A UK Perspective
1) The UK is widely acknowledged as a global leader in the field of online child safety. That leadership is based on centres of excellence, expertise and a proven track record of best practice. We a fortunate to have a disproportionately large concentration of world class organisations and initiatives including UKCCIS, CEOP, IWF, NSPCC and WePROTECT Global Alliance. Through Ofcom, the LSE and other academic research bodies, for the most part, there is a sound, evidence-based approach to the digital lives of children and young people.
2) Since the beginning of the new millennium, successive UK Governments have made child online safety a priority. A strong charitable base, responsive industry and campaigning approach from the press and media, have combined to make the UK progressive in many areas. In 2008, the UK Government commissioned an independent landmark report that has done much to shape the policy discourse to date. Professor Tanya Byron’s 'Safer Children in a Digital World' made a series of important recommendations, all accepted by the government. One of the most significant of these was the establishment of the UK Council for Internet Safety (UKCCIS) in 2010. This voluntary, multi-stakeholder organisation, has acted as a focal point and through its working groups delivered a wide range of progressive initiatives, that deserve greater attention and credit. Any inquiry into children and internet would not be complete without a better understanding not just of the extraordinary progress made through these groups but also the UK’s relative global position in the field of child online safety.
3) Let’s start first with UKCCIS and the working groups. UKCCIS remains a unique body and internationally is seen as a model of best practice. Other countries do have convening councils or bodies but few have the voluntary, multi-stakeholder ethos that has enabled the UK to deliver genuine progress in the field of child online safety. Key to that, are its working groups in areas like education, research, filtering and social media. Over the years, the working groups have evolved and varied in number, often in response to specific challenges or needs. In addition, these working groups have published a range of policy reports and expert-moderated documents that have provided valuable insights and guidance to the wider stakeholder community.
4) A good example of the focus that UKCCIS brings to both to UK policy and best practice in the field of child online safety, is in its approach to filtering. In the last few years, no other democracy has implemented such a comprehensive range of filtering tools and guidance for its citizens. This required the UK’s four leading ISP’s (BT, Sky, Virgin Media and TalkTalk) to deploy a whole new generation of network-level filters to both existing and new subscribers in more than 19.6 million households (85% of UK households). Significant investment was required to integrate these products seamlessly into their offerings. Along with £25 million parent portal called Internet Matters, funded by the same four ISPs, it represents a remarkable example of how industry can play a pivotal role.
5) Few countries have been bolder in their approach towards filtering. Apart from the costs, predominantly borne by industry, it has inevitably required dealing with a number of complex issues. For example, youth charities and advocates for freedom of expression were rightly worried about the impact of these new filters on online support services and resources. Vitally important to young people, there was a real danger that teenagers in particular, in seeking online confidential advice through web sites, would be blocked. The risks of overblocking or underblocking legitimate web sites could have significant consequences. The online gaming community, LGBT and sexual health charities felt particularly vulnerable. As a result, the UKCCIS Overblocking Working Group was established in September 2013. Its aim was to measure the impact of the new filters and calibrate them to be as proportional and age appropriate as possible. As its chair, I was able convene a wide range of stakeholder organisations, often with very different perspectives. Over an eighteen-month period and in parallel with the deployment of ISP filters, the group worked together to refine these filters and along with the charities find the right balance between protection and ensuring young people continued to get access to trusted online advice and guidance.
6) Through a series of working group meetings and workshops, the ISPs and mobile operators established a range of new services, enabling web masters and consumers to report mis-categorisation, overblocking or underblocking. This data enabled access providers to refine their filtering products, as well ensure overblocking was kept to an absolute minimum. Youth charities also worked hard to ensure vitally important online support services remained accessible and were kept informed of the working groups efforts on their behalf. This task was carried through into the UKCCIS Filtering Working Group and remains ongoing.
7) In addition, ISPs themselves sought feedback from their own users in terms of uptake and providing feature enhancements. Parents for example, can tailor ISP filters to reflect their families’ values and priorities. ‘Active choice’ has done much to prioritise filtering and encourage parents to discuss internet safety in UK households. Independently reviewed by Ofcom, parents made it clear that they saw this new generation of ISP filters as an easy to use, set of new tools.
8) It’s important to acknowledge broader UK industry efforts to filter age appropriate content. Since 2007, all UK mobile operators implemented default-on filtering of pornography on their mobile devices. From 2013, the BBFC provided an independent, voluntary Classification Framework for UK mobile operators filtering online content. The Classification Framework defines content that is unsuitable for customers under the age of 18 and is based on the BBFC’s Classification Guidelines for film and video. The Framework enables mobile operators to calibrate filters they use to restrict access via mobile networks to age appropriate internet content, including entire web sites, by those under 18. Open to webmasters, access providers and consumers, it includes a free appeals procedure and quarterly reports on the outcome of each case.
9) Concerns around children’s increasing use of public Wi-Fi is being addressed through RDI’s Friendly WiFi accreditation scheme established in 2013. More than 3,000 retailers and small businesses have now been accredited and the scheme is now being adopted in the USA and a number of other European countries.
