertisements should be listed as advertisements.

Such sweeping intellectual property language has been invoked before: In 1999, Yahoo claimed all rights to Geocities using language strikingly similar to Facebook's wording today, including the "non-exclusive and fully sublicensable right" to do what it wanted with its users' text and photos. But in the face of widespread protest -- and competitors advertising that their own products were free from such Draconian terms -- Yahoo backed down about a week later.

It's true, of course, that Facebook may not intend to monetize the photos taken by Instagram users, and that lawyers often draft overly broad language to permit future business opportunities that may never arise. But on the other hand, there's no obvious language that would prohibit Facebook from taking those steps, and the company's silence in the face of questions today hasn't helped.

EFF's Opsahl says the new policy runs afoul of his group's voluntary best practices for social networks. He added: "Hopefully at some point we'll get greater clarity from Facebook and Instagram."

Update, December 18 at 12:35 p.m. PT: Flickr, Blipfoto, and other Instagram competitors are pouncing on the controversy Facebook created and are trying to lure away Instagram users by promising better treatment. And Instagram said on Twitter a few minutes ago that: "We've heard you that the updates to our Privacy Policy & Terms of Service are raising a lot of questions. We'll have more to share very soon."

Update, December 18 at 2:50 p.m. PT: Instagram has backed down, as we report in this CNET article posted a few minutes ago. Instagram says it will "remove" the language that caused a user revolt over the last day.

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Declan McCullagh

Declan McCullagh is the chief political correspondent for CNET. Declan previously was a reporter for Time and the Washington bureau chief for Wired and wrote the Taking Liberties section and Other People's Money column for CBS News' Web site.

Meeting of Minds

Obama Meets With Boehner at White House in Budget Talks

By Kathleen Hunter, Roxana Tiron & Roger Runningen - Dec 17, 2012 5:01 PM GMT

President Barack Obama and House Speaker John Boehner met at the White House today in their talks on avoiding spending cuts and tax increases in January, according to Boehner's spokesman.

The two met for about 45 minutes, said Boehner spokesman Michael Steel in an e-mailed statement. The aide gave no further details, nor did the White House.

 

House Speaker John Boehner, in a $2.2 trillion deficit-cutting plan he offered earlier this month, proposed ways to trim entitlements. Photographer: Andrew Harrer/Bloomberg

Dec. 17 (Bloomberg) -- Roger Altman, chairman of Evercore Partners Inc. and a former U.S. deputy Treasury secretary, and Nassim Taleb, author of "The Black Swan" and "Antifragile: Things That Gain From Disorder," and a New York University professor, talk about the outlook for a resolution to the so-called U.S. fiscal cliff. They speak with Tom Keene and Michael McKee on Bloomberg Television's "Surveillance." (Source: Bloomberg)

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Boehner has signaled openness to allowing tax rates to rise for annual income of more than $1 million. Obama rejected a Dec. 14 offer by Boehner to raise rates on household income above $1 million a year and lift the federal debt ceiling in exchange for containing entitlement program costs.

While Obama wants higher rates for income above $250,000, Boehner's offer marked movement because he has opposed increased rates for any income level.

In his latest offer, Boehner also said he would accept $1 trillion in revenue, up from $800 billion, according to a person familiar with the talks who requested anonymity when discussing the negotiations. That person said Boehner's offer would pair the revenue increase with equal cuts to entitlement programs.

Republican 'Incentive'

Two weeks remain to avert more than $600 billion in automatic spending cuts and tax increases, known as the fiscal cliff, set to start in January.

The anti-tax Club for Growth urged Boehner today not to agree to a debt-limit increase.

"Raising the debt ceiling would give away one of the best tools the Republicans have in their arsenal to force real reform," the organization's President Chris Chocola said in an e-mailed statement.

Obama is pressing for unilateral authority to raise the federal debt ceiling, while Boehner's latest offer stipulates that "any debt limit increase would require cuts and reforms of a greater amount," said Steel. Cuts of $1 trillion, as Boehner is seeking, would be about enough to cover a one-year debt limit increase.

