A mature Internet? Not yet!
Industry analysts say the Internet is maturing. About a week ago Microsoft announced its unsolicited billion dollar offer for Yahoo! and the software giant promised to “drive innovation in emerging scenarios such as video, mobile services, online commerce, social media, and social platforms”.
Whatever the outcome of the proposed deal, the combination would clearly represent a major new force in the evolving world of web-based communications. And it would be a sign of a maturing business.
Though this might be true, there are still a number of issues to work on. One of those is Internet safety. The safety implications of the Internet will be scrutinized on February 12 as more than 40 countries mark ‘Safer Internet Day’. A number of communications groups, media companies, regulators and government authorities will use the event to debate the safety issues – particularly for children – of instant access to potentially unlimited and unfiltered information.
Companies operating in the internet industry – from the giants mentioned to the smallest internet service providers – have a responsibility for the integrity of the service they provide. That responsibility extends to the distribution platforms carrying internet traffic, such as UPC Broadband, which operates in 10 European countries. We are among the broadband distributors to endorse vital initiatives to make the internet a safer place for children and young people.
Those initiatives will be highlighted by today’s focus on internet safety, co-coordinated by INSAFE, a network of national organizations, like DigiBewust in the Netherlands, set-up and co-funded within the framework of the European Commission’s Safer Internet plus Programme.
Participating companies believe the enormous opportunities created by the internet do not come entirely without risks, particularly for younger and more vulnerable users. Internet safety is therefore becoming an ever more important issue - and as internet use across the globe increases and we all spend more and more time online, its importance will continue to grow.
Companies like UPC, which provide broadband connections to more than 10 million customers in Europe, must take our service and responsibilities to the next level. One of the most important ways in which we can protect young people is by raising awareness of the risks children may face online and educating them on how to avoid such risks. It’s about digital literacy.
UPC's Internet Safety Toolkit
To underline this we have developed - in partnership with INSAFE - a pan-European internet safety toolkit. The ‘toolkit’ is translated into 11 major European languages and explores online safety issues, offering parents and young people advice on how to overcome them.
This interactive family toolkit consists of a parent’s guide , an activity-based guidebook
designed specifically for children between 6-12 years old, stickers, a family certificate
and situation cards , making internet safety education fun, engaging and non-threatening. The toolkit will be distributed through a range of channels, including local Insafe partners, schools and our company. The toolkit is published on the 12th of February as part of the Insafe’s Safer Internet Day initiative.
As a partner of INSAFE we support their work to raise awareness of Internet safety across Europe. We also engage in other awareness raising activities, including special websites for children and youngsters, digital school centres in a number of European countries, in order to fill the knowledge gap: developing promotional materials around the issue, supporting parent-teacher evening classes and supporting various NGOs such as child helplines with the development of online counselling chatrooms.
Our efforts to protect children in the online environment are now extending beyond awareness-raising. We also include practical measures which we believe can help prevent the spread of child sexual abusive content on the web. According to a recent INHOPE report (the international association of internet hotlines reporting illegal content), child pornography grew by 15% every year, between 2004 and 2006, which is indicative of the scale of the problem.
Child Pornography Block in the Netherlands and Switzerland
Our Dutch and Swiss affiliates have taken the lead on this by partnering with national police forces and NGOs to ‘black-list’ websites containing child pornography. Any attempt to access sites with child abusive content initially prompts a ‘STOP’ page on the screen which contains a warning and an explanation of why the site is blocked. Our actions have been overwhelmingly welcomed by parents and other societal stakeholders. It is these close public/private partnership that make these initiatives successful.
It is our goal to expand activities related to safe internet in the near future. And we also want to further liaise and deepen our relationships with governments, NGO’s and special interest groups. We are learning through our contacts and public/private partnerships how we can help parents & children and make the digital world an interesting and secure place to be.
As this industry consolidates, the responsibilities on the leading players will intensify. It is up to companies operating in this space to ensure, as internet use continues growing, that it does so safely.
