Memorandum submitted by the Children's
Charities' Coalition on Internet Safety
Please find attached our response to the Byron
Review. It mirrors your own inquiries very closely so I have made
no changes to it.
You will see that we have made some brief comments
about video games, in so far as they intersect with the online
environment, otherwise we have focused very largely on the Internet
related aspects of your inquiry.
We would also like to make some more general
points.
Since 2001 the Home Office's Internet Task Force
for Child Protection has been the main focal point for addressing
how society needs to respond to the safety and other challenges
which have arisen, and continue to arise, from the emergence of
the Internet as a mass consumer product. The Task Force has become
a major element within the UK's self-regulatory regime. In so
far as the Task Force brings together the key stakeholders from
all parts of central government, industry, law enforcement and
the world of child protection, to work out solutions for various
problems or concerns, it undoubtedly has performed and continues
to perform an extremely valuable function.
However, from the very outset we have been highly
dissatisfied with the level of resources and support which the
Government has devoted to the Task Force. It has never had its
own budget and it has never had any staff who are solely dedicated
to its work and purposes.
To the extent that the Task Force has been able
to spend money on any particular projects eg public internet safety
campaigns, it has generally had to wait until the end of the financial
year was approaching when civil servants could apply for under
spends on other programmes. Planning was therefore impossible.
On one occasion, when there was a crisis in
the Immigration Division of the Home Office, the Task Force's
Secretary, its key official, was simply redeployed for several
months, and without any prior consultation or discussion with
any of the key partners on the Task Force. On other occasions
it was also plain that the civil servants' other duties meant
that Task Force matters sometimes had to go on the back burner.
The net result of this lamentable state of affairs
is that the work of the Task Force has taken longer than it need
to have done or should have done. If there is anything you can
do to correct this state of affairs in terms of the recommendations
you make at the end of your review, we would be extremely grateful.
Having made that critical remark about the way
things have worked hitherto, please also understand that the principle
behind the way that the Task Force has been constituted and does
it work is of the utmost importance. We do not know if you will,
in the end, recommend any new institutional arrangements for the
management of this area of policy but, if you do, we hope you
will bear in mind the enormous importance which we and the industry
attach both to being able to work together in this way and to
being able to engage directly with senior ministers in the Government.
Anything which removes or weakens that political link will also
weaken the potential impact of the policy.
Finally, while we can see that there are two
distinct aspects to the work that needs to be done in this area,
outreach and education on the one hand, and law enforcement and
child protection on the other, we believe it is also the case
that the practice and experience in each area greatly adds value
to the other. For that reason we believe it is to everyone's advantage
that very close working relationships are maintained between people
working in both areas.
January 2008
Annexe
CHIS RESPONSE TO THE BYRON REVIEW
SECTION ONE:
VIDEO GAMES
3. What are the potential and actual risks
to children and young people who engage with video games and how
should the Review approach defining and measuring the risks?
Some parents, as well as some children and young
people, have expressed concerns to a number of our organizations
about what they see as being the addictive nature of certain video
games. Whether or not the use of the word "addiction"
is appropriate is open to debate and we prefer the term "excessive
use". However there is certainly a great deal of anxiety
about excessive use of games and their consequences for example
in terms of the way it might deflect a child or young person from
their school work, interfere with or inhibit the development of
social or interpersonal skills, or distract a child or young person
from engaging in forms of physical activity which encourage a
healthy lifestyle.
It also may be the case that excessive use of
video games is one of a number of compulsive or obsessive behaviours
which develop as a symptom of a deeper, perhaps disguised problem,
and it is that underlying problem which needs to be addressed.
Video games clearly offer children an escape from reality and
there may be factors and vulnerabilities that pre-dispose children
to become excessive in their use of video games rather than the
video games causing the problem.
In some countries Governments and other agencies
have focused very directly on the issue of "addiction"
to video games and they have considered a number of ways to tackle
this including encouraging games manufacturers to weight the point
scoring or winning opportunities within the game so as to create
disincentives to prolonged, unbroken games playing sessions. For
example, in this scenario the highest scoring phases of the game
or the most winning opportunities should come early in the game
cycle and thereafter diminishing returns will set in.
Linked to this, an increasing number of child
safety software packages are being produced, which provide parents,
teachers or others with the tools to limit the amount of time
that the device can be used for game playing. Some games consoles
also can do this but it is not clear to us how well known this
sort of feature is, or how easy it is to implement it.
Finally, some video games also contain an interactive
element. A video game may allow players to communicate with each
other in one or more ways during the course of the game. This
essentially can recreate a chat environment with all of the associated
risks of allowing contact with inappropriate individuals, or exposing
the child or young person to age inappropriate language or images.
SECTION TWO:
THE INTERNET
BENEFITS AND
OPPORTUNITIES
14. What are the benefits of the Internet
to a) children and young people, b) society, c) the economy?
In this submission we have tended to focus on
the more negative or problematic aspects of children's engagement
with the Internet. This is not because we do not recognise the
benefits and opportunities but simply because we are made up of
child protection and child welfare organisations and this is our
primary focus. At the same time we do think it is important to
recognise that the Internet has brought a range of benefits to
children.
The Internet has changed the way we communicate
and has opened up new possibilities for us as individuals and
as a society. The Internet has been a major spur to economic growth
in the UK and increasing amounts of economic activity happen on
or through the Internet. A very high proportion of jobs in today's
economy require employees to engage with a range of new technologies.
A growing body of evidence, which will no doubt
be referenced by BECTA, is beginning to show how the Internet
is helping to advance children's and young people's levels of
educational attainment. The Internet is an entirely unprecedented
and unrivalled source of information of every kind. It has completely
transformed many areas of academic research.
15. What are the opportunities presented
by the Internet?
