Internet safety An Irish Perspective

Safety - the context  Children v adults  Other media- messages and images  Television  Video  Magazines  Computer Games  The Internet

So what’s different? Crosses boundaries of media Crosses boundaries of geography Crosses boundaries of services Crosses boundaries of cultures Crosses boundaries of control systems

Major shifts needed From observation to engagement From State control to parental control From censorship to education From hype to common sense

End of philosophical section!

Some Irish history 1997 Government unease 1998 Framework report Self regulation Public hotline Internet Advisory Board Codes of practice (soon!)

Critical success factors Industry forum New relationships with Government Inclusion of all major players Platforms for addressing issues

Internet Advisory Board Non statutory Special information society fund Police, justice, commerce, industry, censor, child rep, legal, media and general Brief –Helping industry to self regulate –Monitoring downside issues

Current initiatives Parental awareness campaign Launch of IAB website Publication of commissioned research

Research 10 to 14 year olds (home and out of home) Abut 100,000 represented in sample of 210 parents and chldren (home) and 102 (out of home) Parents interviewed first – child later Sensitivity required for young children Some problems anticipated but none found

Some results - parents (at iab.ie) 23% know more than their child 78% have some rules (56% of children know!) 50% allow use only if adult present Only 50% of PC’s in communal area Pornography heads list of concerns 86% believe in primary responsibility 25% use filters

Some resulsts - Children (iab.ie) 56% aware of 86% parent rule 40% of home use is when alone 21% admit seeing unsuitable material only 10% are fully supervised at friends 20% admitted requests for contact details from someone they did not know

A few more facts 60% parents agree that positives outweigh negatives 70% of children say Internet very important for schoolwork Who should provide safety info? –Schools 49% –Government 37% –ISP’s 34% –PC shops 31%

The future Diminishing length of Internet year Emergence of Internet generation Increasing use of content control technology Increasing regulation of Internet Platform convergence Intensification of child protection focus

And finally Today, if you are not confused, you are just not thinking clearly. Peter Ustinov