The Congressional Budget Office has said that a failure to avert those changes would probably lead to a recession in the first half of 2013. Further, Republicans say their leverage to force spending cuts could increase in 2013 as the need approaches to increase the federal debt limit as early as mid- February.

Adverse Effects

While adverse economic effects aren't expected to kick in right away in 2013 without a budget deal, negative market reaction may help break the legislative stalemate in the early days of the new year.

"The financial markets could end up driving a deal because that's where the effects will be felt first," said John Pitney, a political scientist and professor at Claremont McKenna College in Claremont, California. "If you have several days of the Dow plunging, that's going to get a lot of attention."

The Standard & Poor's 500 Index gained 0.8 percent to 1,424.97 at 11:36 a.m. in New York. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 76.95 points, or 0.6 percent, to 13,211.96.

The yield on the benchmark 10-year Treasury note increased three basis points, or 0.03 percentage point, to 1.73 percent at 11:32 a.m. New York time.

Minimize Opposition

If there's no deal by Jan. 1 and the markets start reacting, Boehner and Obama can minimize opposition in their parties and get an agreement passed, Ron Bonjean, who was an aide to former Republican House Speaker Dennis Hastert of Illinois, said in an interview.

Waiting until January also could relieve Republicans of running afoul of an anti-tax-increase pledge that most have signed, engineered by Grover Norquist, president of the anti-tax group Americans for Tax Reform.

Boehner made his offer on the phone one day after a face- to-face White House meeting with Obama that both sides described as "frank." The president has refused to discuss an overhaul of entitlement programs, including Medicare, until Boehner agrees to a tax rate increase for the top 2 percent of earners.

The speaker had earlier said he would consider raising revenue only by curtailing tax breaks or capping deductions for top earners.

Joint Committee

The congressional Joint Committee on Taxation has estimated that letting the tax cuts expire for annual income exceeding $1 million would generate $366 billion less revenue over a decade than the $829 billion that Obama's plan would collect by setting the annual threshold at $250,000.

Last week, Obama reduced his demand for revenue from tax increases to $1.4 trillion from $1.6 trillion. Lawmakers have said that the two sides must reach agreement on a framework by early this week to have enough time to advance legislation through Congress before the Christmas holiday.

If Congress doesn't act, tax rates for income at all levels would rise next month, along with taxes on estates, capital gains and dividends.

Senate Republicans are discussing a legislative strategy for extending the tax cuts for income up to $250,000 a year. Under the scenario, the House would vote on a measure that would enact that policy as well as a separate bill that would continue the tax cuts for all income. The Senate then would approve the first bill and send it to Obama for his signature.

Democrats are banking on the idea that the public would blame Republicans if no deal is reached by year's end.

"If they don't come to a compromise, all the ensuing problems on Jan. 1, almost all of them, will really be on their shoulders, and I think the public knows that," Senator Charles Schumer of New York, the chamber's third-ranking Democrat, said of Republicans in a Dec. 13 interview.

Voter Mandate

Sixty-five percent of those polled say Obama's Nov. 6 election victory gave him a mandate on his proposal to raise tax rates for top earners, according to a Bloomberg National Poll of 1,000 adults conducted Dec. 7-10.

Republicans say they plan to hold Obama responsible for the economic fate of the country if no deal is reached.

"It would be a wonderful thing for this president to actually own one of his boondoggles at some point in his presidency, because he has certainly had more than his share,'" Representative Trent Franks, an Arizona Republican, said in an interview.

In a $2.2 trillion deficit-cutting plan he offered earlier this month, Boehner proposed ways to trim entitlements. They included a new inflation yardstick -- the so-called chained consumer price index -- to reduce cost-of-living increases in Social Security. Other Republicans have advocated raising the Medicare eligibility age or raising premiums or co-payments for wealthier Medicare recipients, known as means testing.

Dollar for Dollar

Regarding the debt limit, Republicans demanded a dollar of spending cuts to match every dollar by which the debt ceiling was raised in 2011. Boehner has said the party will insist on a similar dollar-for-dollar spending cut in exchange for a debt- limit increase early next year.

