Relevant

22 April, 2009. Wireless Online Safety: Keeping Kids Safe in a Mobile Environment

Panel Summaries - Keeping Kids Safe in a Mobile Environment

FOSI Opening Comments

Stephen Balkam, CEO, FOSI

Stephen Balkam opened up the conference by discussing the importance of protecting kids at the same time as protecting freedom of expression. Balkam explained that FOSI brings together nonprofit, private and public industries to collaborate on ideas with regard to online safety, stressing FOSI’s dedication to the challenges and opportunities of mobile technology, the focus of this conference. He remarked that kids themselves need to take responsibility for their online actions, including the content of information they access and post. Balkam also highlighted the power parents possess to set limits and make rules. 

When considering the issue of online safety, Balkam asked the audience to consider three main issues, that he attributed to Anne Collier: physical safety such as sexual predators and bullies; psychological safety including emotional reactions to cyberbullying, unwanted exposure to pornography and access to violent images; and reputational/legal safety including children’s potential to be expelled from school, charged for ‘sexting,’ and denied job opportunities due to the nature of pictures and content they post online.

Steve Largent, President & CEO, CTIA

Steve Largent’s remarks focused on encouraging productive dialogue between public and private sectors, especially as technological innovations are so rapid, having changed the way we work, play and live. According to Largent, CTIA recognizes the vital role it plays in providing consumers with useful and informational tools and CTIA is committed to helping parents make decisions about what information their children are purchasing, accessing and exchanging online.  Largent underscored the importance and opportunities in online child safety, but stressed that with these control tools, responsibility and education are key. Largent said that by providing tools and resources to parents, every wireless user can be protected and informed. 

Pamela Jones Harbour, Commissioner, Federal Trade Commission

Commissioner Pamela Jones Harbour discussed how more and more children are interacting with mobile technology at very young ages, offering a few thoughts on this rapidly changing environment. She said that teens are actively engaged on their phones, computers and video games, and are taking advantage of the new and more capable technologies that have become available; however, we need to be aware of abuses that are occurring. Harbour noted that the issue of teens uploading and sending sexually explicit and/or threatening messages, and how industry, government and guardians choose to address this, is as complex as the technology itself. 

Harbour highlighted the many laws and initiatives that the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) enforces regarding privacy. The Children's Online Privacy Protection Act, or COPPA, is a prime example. The Act requires operators to notify parents and obtain parental consent before collecting personal and private information.  Harbour also spoke about the centerpiece of the FTC’s education program, “OnGuard Online.” Over 8.5 million visitors have accessed its sight since it went live in 2005 and it serves as a great example of public and private cooperation. Harbour and the FTC expect this to be the launching pad in developing a nationwide online safety standard.

Harbour made it clear that as technology advances and improves, the government and the Internet industry must be flexible and quick to adapt their response, because the technology will always be one step ahead.

Douglas Gansler, Attorney General, Maryland

The first thing Gansler noted was that this conference was timely and very important. Gansler noted that a lot of good can come from the internet, but often times, the bad overshadows it, because that might be the more interesting news story. He said that the criminals of the internet are far ahead of law-enforcement, but that law-enforcement, with cooperation from the public, private and nonprofit sectors, could do better at playing catch up. Gansler commented that any District Attorney’s major concern is street crime, and federal law-enforcement agencies primarily focus on national security, so there is a serious void when it comes to internet safety. However he noted that Attorneys General across the nation have now stepped up to address online safety issues.

Gansler stressed the need for internet safety curriculum in schools, stressing that it is important that government works with internet providers to set up restrictions. He noted that Craigslist has cooperated in cleaning up human trafficking and prostitution, while social networking sites like MySpace and Facebook have worked with the law enforcement officials to catch sexual predators breaking probation, as well as the work of the Technical Taskforce in 2008. Gansler concluded that while advancements have been made, there is still a long road ahead in ensuring the safety of all internet users.

