EC plans safe surfing for kids
p2pnet.net News:- A four-part action plan to combat online child porn, racism and spam is being planned by the European Commission.
“Children should have the right to use the internet freely, to chat, to learn or to play games,” says Enterprise and Information Society Commissioner Erkki Liikanen. “But to move freely on line, children must be protected from risks of being exploited or cheated by adults.”
Forty-six percent of children in Northern Europe who chat on the internet say someone has used it to ask to meet them and 14% have actually met someone in this way, but only 4% of parents believe their children have done so, says a 2003 EU Safety, Awareness, Facts and Tools (SAFT) survey.
Safer Internet plus, a new euro 50 million (about $61,332,000) four-year programme to make the internet safer for children, would run from 2005 to 2008, building on EU work under way since 1996 to combat illegal and harmful internet content, it says.
“Encompassing new media, such as videos, and new issues such as ’spam, it would bring in accession countries, and focus more closely on end users: parents, educators and children,” says an EC statement.
“It aims to mobilise talent in the public, private and voluntary sectors to prepare hard-hitting safety campaigns. Its four action lines are: fighting illegal content; tackling unwanted and harmful content (including spam); promoting a safer environment, and awareness-raising.
Activities under the four Safer Internet plus action lines will include:
Fighting against illegal content
Hotlines are reporting mechanisms which allow members of the public to report illegal content and which pass the reports on to the appropriate body for action. The Commission proposes to fund network co-ordination and individual hotlines.
Tackling unwanted and harmful content
The programme will provide funding for technological measures that empower users to limit the amount of unwanted and harmful content which they receive, or can be used to assess the effectiveness of available filtering technology. Funding will also be available to support the development of effective filtering technology and promote exchanges of information and best practice on effective anti-spam enforcement.
Promoting a safer environment
The European Union supports a self-regulatory approach, offering flexibility and understanding of the needs of the medium in an area combining high technology, rapid change and cross-border activity. The Commission will provide a platform for national co-regulatory or self-regulatory bodies to exchange experience – The Safer Internet Forum.
Awareness-raising
The Commission proposes to support systematic information about safer internet use, particularly for personalised, interactive and mobile applications, linked with other EU actions on media education and internet literacy. The Commission will concentrate on pump-priming, encouraging the multiplier effect and exchange of best practices through a network.
