Childnet welcomes UK Mobile Operators’ Code of Practice 19 January 2004

Childnet, the children’s Internet charity(1), today welcomed the publication of the ‘CODE OF PRACTICE FOR THE SELF-REGULATION OF NEW FORMS OF CONTENT ON MOBILES’ produced by the UK mobile phone operators. Having made public comments on the earlier drafts(2), Childnet is pleased to see the operators’ emphasis on providing parents and carers with the choice to control the information and content their children can access on mobile phones as well as the steps the industry is taking to limit SPAM and unwanted content.

At a time when there is heightened concern about the way children and young people can come into contact with strangers through technology, Childnet also welcomes the reference to the importance of awareness in the Code and the Mobile Operators commitment to support awareness initiatives to both parents and children about the safe use of the technologies they are using.

However, whilst important progress has been made, Childnet has a number of concerns which are not adequately addressed by the Code. These include:

• An overall concern about the lack of detail given in the Code of Practice, and we seek further detail about access controls, filtering solutions, the action to be taken against spam, the form of moderation for chat for under 18s, the information and advice to customers, and how the process of age verification will work in practice.

• Concerns that the Independent Classification Body will be properly resourced and will be able to start working quickly on rating the new commercial content and services.

• Concerns that the filtering options that will be offered to parents will not be common across all the systems being used. There would be untold advantages for the parent if the filters offered by the different Mobile Operators were the same. Childnet is keen that child safety will not become a focus of competition and we are concerned that if there is no commonality or consistency between the different systems the option may become confusing and difficult for parents to choose. We would also seek assurances that this service will come at no cost to the parent.

• While the code states that operators will place unmoderated chat rooms behind access controls, Childnet is concerned that children will be able to access those chatrooms moderated only by software.

• Concerns that the information and advice to customers – including parents, carers and children – will not be the wide-reaching hard-hitting awareness campaign that is necessary to ensure the key safety messages are got across to users, in order that children and parents will know how to keep safe while using this new technology.

• Childnet would encourage the Mobile Operators to commit to spread the awareness for the need for such a self-regulatory approach on the part of the mobile industry to sections of their companies working in other countries. The issue of child safety on new mobile technologies is a global one, and not confined to the UK.

Stephen Carrick-Davies, Childnet’s CEO, says

“As more and more children and young people access new content and services on mobile phones, it is vital that the mobile industry reviews carefully the safety issues and the way in which children are vulnerable to inappropriate content, contact and commercial services. We all have to play a part in ensuring that children’s rights are protected and promoted in this fast changing technology landscape.”

1. Childnet have been active in the area of mobile phone technology in relation to children, and we held an experts seminar in Japan in March 2003 looking at the potential impact that the mobile Internet would have on children, both in terms of potential positives and what potential negatives the new technology may have for children. www.childnet-int.org/projects/japan.html. Childnet are also exploring the positive potential of new mobile technology for children in a pilot project designed to use the technology to help young people bridge divisions between different sections for the same community, and this is running in Northern Ireland and piloting in Hungary, see www.childnetchallenge.org.

2. See www.childnet-int.org/downloads/code%20of%20practice.pdf