"The debt ceiling is coming up and all this stuff is going to get tangled into one knot," said Representative Lynn Westmoreland, a Georgia Republican.

Still, Representative Tom Reed, a New York Republican, said there remains "strong sentiment" that "we need to avert the fiscal cliff."

"So that's why I think I'm not as optimistic as I was a month ago, but I will be the eternal optimist," Reed said. "It's extremely murky here, and we'll just have to let time take its course."

To contact the reporters on this story: Kathleen Hunter in Washington at khunter9@bloomberg.net; Roxana Tiron in Washington at rtiron@bloomberg.net; Roger Runningen in Washington at rrunningen@bloomberg.net

To contact the editor responsible for this story: Jodi Schneider at jschneider50@bloomberg.net

Health & Fitness

Pushing herself to the max! Gemma Atkinson shows off her increasingly toned body during punishing workout session

By Daily Mail Reporter

PUBLISHED: 01:25, 17 December 2012 | UPDATED: 02:37, 17 December 2012

She started her career as one of the most lusted after actresses on teen soap Hollyoaks.

But it seems that it's not just Gemma Atkinson's career that's developing, as she showed off her increasingly toned figure during a grueling workout session in Hollywood.

While she was over in LA for a series of meetings, the Casualty star found some time to keep fit, maintaining her incredibly high fitness levels and toning up her svelte figure.

Fitness fanatic: Gemma Atkinson shows off her incredibly toned physique during a workout in the Hollywood hills

The 27-year-old actress, who's recently been spotted training with her boyfriend Liam Richards, seemed to have swapped him in favour of a fitter model at the weekend.

Putting her through her paces was former Gladiator star Mark Smith, who starred as Rhino on the 1990's ITV show, displaying an incredibly toned physique.

 

Gemma wore a tiny purple cropped top and low-slung, black leggings for her workout in the trails of the Hollywood Hills, managing to work up a sweat during the punishing session.

The actress showed off her iron-board flat stomach and defined abs, going make-up free and scraping her hair back into a high, messy ponytail.

Looking impressed: Gemma brings along work out buddy Mark Smith, who starred as Rhino in Gladiators, looking impressed by his toned torso

But even fitness fanatic Gemma looked impressed when the 44-year-old former Gladiator whipped of his T-shirt to reveal a well-defined six-pack and toned torso.

Giving her a good workout, the now actor had her doing pull-ups on a high bar, having to give her a hand after a while, after limbering up with a few warm-up stretches.

The pair then decided to have a break, sitting down by the side of a trail after what looked like a grueling and sweaty session.

Punishing session: Mark gives Gemma a hand as she does pull-ups on a metal bar in Hollywood

Clearly trying to progress her career, the blonde actress and model was over in Tinseltown for a number of meetings and to do some voice-over work.

While she has a number of projects coming up, it seems that a Hollywood career might be beckoning, after already breaking into Bollywood.

'Unbeknown to most, I've made a name for myself in Bollywood and in November I'm flying to Switzerland to finish a Bollywood movie called Fever. I start another one in the new year too but that's filmed in Goa and New York,' she said recently.

Senior police inspector sacked after posting a picture of his genitals on Facebook

• Inspector Daemon Johnson - who had served with Northamptonshire Police for 25 years - was dismissed after shocked officers spotted the explicit photo online
• The experienced officer also sent inappropriate emails and made lewd comments to female staff
• Superintendent Jan Meagher confirmed today that an officer had been sacked following an investigation by the force's professional standards department

By Steve Nolan

PUBLISHED: 18:37, 13 December 2012 | UPDATED: 10:32, 14 December 2012

Sacked: Northamptonshire Police Inspector Daemon Johnson who was fired after posting a picture of his genitals of Facebook

A long-serving senior police inspector has been sacked after posting a picture of his genitals on Facebook.

Inspector Daemon Johnson - who had served Northamptonshire Police for 25 years - was fired after shocked officers spotted the explicit photo online.

The experienced officer also sent inappropriate emails and made lewd comments to female members of staff it emerged today.

