Family Online Safety Institute European Launch

Feb 22nd, 2007

Home Office Minister Vernon Coaker's speech from the launch event

Good afternoon everyone. Thank you for your kind words of introduction. For those of you who do not know me I have had ministerial responsibility for child protection since May 2006 and I chair the Home Secretary's Task Force for Child Protection on the Internet.

I am very grateful to be asked to speak here today at the European launch of the Family Online Safety Institute. There can be no doubt that there is a need to ensure that all the good work being done globally to promote safety online is pulled together in a co-ordinated fashion.

I share the Family Online Safety Institute's aim to increase the safety, decrease the fear and expand the benefits of Information and Communication Technologies, particularly for children. Today, I want to set out the Government's view on how we might promote the safe and responsible use of Information and Communication Technologies by children and young adults, highlight some of challenges that we are faced with, and outline how we can respond to those challenges.

We all have a role in ensuring that people – particularly children – are aware of the general risks online. The nature of the Internet means that it is our collective responsibility to ensure that people are doing what they can to make themselves and their families safe online

But it is also important we ensure that children are not discouraged from enjoying the benefits of the internet. Opportunities and risks go hand in hand – the more children experience the one, the more they also experience the other. Therefore, increasing internet literacy is crucial, as is increasing public awareness and offering reassurance and advice.

We cannot afford to allow children and their parents to simply become fearful of using the internet. These new technologies are an amazing development, and we know that the children who use them value them highly. I would like to give assurance that we are doing all we can to ensure safe use of the internet for all.

As chair of the Taskforce for Child Protection on the Internet, I understand how important child safety online is. I have seen how a partnership approach can work successfully to make real progress – I suspect that the type of collaborative work carried out by the Taskforce is not happening elsewhere in the world.

The successes of a collaborative approach are highlighted by the fact that in 2005 the Task Force published Good Practice and guidance documents on moderation and safe search.

The Search Safe document sets out what search is, why the user sees the results they do and how search is generally made available on the internet. It aims to provide a model of good practice for search providers across all platforms in the provision of search services for customers with regard to consideration of the issues and importance of child safety. It also gives advice and information the public, especially parents, carers and those responsible for children, on how to make good use of search engines to explore the Web and how to reduce the risk of being exposed to unwanted and unsuitable results.

I am also proud of the "Good Practice Guidance for Moderation of Interactive Services for Children". Moderation is the process that allows user-generated content to be reviewed. This document gives a framework to help providers of "virtual public space" offer a safer environment for children. The guidance evaluates the relative merits of technical verses human moderation and concludes that technical moderation has not yet demonstrated the same high level of protection as human moderation. It also makes recommendations for the moderation of public interactive communication services aimed at, or very likely to attract children.

Both the Good Practice and guidance documents on moderation and safe search documents can be accessed via the Home Office child protection website.

The Moderation Guidance was a significant achievement, but the Government is keen to ensure that we build on and complement the good practice guidance. That is why we have put in place the Safeguarding Vulnerable Groups Act 2006.

The new Act, which will be brought into force in phases from 2008, will provide a minimum level of protection through requiring vetting checks of those individuals who are engaged in regulated activities, including moderation of internet services. Once an individual has applied to the scheme, employers will be able to check individuals quickly online. Employers will be able to seek a full criminal records disclosure, and the Guidance will help employers assess whether this would be appropriate and what other steps to take so that they manage the risks presented by particular job roles.

We all know that the Internet keeps evolving. For example, 18 months ago very few of us had heard of Social Networks but now, literally millions of people have profiles or web pages on such sites. This new type of site activity is all about getting yourself noticed and meeting new friends, and children are automatically attracted to such sites, although their parents may find it difficult to understand why.

In such a fast moving environment, we must continue to work together to ensure that those new developments which attract children are made as safe as possible, without ruining their essence which makes them such fun sites in the first place.

A multi stakeholder project group is working on developing Good Practice Guidance for Social Networking and User Interactive Services. Leading players from industry – particularly those involved in providing social networking services, the child protection charities, CEOP, and others, many of whom are here today – have been involved in and are contributing to producing the Good Practice Guidance.

