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Insafe Newsletter
Issue 40: November 2008 |
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Welcome to the Insafe Newsletter!
ISPs and industry: roles and responsibilities
In the debate on the internet game "Muslim Massacre" we find the statement from the Ramadhan Foundation that describes the game as "unacceptable, tasteless and deeply offensive". The group goes on to argue: "This game is glorifying the killing of Muslims in the Middle East and we urge ISP providers to take action to remove this site from their services as it incites violence towards Muslims and is trying to justify the killing of innocent Muslims."
Commentators will often include the point that there is little that ISPs can do. The responsibility for controlling what is available or not on the internet is not the service providers' who only provide access to the web.
The debate is open
In the United Kingdom, the setting up recently of the UK Council for Child Internet Safety (UKCCIS) has brought together actors from different stakeholder groups including both Insafe network members and representatives from the ISP industry. ISPA Council member, Camille de Stempel, Director of Policy for AOL Europe, has been appointed to the Executive Board of the UKCCIS, for example.
So, what are the responsibilities of ISPs?
ISP Virginmedia comments: "Along with new ways of communicating come concerns around things such as privacy, intellectual property and the safety of web users, especially children. These issues go beyond simply managing our direct responsibilities to our customers; they relate to the much broader question of what being a responsible Internet Service Provider (ISP) involves."
There is hope, then, that new answers will be found. The Ofcom response to the House of Lords, however, included the statement:
"Ofcom believes that the ISP contribution to security could have a greater impact than at present. For example, security could be a more important feature of the service provided, and there could be greater transparency about the security support which consumers can expect, and which ISPs should provide. Ofcom has engaged with the Internet Service Providers’ Association (ISPA), the ISP trade body, with a view to exploring what more the industry could do to address subscribers’ security needs."
The Children’s Charities’ Coalition on Internet Safety (CHIS) asks in particular: "What role should ISPs have in these matters? They are, after all, the companies that actually provide the internet connectivity."
The CHIS links responsibility for safety to the hardware and connectivity service suppliers:
"The old idea of an ISP was of a company that only or principally provided connections to the internet. There are fewer and fewer such companies. These days, particularly within the domestic market, internet connectivity often comes bundled with a piece of hardware so, for very many people, buying the hardware and obtaining access to the internet are really all part of the same process or transaction. With mobile phone and TV companies increasingly moving into the same space that ISPs used to occupy, this multi media convergence is becoming a daily, and often bewildering, reality for millions of people in all kinds of households."
The CHIS propose, in particular that:
"To the extent that a company is involved in providing internet access to the domestic market, either as a stand alone product or as part of a larger offering, the internet component should always be provided, by default, with safety software pre-installed and set to the highest appropriate level of safety."
This responsibility, however, is shared, as the coalition points out:
"The risk with turning on safety settings by default is that, in a sense and among other things, it may give parents a false sense of reassurance. It might mean many parents never trouble to find out anything at all about internet safety, so if something unexpected happens later they will flounder. Parents might start to believe that the machine or service is guaranteed to be 100% safe all of the time so they just dismiss the issue from their minds believing they never have to think or worry about it again. All of these things are bad and undesirable, but the opposites are worse."
"It is also very important that pre-installing safety software is not seen as being an alternative to reaching out to parents and educating them about risks. Preinstalling safety software is something that needs to be done in addition. Pre-installing safety software is also not an alternative to continuing to reach out to and educate children and young people themselves about the hazards of the internet and about the importance of behaving appropriately when online."
The internet safety actors, then, must continue to push in many different directions. Our role is to increase awareness and we must work with industry in what we see as a shared responsibility to protect and educate.This is why as a network we are including representatives of industry in many of our campaigns.