From Wired to Wireless: Challenges & Opportunities for Safety 

Moderator: Stephen Balkam, CEO, Family Online Safety Institute
Panelists:
• State Senator Don Balfour, Georgia, and President Elect of National Conference of State Legislatures
• Brent Olson, Assistant Vice President, Public Policy, AT&T
• Al Lenhardt, President and CEO, National Crime Prevention Council

Stephen Balkam addressed his first question to State Senator Don Balfour, Georgia & President Elect of the National Conference of State Legislatures, asking him where his concerns lie when it comes to mobile online safety. His initial response encompassed the idea that although people do still need to be concerned about the online safety of their kids for fear of predators, he was primarily committed to spending more money at local level for prevention efforts, investing in education programs for kids and parents.

 
When asked a similar question, Brent Olson, Assistant Vice President, Public Policy, AT&T, said that he realizes that online safety is a multistate, multifaceted issue, acknowledging that it was not just a law-enforcement issue. He said that he recognizes its breadth as an ethical and behavioral issue too. He felt strongly that parents be put in the driver’s seat of their kids’ lives online in the same way as when they are offline.

Olson also thought that awareness and education opportunities were very important, as well as responsive IT and product development on the part of industry. He stressed that AT&T is committed to collaboration with government and child advocacy groups, supporting other third party educational events, in addition to hosting their own. He said that AT&T’s investment in innovating tools to keep families safe and in control of their online and mobile lives was key to the company.

When asked about the NCPC’s main concerns with mobile online safety, Al Lenhardt also stressed that it should be about education and awareness. He mentioned that there is a need to educate people on how to protect themselves, especially young people. The NCPC’s main work in this area has concentrated on cyber-bullying, where children are being seriously affected by depression and even suicide. He said that parents and educators need to understand the dynamics of cyber bullying to be able to help those at risk. He further commented that in the wireless community, preventing this kind of abuse is everyone’s business, and that technology provides broad opportunity, as long as society understands how to use it responsibly. 
What did the panel have to say about ‘sexting’?
With regards to ‘sexting,’ Lenhardt thought there should be more of a focus on the victims as opposed to the laws, pointing out that in the US, the states have sovereignty. He commented that the victims have usually not agreed to the posting of the images, which made him ask the question of how we prevent the victimization of innocent people.
With regards to ‘sexting,’ Balfour said that he would hesitate to charge adolescents with a crime that would mean they were registered sex offenders for the rest of their lives, a sensitive issue currently getting media attention. Balfour reiterated that punishing young people for something immature and stupid “just didn’t seem right.” He understood the need to be tough on crime but acknowledged that one silly prank in one swift move should not ruin people’s lives.

Looking forward, Olson expressed the need to see more cooperation between the public and private sectors and for the government to take leadership in the execution of online safety laws, stressing that it was about implementing and interpreting current legislation instead of solely developing new ‘fit-it’ legislation.

Tackling it Together

Olson commented that ultimately online safety needed a multi-stakeholder approach that required Industry, nonprofit groups, kids, parents and law-enforcement to work together. The issue of online safety is a dynamic space that keeps moving, and is always going to be one step ahead, making the need for ongoing innovation and collaboration necessary.

Lenhardt stated that continually staying in front of the opportunities and events that come our way is essential to addressing online safety issues. He considered that stimulus money could be used for job creation through the hiring of more officers and crime prevention practitioners, because online safety is an ongoing, long-term issue that needs to be addressed in a forward looking, assertive manner.

Research Update: What Kids Are Doing On Their Wireless Devices

Researchers:

• Amanda Lenhart, Senior Research Specialist, the Pew Research Center’s Internet & American Life Project
• Carly Shuler, Fellow, Joan Ganz Cooney Center at Sesame Street Workshop

Slides from the Research Update will be available soon. 

Breakout Session I: “How are Kids (mis)using Wireless Technology? 

Moderator: Sharon Cindrich, Author, E-Parenting, Keeping Up with Your Tech-Savvy Kids
Panelists:
• Ann Collier, Editor & Executive Director, ConnectSafely.org/NetFamilyNews
• Michele Ybarra, President & Research Director, Internet Solutions for Kids
• Deepti Rohatgi, Policy Director, Connected Life, Yahoo!
• Judi Westberg Warren, President, Web Wise Kids

Following the extraordinary presentations from Pew and the Sesame Workshop before lunch, Cindrich continued the afternoon discussion on the positive uses of mobile devices, including parents tracking their kids’ location. Coming from the education world, Cindrich noted that wireless devices are being limited in schools so their full potential of positive learning is not being realized.  One significant problem is that school officials (e.g. principals, superintendents) are very concerned about liability issues. She said that there needs to be more work with school leadership about these liability issues. She also commented that there was a great opportunity to utilize technology for test-prep flash cards and learning games. Significant benefits were discussed, and could be seen from introducing more technology use into the classroom.

