The Oxford University Internet Institute (OII) in the framework of the European Internet Co-regulation network (EICN) has led a working group on child protection and mobile phone issues since 2004.  It is expected to publish its findings in May 2005.

The report notes that while mobile Internet is not a new phenomenon, the vast improvement in online capabilities offered by second and third generation mobile phones raise safety issues particularly in regard to use by young people.

While many Internet safety issues affect both PC and mobile access, the report identifies particularities of mobile phone use.

The private nature of the use of mobile phones means that parental supervision of children’s activity is much more difficult.  Parental concern is likely to increase with the emergence of adult content and services such as online gaming and gambling on mobiles. 

Whereas a PC user would pay for online services by credit card, mobile users can access and pay through premium-rate services.  This raises the issue of effective age verification to ensure children and young people do not deliberately or inadvertently access inappropriate content.

The OII report will point out, however, that mobile content and services currently seem to be controlled and regulated more easily on mobile networks.  While there are innumerous ISPs offering Internet access for PCs, there are only a handful of mobile operators in each country. 

In a mobile scenario, filtering often tends to be opt-out rather than opt-in, and can be effectively controlled by mobile operators.

The OII emphasise that their research is preliminary and further work is necessary before a set of recommendations for good practice can be made to the EICN.