Childnet advises on Japanese mobile phone safety issues 22 January 2004

Following on from the successful conference that Childnet organised with the Japanese Internet Association last year, Childnet’s Chief Executive, Stephen Carrick-Davies returned to Japan this week to speak at the ‘The Tokyo conference on the Internet and Children’.

Invited as one of the key note speakers, Stephen was asked to share from Childnet’s experience of developing Internet safety awareness programmes in the UK, as well as the experience of promoting the positive things children can do online through the C&W Chidnet Academy programme. See powerpoint slides.

The conference looked at the growing problem of Japanese children accessing “Deai Kei Saito” websites from their mobile phones and the danger of many of them being drawn into child prostitution. According to the Japanese Police Force, these Internet dating sites which function in much the same way as “lonely hearts clubs” are increasingly becoming facades for pornography and allowing adults to meet school girls.

In the first half of 2002 the Japanese Police Force claim over 400 cases of child prostitution were reported.

At the Tokyo conference, delegates heard how the Japanese Internet Association is working on a number of filtering options to better protect children when using mobile phones to access the net. The conference also heard about the recent changes in the law which has had some success in regulating these dating sites. However, more needs to be done and at the conference Childnet called for both industry, government and education authorities to do more to protect children in Japan and ensure that Parents were better aware of the dangers for children.

Since 1999 it has been possible to access websites from mobile phones and today an estimated 83% of young people in Japan own internet enabled phones with a further 22% of females and 18.4 % of males accessing dating sites. According to National Police Agency statistics, of those high school students accessing dating sites, 43% of females and 27% of males have actually met their date.

Following the conference, Stephen travelled to the University of Gunma in Maebashi to meet with representatives of Netizen Village a non-profit organisation which is beginning to mount media literacy programmes for both young people and parents. At a packed evening meeting, Stephen encouraged local parents and educators to challenge the mobile phone operators and at the same time produce good resources for parents and teachers to help them understand the dangers and better protect their children.

Jean Armour Polly – “Net Mom” from the USA, also spoke at the Tokyo and Maebashi conference and joined Stephen in stressing the importance of supporting both young people and parents to use the Internet positively and creatively.

Stephen says ”While there are very important cultural differences in Japanese society and in the way young people interact with technology compared with their counterparts in Europe or USA, there are vital lessons which need to be learnt from Japan such as accessing such sites outside of parental supervision. This is a growing challenge and it is vital that the law in Japan is strengthened to ensure that children are not abused or indeed criminalised.”

Recently Childnet criticised the UK Mobile Phone operators Code of Practice for not being detailed enough in the way in which the operators propose to introduce filtering options on mobile phones. Stephen goes on “Whilst we do appreciate the enormous challenge for both Industry and regulators in ensuring that children are protected from harmful content and contact, it is vital that we learn from the Japanese experience and work hard to better inform parents and teachers as to both the dangers and positive opportunities for children in using new mobile technology. We at Childnet are keen to support initiatives, help all sectors to review policies and practice and support education and media literacy campaigns.”