The discussion then turned to how kids are misusing their wireless devices and engaging in “sexting”, a term used by the media, and now more widely by the public generally, to describe kids sending partially or totally nude photos usually taken by their own phones and sending them to girl/boyfriends, or posting them online.

Collier stated that roughly 20% of teenagers admit to sexting. By enlisting teenagers’ help, she said that parents could mitigate this kind of behavior. She also commented that there needs to be some kind of defined consequences for this kind of behavior. However, the law has not caught up with adolescent behavior. Warren agreed that nobody would want to see a child prosecuted so severely for sexting or cyber bullying. While developing new legislation, it was suggested that we need to preserve those protection laws to ensure a twelve or thirteen-year old does not get branded a ‘sexual predator’ for life. It was generally agreed that it is imperative that the law and prosecution fit the crime.
Ybarra acknowledged that the research shows that cyber bullying and sexting are both happening, and that when it happens it can be serious. Ybarra said that she realizes that more often than not, it is not happening to every child, but that it is important that everything is put into context. She pointed out that we should remember that unwanted sexual solicitation is something that happens both in the cyber and real worlds and communities. Ybarra noted that in each incidence, the circumstance, that of the child and the situation, needs to be taken into consideration. Ybarra stressed that there are multiple means by which online safety could be breached.

Rohatgi explained that reported abuse on texting messages is difficult and complicated. She said that working on education is key in clarifying to children the threat of breaking people’s trust in a sexting type of situation, where parents need to be able to censor their children’s level of exposure. She suggested that users be offered lots of choices in managing their privacy, making clear her concern about default privacy settings. She suggested adjusting the defaults according to age and/or audience. She commented that although there had not been much debate on this so far, the place for default settings should be considered more keenly by product developers.

Warren stressed the need to work with providers to develop new kinds of parental controls, sharing that Web Wise Kids had just launched a new game, ‘It’s Your Call,’ to encourage safe cell phone use, that would reached one million children nationally. She said that safe mobile device use should be a joint effort between the parent and child, involving open communication, a critical part of family function and society.

Collier noted that the negative stigma of cell phone use for educational purposes needs to be overcome, and that anytime, anywhere learning could create a huge opportunity for increased learning and accessibility on the move.

Breakout Session II: Technical, Privacy, and Legal Issues with Children’s Safety

Moderator:  Samir Jain, Partner, Wilmer Hale LLP
Panelists:
• Ed Palmieri, Deputy Chief Privacy Officer, Sprint
• Cliff Sloan, Partner, Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom LLP
• Bob Corn-Revere, Partner, Davis Wright Tremaine LLP
• Monique Roth, Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section, U.S. Department of Justice

Samir Jain set the stage for the conversation about the current legal issues in online safety and then he introduced each panelist. Ed Palmieri of Sprint discussed Sprint’s efforts to promote online safety through education and also talked about Sprint’s efforts to not track a customer’s activities without cause while still complying with government standards of data storage. Cliff Sloan of Skadden Arps talked about the need for a balance on media websites. Sloan noted the screening procedures used by some websites and said that when there is a risk and comments are threatening, websites do reach out to law enforcement. Sloan also discussed the importance of having an ongoing dialogue with Congress.