He was sacked for gross misconduct following an investigation by Northamptonshire Police's professional standards department.

Confirming that an officer had been sacked this week, Superintendent Jan Meagher said: 'We can confirm that an officer appeared before a misconduct hearing in relation to allegations of inappropriate comments to female staff, misuse of the force email system and improper behaviour.

'The matters breached the standards of professional behaviour namely "discreditable conduct" and "equality and diversity".

'The panel decided that the most appropriate outcome was dismissal.

'We expect the highest standards from our officers and staff.

'We will take robust action in cases where we find the standard expected has not been upheld.

'As with all disciplinary hearings, every officer has a right to appeal.'

 

Johnson is not the first in the UK to be sacked or forced to resign because of Facebook indiscretions.

One officer from Cheshire resigned in October 2010 after being accused of harassing a former partner on Facebook.

'Discreditable conduct': Inspector Johnson was dismissed after an investigation by Northamptonshire Police's professional standards department

And earlier this year four officers from the same force as Inspector Johnson were banned from using Twitter after being caught sending inappropriate messages to each other.

The officers, who were among more than 40 police officers and staff who have been tweeting about their jobs over the past few months, were told to leave the website because they breached force rules.

It came after HMIC inspectors visited the force over this summer to look into how officers were using Twitter and later made recommendations.

At the time a force spokesman said: 'We expect the highest standards from our officers and staff at all times and this is reflected in procedures regarding the use of social media across the force.'

'Who can one trust?' Paul Burrell's disgust at betrayal of Royal Family secrets revealed in auction letters (but it didn't stop him cashing in 20 years later)

• Princess Diana's former butler talks of his disgust in letters written in 1982
  
• Tells of anger at Prince Charles' former valet revealing 'most personal secrets'
• Paul Burrell wrote to a friend also revealing tender Royal Family moments
• The letters are being sold at auction in west London tomorrow
  

By Martin Bagot

PUBLISHED: 12:11, 14 December 2012 | UPDATED: 14:31, 14 December 2012

Princess Diana's former butler Paul Burrell wrote of his disgust that anyone could reveal the Royal family's 'most personal secrets' 20 years before he did the same himself.

Letters he wrote to a friend when he served as the Queen's footman in 1982 show his reaction to the publishing of the memoirs of Prince Charles' former valet Stephen Barry.

Burrell, who has since published a tell-all book about his time at Buckingham Palace, wrote: 'I think it is disgusting - someone revealing the most personal secrets of the Royal Family.

Her rock: Diana's former butler Paul Burrell who went on to sell a tell-all book on the royals in 2003

'They must be cautious when chatting to staff from now on - after all, they must wonder 'who can one trust?'.'

Burrell has been accused of cashing-in on his time in the Royal Household and betraying the confidence of Princess Diana since publishing his memoirs in 2003.

 

His book, A Royal Duty, was said to have been highly damaging and included allegations of an affair between Prince Charles and nanny Tiggy Legge-Bourke.

Burrell spent 10 years as the Queen's footman at Buckingham Palace before working as Diana's butler for another 10 years up until her death in 1997.

Paul Burrell (left) justified revealing Princess Diana's secrets, but years earlier criticised such an act

His 30 letters, that are now to be sold at auction, also include sweet anecdotes of the Queen playing the role of a doting grandmother to Zara Phillips when she was a baby.

As a 15-month-old, Zara wore her best party dresses when having breakfast and afternoon tea with the Queen during a stay at Balmoral Castle in August 1982.

The Queen was said to have been 'thrilled' with her granddaughter and made a point of saying goodnight to her at 6.30pm.

The letters also tell how Zara's elder brother Peter, then aged four, wheeled her around the Scottish castle in a toy car.

When Burrell said to their mum that Zara looked quite happy, Princess Anne quipped: "Well at least she is now, until he tips over."

On another occasion at Balmoral, the Queen raised concerns about the health of one of her corgi dogs.

Causing a stir: Paul Burrell upset many in the Royal Family's inner circle with his memoirs in 2003

Her late sister Margaret puffed on a cigarette and replied: 'Well, perhaps he'll pop orf in the night!'

