Under the scope of the celebrations of the European Safer Internet Day, 6 February 2007, the European Commission released yesterday the conclusions of a study that analysed, in 2006, content filtering software programs in the most used languages. Among others, it considers child pornography and the online incitement by paedophiles as threats to society, particularly for children and youngsters. Considering that good tools already exist at this level, Viviane Reding, European Commissioner for Information Society and Media, considered the promotion of a safer Internet use as a basic worry of the public and private sector leaders, calling for the development of programs that enclose other types of harmful contents.
On the other hand, with the sponsorship of the European Commission, the main European mobile phone operators, also yesterday, made the commitment to adopt protection measures for minors concerning the limitation of access to adult contents. Until February 2008, it is expected that the operators finalize self-regulation codes, containing measures such as awareness-raising campaigns for parents and children, access control to adult contents, classification of commercial contents according to decency standards and the adaptation to and fight against illegal contents.
The European Commission also conducted, in the second quarter of 2006, a public consultation on the protection of minors using mobile phones, having received contributions from all European Union Member States, except Latvia, Luxembourg, Portugal and the Czech Republic. The results of this consultation show that, in spite of these services’ benefits, there are many threats. To fight them, measures should be undertaken, such as the development of a community framework for self-regulatory initiatives, raising citizens’ awareness of the threats of using mobile phones, and the implementation of European-wide solutions, including the development of a common content theme classification, of common standards for content filtering tools and of research programmes on these subjects.
Consult:
- Safer Internet Programme Benchmarking of Filtering Software and Services, Deloitte, December 2006 https://www.anacom.pt/render.jsp?contentId=453921
See also:
- European Safer Internet Day https://www.anacom.pt/render.jsp?contentId=454020
- Public consultation on the protection of minors using mobile phones https://www.anacom.pt/render.jsp?contentId=388607
Further information:
- Nota de imprensa: 'Tornar a Internet mais segura para as crianças: a Europa apela a uma acção empenhada no âmbito do ''Dia da Internet mais segura'' 2007' http://www.europa.eu/rapid/pressReleasesAction.do?reference=IP/07/140&format=HTML&aged=0&language=EN&guiLanguage=en
- Conclusões da consulta pública: Summary of the results of the public consultation ''Child safety and mobile phone services'' http://ec.europa.eu/information_society/activities/sip/policy/consultations/child_mobil/index_en.htm
- Folheto informativo: Making the Internet a safer place, 2 February 2007 http://ec.europa.eu/information_society/doc/factsheets/018-saferinternetplus.pdf
- Perguntas frequentes: Safer Internet Day 2007 - Frequently Asked Questions (em inglês) http://www.europa.eu/rapid/pressReleasesAction.do?reference=MEMO/07/44&format=HTML&aged=0&language=EN&guiLanguage=fr
