EU plans to make internet safer for children

The European Commission has proposed a new €50-million programme to make the internet safer for children across the enlarged European Union.

The programme, Safer Internet plus, which would run from 2005 to 2008, would build upon EU work under way since 1996 to combat illegal and harmful internet content.

Encompassing new media, such as videos, and new issues such as spam, it would bring in accession countries and focus more closely on parents, educators and children.

The programme aims to mobilise talent in the public, private and voluntary sectors to prepare hard-hitting safety campaigns.

Its four lines of action are: fighting illegal content; tackling unwanted and harmful content (including spam); promoting a safer environment, and awareness-raising.

"Children should have the right to use the internet freely, to chat, to learn or to play games," commented Enterprise and Information Society Commissioner Erkki Liikanen. "But to move freely online, children must be protected from risks of being exploited or cheated by adults."

To fight illegal content, the Commission proposes to fund hotlines that would allow members of the public to make reports, which would then be passed on to the appropriate bodies.

Tackling unwanted and harmful content will entail funding technological measures that would enable users to limit the amount of unwanted and harmful content which they receive. The measures would also be used to assess the effectiveness of available filtering technology.

Funding will also be available to support the development of effective filtering and promote exchanges of information and best practice on effective anti-spam enforcement.

For the promotion of a safer environment, the Commission will provide a platform for national co-regulatory or self-regulatory bodies to exchange experience - The Safer Internet Forum.

Finally, to raise awareness, the Commission proposes to support the spread of information about safer internet use, particularly for personalised, interactive and mobile applications, linked with other EU actions on media education and internet literacy.

According to an upcoming Eurobarometer survey, half of Europe's parents do not think their children know what to do if a situation on the internet makes them uncomfortable.

A survey carried out by UK cable company Telewest last year found that a lack of knowledge about the internet means too many parents have no clue what their children are doing online. Many worry about what their children have seen, but one in four are unsure where to get safety advice.

The importance of safer internet awareness among parents has been underlined through several EU-funded surveys, showing that European parents seriously underestimate their children's daily exposure to harmful content and dangerous situations online.

A survey last year found that 46 per cent of children in Northern Europe who chat on the internet say someone has used it to ask to meet them and 14 per cent have actually met someone in this way, but only four per cent of parents believe that their children have done so.

The Safer Internet plus programme aims to change this, by empowering parents and teachers to use on-line safety tools.

Safer Internet projects have contributed to several remarkable achievements, including the October 2003 break-up of a worldwide child-porn ring thanks to a tip from the Internet hotline association INHOPE.

More information can be found at http://europa.eu.int/iap