All the letters, dated from June to December 1982, were sent to Burrell's friend Michael Hillard.

They were found in a routine clearance of Mr Hillard's home in Bournemouth, Dorset, following his recent death and are now being sold.

They are expected to sell for a total of about £500.

Richard Davie, of International Autograph Auctions which is holding the auction, said: 'There are some interesting comments in these letters from Paul Burrell.

Pen pal: Letters written by Paul Burrell to a friend during his time in the Royal household

'His views on giving away Royal Family secrets certainly raise an eyebrow when you look at what he did years later in publishing a couple of books about his involvement with Princess Diana and the Royal Family.

'But other parts of these letters do give a fascinating insight into the hum-drum life in the Royal Household.'

Burrell, now aged 52, also wrote of how the Royal Family enjoyed barbecues at Balmoral - even when it was cold and wet.

He wrote: 'Margot screeched at the suggestion and Diana groaned, Sarah pulled a face but everyone seemed quite happy.

'"Wish I was tucked up in bed with our one and only" Diana said before leaving.'

The auction takes place tomorrow at the Radisson Edwardian Hotel at Heathrow, west London.

Family occasions: Letters written by Paul Burrell (right) reveal anecdotes about barbecues at Balmoral

Princess Diana (second left) alongside other members of the Royal Family on Remembrance Day back in 1986: Their intimate secrets, Paul Burrell wrote in letters sold tomorrow, should not be revealed

More misery for renters frozen off the housing ladder as average monthly payments are expected to jump by another 4%

• Rents expected to rise twice as fast as house prices in 2013
• Cost of the average home will rise by a modest two per cent
  

By Becky Barrow

PUBLISHED: 05:33, 14 December 2012 | UPDATED: 09:12, 14 December 2012

Rents will rise twice as fast as house prices in 2013 as Britain's embattled housing market endures another tough year, the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors will say today.

It expects the cost of the average home, currently £161,000, will rise by a modest two per cent next year - largely spurred by London and the South East - while the average rent will jump by four per cent.

Rents have already hit record highs as a generation of young people are forced into landlords' pockets after being frozen off the housing ladder, but they will climb even higher.

Not so sunny outlook: Average rents will rise twice as fast as house prices in 2013, the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors will say today

The average monthly rent is £745, rising to £1,100 in London, according to LSL Property Services, the largest network of lettings agents.

RICS said house price growth will continue to be thwarted by the tough economic outlook, the lack of job security facing many workers and first-time buyers' struggle to get a loan.

 

Simon Rubinsohn, chief economist at RICS, said there will be huge regional variation in the performance of house prices next year.

In recent years, the trend has been for house prices to rise sharply in London, rise modestly in the South East but to fall or tread water in other regions of the country.

RICS expects house prices will rise by around three per cent in London, except the 'prime' areas which will be 'broadly flat'.

Mr Rubinsohn said: 'The rest of the South East should also record a small gain in prices and our indicators are, significantly, also turning more positive in the North West region.

'Most other parts of the UK will show a broadly flat trend in prices or post very modest declines.' He said his predictions might be too optimistic, warning: 'It would not be difficult to project a more negative outcome given the risks to the economy.'

Meanwhile, the struggle faced by many homeowners who want to sell their property will continue.

Costly: The average monthly rent is now £745, rising to £1,100 in London (pictured)

RICS's forecast, published today, expects around 960,000 properties will be sold next year, which represents the strongest year since 2007, the year that the credit crunch began.

But this is far below the number of homes that used to change hands every year before the credit crunch struck. In 2007, 1.6million homes were sold.

Overall, the average cost of a home in Britain has fallen from a peak of £200,000 in August 2007 to £161,000 today, according to figures published by the Halifax.

But the fall could have been much steeper given the double-dip recession.

Mr Rubinsohn said: 'The residential property market has demonstrated a fair degree of resilience over the past year given the lamentable performance of the British economy.' The Halifax, which published its housing market forecast last week, also predicts very little movement in house prices next year.