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 European Parliament’s strong support for new Safer Internet Programme
The European Parliament cast an overwhelmingly positive vote (22/10/08) on the report drafted by MEP Roberta Angelilli which supports the launch of a new EU Safer Internet programme. The 5-year programme (2009–13), proposed by the European Commission last February, will have a budget of € 55 million to combat illegal online content but also to tackle illegal and harmful conduct such as grooming and cyberbullying. Read more
Dutch 'Notice-and-Take-Down' Code of Conduct issuedMinister for Foreign Trade Heemskerk kicked off the 'Notice-and-Take-Down' Code of Conduct in The Hague. The Code sets out how internet companies are to handle reports about illegal websites. Under the terms of the Code of Conduct, illegal websites hosted from the Netherlands will eventually be removed. Read more
Node’s collaboration lesson with Spanish industry
PROTEGELES, thanks to its experience in the fields of education and relationships with teachers, has collaborated with the Spanish Partners of the Pan-European Project TEACHTODAY, that is, Telefónica, Orange, MSN and Vodafone, following their request. Read more
 Save the Children and the industry's responsibilitiesOver the last few years, Save the Children Italy has encouraged ICT industry representatives to develop a more open approach towards both institutions and NGOs which promote children rights, and consumer and parents’ associations. Save the Children also encourages common approaches and strategies when it comes to child protection among those operating within the same field. Read more
Voluntary agreement of mobile phone operators on youth protection successfully implemented in GermanyOne year ago, mobile phone operators (including T-Mobile, Vodafone and O2) signed a voluntary agreement to commit themselves to a range of measures for the protection of children and young people using internet-enabled mobile phones. Read more
Digital Competences in Consumer EducationOnline auctions, purchases on a mobile phone, viral marketing and “free” profile applications; with the digitalisation of our everyday lives comes new structures of consumption. Today digital competences are crucial in order to be an empowered consumer. Read more
Quizzz it up!
The Insafe network is launching its first global activity for Safer Internet Day 2009, 10 February 2009, namely a quiz available in 22 languages! Read more
New competition: “Surf the net – think privacy!”
To celebrate Data Protection Day on 28 January 2009, EUN in collaboration with Microsoft just launched a new competition, inviting young people aged 15 to 19 years old to express their views and concerns about online privacy. Winners will be invited in Brussels to meet eminent jury members and take part in the Data Protection Day events where they will be awarded prizes. Read more
 Relive the "Keeping Children and Young People Safe Online" conference
Today, we have a plethora of eID cards in our wallets: national, commercial, signature or electronic health cards etc. All ID cards contain sensitive details, be it personal, biometric or administrative information. This touches the question of privacy. The need for interoperable electronic documents for verifying who is making a transaction is paramount if eServices are to be made readily available in Europe. Read more
Updated Know IT All for parents now available
Childnet International is delighted to announce that the Know IT All for parents CDRom is available again – all 1 million copies of the earlier version were ordered and distributed in less than 6 months – and it has been updated to include fresh content on new and significant issues including social networking, cyberbullying and reporting. Read more
 Security and Interoperability of eID
Today, we have a plethora of eID cards in our wallets: national, commercial, signature or electronic health cards etc. All ID cards contain sensitive details, be it personal, biometric or administrative information. This touches the question of privacy. The need for interoperable electronic documents for verifying who is making a transaction is paramount if eServices are to be made readily available in Europe. Read more
Paedophile Activity in P2P Systems - newsletter
The latest newsletter from the SIP project "Measurement and Analysis of P2P Activity Against Paedophile Content" summarises the work conducted in the project so far, and points out key results. Read more
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Trading Innocents: Understanding Child Trafficking
Wednesday 26 November 2008, London. This conference has been designed to meet the needs of law enforcement and those professionals directly involved with safeguarding children. It will draw upon the knowledge and expertise of those working in this field to give an insight into the issues surrounding child trafficking. Read more  Media Colloquium 2008
1 December 2008, Berlin. The different actors of the European Union's "Safer Internet Programme" in Germany have joined forces in the coalition “saferinternet.de”. All the partners involved - eco Association of the German Internet Industry, Voluntary Self-Monitoring of Multimedia Providers (fsm), jugendschutz.net, Nummer gegen Kummer, the Media Authorities of North Rhine-Westfalia and Rhineland-Palatinate and klicksafe - are pleased to invite you to attend the Media Colloquium 2008. Read more
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 Paving the way to a shared platform
The Czech combined node is striving to set up a regular communication channel for representatives of the business, science and public administration communities. The node started last year with the CEE SIC 2007 conference inviting representatives of regional Central & Eastern European Safer Internet nodes, international experts and mobile operators. Read more
 Saferinternet CZ at INVEX/DIGITEX
A fairy story with a happy ending?
Once upon a time, 18 years ago, a Czech ICT trade show called Invex was born in Brno.
It grew and became one of the most popular fairs in the land. At that time everybody was interested in new PCs, new software solutions, Telco gadgets and lots of information. Read more
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Insafe is a European network of 26 nodes in 26 countries that are dedicated to raising awareness of internet safety. It is coordinated by the European Schoolnet and supported by the European Commission through the Safer Internet Programme.
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