Children face risks

Code not empowering, warns Will Gardner

There are potential risks facing children using new mobile services. We have classified the main potential risks to children in this space as Content, Contact and Commercialism:

-  Content – exposure to potentially harmful content such as pornography, violence, or racist material or other inaccurate information
-  Contact – adults with a sexual interest in children making inappropriate contact with children in interactive services, and also bullying
-  Commercialism – issues here include privacy protection, direct marketing, and the blurring of the distinction between advertising and editorial.

Always available

The nature of the mobile device makes the internet and other services inherently riskier for two main reasons. First, the private and personal nature of the mobile device; the mobile phone is the ultimate in personal and private communication, which makes parental supervision impossible.
Second, the fact that the mobile phone is always on. The whole point of having a mobile phone is to be able to be contacted and to contact others at any time. Children are thus always potentially reachable and potentially vulnerable.
We are facing the situation where not only do most children and young people have mobile phones, but mobile phones have become an essential item for this age group. One 15 year-old girl said to us, ‘If you took away my phone you would take away a part of me,’ clearly illustrating how important the phone had become in her everyday life.

Code not heard

The Code of Practice agreed by the UK mobile operators to provide parents and carers with safety tools and safety advice is not effectively reaching its target audience, and we need to do more to educate and empower parents1 and children so they know how to use this technology safely.
Childnet International has been working to help make the internet a great and safe place for children for 11 years, and we have recognised that children can be made vulnerable by technology.
In our document ‘Children and Mobile phones: An Agenda for Action’2 we outline who needs to be involved and what we need to do to help children get the most out of this technology and keep safe. All sectors – schools, government, law enforcement, mobile operators, content providers, product developers, retailers, as well as parents and carers – need to consult with children and young people themselves, understanding each sector’s viewpoints and challenges, and work constructively to ensure that children are protected and able to really benefit from the new technologies.

References

1.  The need to inform parents in this area has been made clear both in Childnet’s experience, in the e-mails we receive from parents and also in discussions we have with parents during our parents seminars (see www.kidsmart.org.uk), and also was found in OFCOM’s recent Media Literacy Audit: Report on adult media literacy, p62: see http://tinyurl.com/ml84b
2.   See http://www.childnet-int.org/downloads/CMPAAA_A4.pdf.

Will Gardner is Research and Policy Manager at Childnet International
Will@childnet-int.org