10) It is important to note that the UK has persisted with these filtering policies in spite of considerable scepticism from other countries and some notable challenges in implementing national programmes of filtering. Australia’s difficulties in mandating filtering for its citizens and the Germany’s mixed results around age verification provide valuable lessons.
11) The growing encryption of browsers, websites, messaging services and many popular apps, is likely to make it increasingly difficult for parents to control or manage their children’s activities online. Accessibility through gaming devices, TV’s and the inexorable move towards the Internet of Things (IoT), will only serve to compound the problem.
12) The implementation of age verification for minors in relation to online sexually explicit content through the Digital Economy Bill, is a significant and timely step. However, if the balanced and collaborative approach used in filtering is anything to go by, it’s likely to be robust and effective.
A Global Perspective
13) Most countries around the world share similar concerns to those raised through this inquiry. Indeed, one of the surprising attributes of the digital lives of children and young people, is that in spite of often diverse cultures and social norms, the way they use technology and the concerns of parents remain remarkably similar. The biggest variable is in fact the way adults within society respond to the needs of young people and their increasingly digital lives. The lack of a coherent global approach to child online safety is of major concern and this given an added urgency, as a growing global youth demographic emerges.
14) According to the UN ITU, by the end of 2016, 3.9 billion people (47% of the world population) will be using the internet. However, the really significant factor is that for this first time, nearly half of those accessing the internet are under 25 years of age. Coupled with a dramatic fall in the average age of access (in the UK for example, more than third of 3-4 year olds access the internet weekly) and it’s clear that from an early age, children will be exposed both to the risks and rewards of an increasingly digital era.
15) Until now, most internet growth has been in countries with mature economies, robust institutions (government, law enforcement, education) and in digital terms (10-15 years) with time to adapt. However, in emerging economies, high-speed internet access is being deployed in a fraction that time (3-5 years), often against the backdrop of institutions ill-equipped to deal with the online risks and harms that children and young people may face. And once again, in the field of child online sexual exploitation and abuse, the UK is providing exemplary global leadership through the WePROTECT Global Alliance to End Child Sexual Exploitation Online.
16) Founded in 2014, by Baroness Joanna Shields, the UK brings that same collaborative blend of concern, funding and leadership to an issue that will require a global response if it is to be successful. It’s probably the first genuinely global response to a child online safety issue and requires engaging with a new range of international and regional stakeholders, including UNICEF. More than 70 countries are already committed to the initiative and many, until now, have been focused predominantly on issues that have had a relatively limited digital dimension. Criminality, violent extremism and abuse always targets the vulnerable and will take the least line of resistance. The growing global pervasiveness of the internet acts as an accelerant to all these issues, its borderless nature, demanding a new response.
17) I chaired the Industry and Media Break Out Group at its 2nd WePROTECT Summit in Abu Dhabi (November 2015) and with Child Helpline International met representatives from all 17 priority countries through four two-day conference in Cairo, London, Nairobi and Paraguay. I have seen first-hand the impact of high-speed internet access on countries ill-equipped to deal with issues like online child sexual exploitation and abuse. There is a unique opportunity to get ahead of this emerging crime, by deploying new technologies, convening stakeholders and capacity building, particularly in countries with fast growing and often vulnerable youth populations.
Conclusion
18) The UK should be proud of its track record in the field of child online safety. Internationally, it’s widely admired for having a number of world class organisations and proven examples of best practice. It also displays strong international leadership, founded on a vibrant and ongoing UK multi-stakeholder expert discourse.
19) Once senses, that the WePROTECT Global Alliance is ushering in a new era for the UK, as it leverages its world class reputation in the field of child online safety. It is already acting as a catalyst to a more coherent global approach, not just to the risks but the opportunities, for children and young people as they learn to navigate their digital lives.
August 2016
Brief Biography
1) I am an independent consultant in the field of child online safety. I recently advised the British Board of Film Classification (BBFC), as part of the consultation on age verification and Child Helpline International, headquartered in Amsterdam, as part of its UNICEF funded WePROTECT Global Alliance to End Sexual Exploitation of Children Online initiative.
2) As former Director of the Family Online Safety Institute (FOSI), I have served on the UK Council for Child Internet Safety (UKCCIS) Executive Board for three years and chaired the UKCCIS Overblocking Working Group and UKCCIS Filtering Working Group thereafter. I remain a member of the UKCCIS Evidence Working Group.
3) I was the architect of FOSI’s Global Resource and Information Directory (GRID). Launched in 2010, it remains the only comprehensive source of peer-reviewed online safety information on a global scale. In May 2016, FOSI GRID was relaunched with funding from UNICEF, as part of the WePROTECT Global Alliance initiative to tackle online child sexual exploitation and abuse.
4) With more than thirty years of executive management experience at leading technology and telecommunication companies including Motorola, Compaq and IBM, I am a member of the Worshipful Company of Information Technologists and Freeman of the City of London.
Useful links:
http://www.childhelplineinternational.org
https://www.gov.uk/government/groups/uk-council-for-child-internet-safety-ukccis
http://www.itu.int/en/ITU-D/Statistics/Pages/stat/default.aspx
http://stakeholders.ofcom.org.uk/binaries/internet/fourth_internet_safety_report.pdf
https://www.internetmatters.org