Monique Roth offered the law enforcement perspective and discussed how the Department of Justice reports child pornography and mentioned that at times there is a gap between the tech-savvy offenders and the people working to prevent child pornography. Roth discussed the importance of the industry and technology experts to reach out and help the Justice Department.  Roth also stressed the need to fund law enforcement efforts and not just pass laws. Bob Corn-Revere discussed the First Amendment constraints in this area and the problems that arise when everyone can be a publisher, especially in the areas of defamation and online safety.
The panelists examined some of the emerging legal concerns about WiFi hotspots. Law-enforcement may track pornography producers to a free WiFi spot like Starbucks and then reach a dead end.  They also debated how long Internet Service Providers should be required to keep records. Palmieri mentioned the tension between monitoring and filtering and the concern about building profiles about customers. Sloan noted that it is very costly for a website to retain data. Corn-Revere said there are other implications beyond industry expense including civil liberties issues and that data retention and government surveillance should be done with caution. The panelists also debated some of the privacy concerns over location based services.

Samir Jain asked the panelists about whether there is a need for new laws or if education and new technologies are the best solutions. Corn-Revere said that law is best as a last resort and there should not be a panic at new technology, especially because a law will quickly become outmoded as technology changes.  He said that cooperation between the government and industry is a better starting point. Sloan agreed that education and technology were very important and there are risks to legislating and regulating in a very dynamic area.  Roth explained that the best people to get the message out are the providers and the websites and that Industry is in the best position to reach people, but laws also play an important role.

 
Tools for Parents: Strategies and Technologies for Wireless Kids

Moderator: Adam Thierer, Senior Fellow and Director, Center for Digital Media Freedom, The Progress and Freedom Foundation
Panelists:
• Brian Knapp, Chief Operating Officer, Loopt
• Jack McArtney, Associate Director, Advertising & Content Standards, Verizon
• Linda Criddle, President, LOOKBOTHWAYS Inc./ LOOKBOTHWAYS.com

Brian Knapp explained that Loopt offers an application that shows people on a real-time map. It is a real time social compass, which also offers coupons from businesses and services can be supported by advertising.  Knapp said the iPhone is the most successful venue so far. Knapp mentioned that domestic violence poses a problem when women are trying to get help and abusive husbands track them down but Knapp said Loopt cannot be installed without knowledge of the user.
There was a discussion about “Terms of Use” for Loopt and Knapp acknowledged that people are not reading terms of use, so Loopt is trying to figure out a way to throw up a flash screen or create some kind of teachable moment to inform customers what they are signing up for. In the interest of privacy Loopt, has a timed-out feature where a customer who wants to continue tracking or being tracked you must log back in to the system. Knapp stated that Loopt has high standards for privacy, but would help law enforcement in an extreme situation, by sharing subscriber information.

Jack McArtney described how Verizon has consolidated TV, mobile and web privacy resources into one place, enabling customers to visit this page and easily set the controls on their accounts. McArtney noted that Verizon also launched a family center tab on the paperless bill so customers can see how many messages were sent and number of calls made on your child’s phone and then change parental controls on another tab. Verizon provides ‘The Chaperone’ to inform parents when their child with mobile device has left a certain area by sending alerts through text message. This is also used for ‘senior tracking’ for people tracking their older parents. McArtney noted that the tracking setting needs to be contextual and it is important to have the ability to turn off tracking.

Linda Criddle talked about the risks posed when moving from device to device. Criddle said the risks must be looked at uniquely, just as the U.S. cannot directly adopt a foreign country’s privacy policies.  Criddle explained that every piece of technology has a different level of risk and transparency is huge. Criddle said that when it comes to safety tools, one size fits no one and each family must decide what restrictions work for them as an individual unit.

Closing Remarks - Stephen Balkam, CEO, FOSI

Stephen Balkam brought the day’s conference to a close by pointing out that the purpose of the day had been to raise awareness of the issues, laws and remarkable technological advances and shortcomings with online safety in a mobile environment. Balkam stressed the importance of not overreacting when an incident involving mobile phone use, such as sexting, happens. He urged parents who see something on their kids’ computer or phone, not to have negative knee-jerk reactions, because that would seriously diminish the child ever telling the parent if it ever happened again. Balkam stressed that the Hill should listen to the Internet Industry and other stakeholders in this space too, before overreacting or moving too quickly to implement legislation that would not actually tackle the real problem. He also said that law-enforcement should not overreact because while it is of course important to catch middle-aged perpetrators, we should not ruin the lives of young people who make one mistake, and then get branded as registered sex offenders for the rest of their lives.

Return to FOSI Current Events