Martin Ellis, housing economist at the Halifax, said: 'We expect continuing broad stability in house prices nationally in 2013.

'Prices are again likely to end the year at levels close to where they begin with the market continuing to lack any genuine direction.' Last month, the average price of a home in the UK was £160,879, which is just £5 higher than it was in November 2011, according to the Halifax.

The Census showed 14.9million families in England and Wales own their own home last year. Of the total, 7.2million do not have a mortgage on the property.

SponsorAScholar 'assessor' arrested on suspicion of inciting prostitution after students were told their fees would be paid in return for sex

• Girls aged 17 to 24 were offered up to £15,000 a year for 'adventures' with businessmen
• An undercover reporter met a man from the site who invited her for a 'practical assessment'
• Mark Lancaster, 39, has been arrested and material seized from his home
  

By Emma Reynolds

PUBLISHED: 10:36, 14 December 2012 | UPDATED: 16:33, 14 December 2012

An MoD computer consultant has been arrested on suspicion of working for a website offering to pay students' tuition fees in return for sex.

SponsorAScholar.co.uk promised female students aged 17 to 24 up to £15,000 a year in return for 'discreet adventures' with businessmen in private flats or hotel rooms.

Mark Lancaster, 39, was detained at an address in Milton Keynes and material was seized from there and from his family home in the village of Horndean, near Portsmouth.

'Inciting prostitution': A man thought to be Mark Lancaster, 39, is secretly filmed at a McDonald's in south London, allegedly telling an undercover reporter that she would need to have a 'practical assessment' at a nearby flat

The consultant, who had clearance to work on a major Ministry of Defence computer project, is suspected of inciting prostitution in the growing 'sex-for-fees' scandal.

He was questioned and released on police bail and will return to Charing Cross police station in London in February.

 

The arrest follows an undercover investigation by The Independent into a man who claimed to be an 'assessor' for the site.

An reporter posing as a student arranged to meet him for at a south London McDonald's two weeks ago.

She was told she would have to undergo a 'practical assessment' with him at a nearby flat to demonstrate the level of intimacy she was prepared to show to future 'sponsors', and informed that it would be up to her whether or not she used protection with the men.

The reporter, who secretly filmed the encounter, declined and left. The website has since been taken down.

SponsorAScholar.co.uk used a variety of images of women and glowing testimonials supposedly from satisfied customers.

Sordid: SponsorAScholar.co.uk, which has now been taken down, promised female students aged 17 to 24 up to £15,000 a year in return for 'discreet adventures' with businessmen in private flats or hotel rooms

It claimed 1,400 women had received 'scholarships', but it is not known how many actually contacted the website or whether any money has ever changed hands.

Concerned: Minister for Women Jo Swinson last week urged the police to investigate anyone suspected of taking advantage of students

The website said that most of the sponsors were 'men between the ages of 28 and 50 who run their own successful business and want to have discreet adventures with a student whilst helping them fund their studies through a scholarship'. It even suggested that the sum was tax deductible.

In November, a Channel 4 News undercover reporter attended an interview with the man behind the website in a flat he had rented in south east London.

Although she was told his name was John, the broadcaster believed it was Lancaster.

One student told Channel 4 News that she had the 'practical assessment' and was later told in an email that her application had been unsuccessful - but she could reapply in two months.

The 'assessor' used the name and former address of a top academic at a leading British university in his dealings with potential students. The academic has since contacted the police.

Minister for Women Jo Swinson last week urged the police to investigate anyone suspected of taking advantage of students.

The investigation follows growing concern that rising student fees could be forcing young people into sex work to cover their debt, with experts claiming the site was the 'tip of the iceberg'.

Detective Sergeant Alan Clark urged anyone who had made contact through the website to get in touch with police.

'If anyone has information in relation to the man shown in the film or the photographs or on the website itself, please contact us on 0800 783 2589 and we will get back to you in strict confidence,' he said.

Lancaster was cleared to work on the vast MoD contract known as 'DII' or Defence Information Infrastructure, marrying up the military's various computer networks.