I understand that the guidance will acknowledge that although there may be many positive opportunities for children and young people through using interactive services, it recognises that they also may be vulnerable to inappropriate contact via these services. There is therefore a real need to ensure that children are made aware of potential risks and empowered as much as possible to help to manage and understand their online experience.

The document is being produced mainly to provide advice and guidance to social networking and user interactive service providers. In particular, the Guidance will seek to highlight potential risks and safety concerns for children and young people who use these services and provide good practice recommendations for service providers which promote safe use and help empower users to protect themselves.

I understand that the guidance will provide recommendations for industry in a number of key areas such as the education of users, editorial responsibility, registration of users, information on user profiles and the reporting of abusive or illegal behaviour. It will also outline safety advice, which can be given to users, parents and carers.

We all know that there are a vast range of products in the market that provide parents and carers with the ability to reduce the risks to children who use the internet at home. However, parents often find these products daunting and do not know which to choose. Existing products vary widely in functionality and effectiveness.

The Task Force has been involved in a project which seeks to develop a Publicly Available Specification for rating filtering and monitoring software with the British Standards Institute. This will lead to a kitemark standard being available for products which meet the specification. Such a standard will increase consumer confidence and, I hope, encourage parents to use these particular products more. It must be recognised however that no access control system can be effective 100 percent of the time and that, despite rigorous controls, there may still be occasions when inappropriate materials may be accessed.

The project is now reaching its conclusion, and we hope to see products that are kitemark approved in the shops before the summer.

I would like to use this opportunity to say a few words about the Child Exploitation and Online Protection Centre (CEOP), our aspirations for it and our commitment to its success.

The launch of CEOP in April 2006 constituted one of the most significant developments in child protection to date in the UK. Not only because we see CEOP's work as absolutely pivotal in stepping up the fight against child abusers, but also because the past few years have taught us that the police cannot work alone to tackle this threat; that is why partnership is the bedrock upon which CEOP has been built.

CEOP's role is to play a decisive part, with the internet services industry, police forces, offender managers, children's services and Government, in protecting children, young people, families and society from paedophiles and sex offenders; in particular those who use the internet and other new technologies in the sexual exploitation of children.

It will deliver a range of functions designed to: empower children and parents through information and education; protect young people through better use of intelligence; and ensure the effective management of offenders.

It is delivering a truly multi-agency response to the sexual exploitation of children. Nowhere else in the world have the public, private and voluntary sectors come together in such a way to tackle sex offenders and protect children.

I think it is important to note also that CEOP has not yet reached its 1st anniversary since its inception and the amount achieved so far is remarkable.

In terms of education I was particularly impressed by the thinkuknow campaign, which provided practical and useful advice on how to get the most out of internet services. It also advised on how to keep control of personal information, reminded children that no matter how well you know someone online, people are often not who they say they are and also how to use the CEOP online reporting portal.

The Home Office also complemented the programme by running an advertising campaign to remind children of the potential dangers. I have been pleased with the feedback I have received about this campaign.

As a final point on CEOP, I want to add that we are sending a clear message to children and parents that UK law enforcement is committed and able to work with them and the industry to protect children in the digital environment. Over the last few years UK police have shown that they can trace and prosecute large numbers of men who access these illegal images. The creation of the CEOP Centre makes it clear to paedophiles and sex offenders that we are determined to build on this work.

Today's children are sophisticated and ever-evolving users of the internet, but they are children. Protecting them must therefore continue to be one of our priorities. With all the issues around technology, the fact that this work is about protecting children in our own communities can often get lost.

A collaborative approach to tackling this issue is essential if we are to prevent the exploitation of children on the internet and I welcome the creation of the Family Safety Online Institute's approach in dealing with this, particularly as they hope to work with both the Task Force and CEOP.

Working together, industry, Government and law enforcement, and other interested parties including children' charities, we have made real progress in protecting children online - but there is always more to be done.

I value the passion and commitment of people working in all sectors and their willingness to work together with us and I know that we will continue to make more progress in this challenging, but important, area of work.

Thank you very much.