We consider that the Internet offers a number
of opportunities to children and young people. As children's charities
we want to ensure that every child and young person can share
in the benefits which the Internet can offer. At present there
is still a significant residual group who do not have easy or
convenient access to the Internet at home. Increasingly it seems
likely that these children will be on the wrong side of the digital
divide and their educational and life chances may suffer as a
result. For that reason we very much welcome the DfCFS's "Home
Access Initiative" which has set itself the ambitious target
of ensuring that everyone, of school age has "appropriate"[1]
internet access at home. In the short term the Home Access Initiative
is likely to focus on reaching out to those children in households
where there is currently no internet access at all.[2]
We think this is right provided that widening access initiatives
are accompanied by the appropriate child safety measures.
As several studies have shown,[3]
online technologies are now a major part of the lives of children
and young people. Many adults still tend to think of the new technologies
in a very instrumental way and go online to do specific things,
for example book travel tickets, or check emails. By contrast
for a great many children and young people the Internet is a fully
integrated part of their lives, an extension of existing social
relationships or the source of new ones, and a way of communicating
or staying in touch with a wide social circle.
The benefits of new technology have been especially
marked in relation to children who have disabilities.[4]
It has helped to break down barriers to their participation and
learning as many deaf and disabled children can obtain information
from the Internet that is not otherwise available to them because
it is not in a language or a format they can access. Similarly
new technologies such as "web cams" enable deaf children
to sign BSL and communicate directly with friends or to seek help
and advice from a range of sources. It has also however increased
their vulnerability to risks as many of these children will be
at increased risk of bullying and abuse over the Internet and
may be less aware of these risks and dangers.
The emergence of the Internet has enabled many
of our constituent organisations to communicate more effectively
with children and young people in order to reach them in the spaces
where they are spending time. It has also enabled to children
to access much needed advice from a range of sources. For example
the NSPCC has used the Internet to target children in their campaigns
to get them to speak out about sexual abuse and to provide information
and links on popular social networking sites. The NSPCC have also
established a text messaging advice service and an online counselling
service where children can chat to social workers in real time
over the Internet: there4me.com is an interactive site where children
can get help. Children may be more likely to use services such
as There4me because the Internet allows them to feel safer and
more anonymous when they come forward to speak about their problems.
UNDERSTANDING THE
POTENTIAL RISKS
16. What are the potential and actual risks
to children and young people who use the Internet and how should
the Review approach defining and measuring those risks?
There are a number of risks that are currently
known about including:
Contact
— The Internet and other technologies
can facilitate children's sexual abuse by persuading and manipulating
them into secretive relationships or meetings with abusers or
potential abusers. Such sexual abuse may be contact abuse (through
a meeting in the real world) or non-contact (through webcams and
other means). Chatrooms, social networking sites and other online
forums are all places where we know that children may be identified
and targeted. Children may personalise their "profile"
on popular social networking sites and are then vulnerable to
potential abusers who can use this information to contact them.
We would recommend speaking further to CEOP about the prevalence
and nature of this problem.
— Another related issue is children's
own "self-victimising behaviour". Recent research by
David Finklehor in the US suggests that much of the grooming that
we know about takes place in relation to older teenagers who deliberately
put themselves at risk.[5]
We also know that children experiment sexually online (for example
posting semi naked photographs or having sexual conversations
with older adults) and thereby encourage inappropriate contact
without perhaps realising the extent to which this may put them
in danger of exploitation and abuse. This sexualised risk-taking
behaviour challenges the traditional models of child protection
and needs a sensitive and careful intervention.
Harmful content
— Children are known to come across
and download age inappropriate content or disturbing and upsetting
material. Children may be particularly vulnerable to such content
when it is downloaded on mobile phones and circulated between
peers with an expectation or pressure that they will look at it.
The sheer volume of pornographic material that is in circulation,
and the ease of access is a new factor. We do not know how or
whether this has affected children in terms of a distortion of
their "normal" sexual development. There have been no
major research studies on this and it would be difficult methodologically
to track the impact of exposure to harmful material. However,
the methodological limitations that make it difficult to evidence
harm in research clearly does not mean that it does not have a
harmful impact on children. We are aware from our direct work
with children that they can find the exposure to this material
upsetting and confusing.
— The Internet provides access to information
in an uncontrolled way which can be damaging for children for
example to self harm sites that glorify alcohol, drugs, race hatred,
or dangerous behaviour. Some children will be able to dismiss
this content and information without any problems. However for
those more vulnerable children who may be less equipped to interpret
and filter information on their own this may have a harmful impact
on them by inciting dangerous or anti-social behaviour. For example
there has recently been a case where a group of children used
a social networking site to facilitate assaults on members of
the public.[6]
— Children's access to age inappropriate
goods and services because of the anonymity of some online payment
mechanisms or difficulty in confirming a child's age in an online
environment is problematic. Children are known to be able to access
alcohol, pornography, weapons and gambling sites as a result.
Cyber-bullying
— Children are bullied by other children
through new technologies in ways that are disturbing and traumatic.[7]
Recent research suggests that one third of children experience
so called cyber-bullying.[8]
However this may not present a true picture of the scale of bullying
because in fact children do not necessarily use or understand
the term cyber-bullying or identify it as distinct from other
kinds of bullying. According to research by the "Anti-Bullying
Alliance" some forms of so called "cyberbullying"
can be considered by children and young people to be worse than
"traditional" forms of bullying for example when photos
are taken and then circulated so that a record of the bullying
stays in circulation.[9]
In this way a bullying incident can potentially be scaled up and
shared to a wider group. There is also the problem that children
can be bullied more intensively and relentlessly through new technologies
because the victim can always be contacted through mobile phones
or other devices. Children are no longer free from the bully when
removed from the physical space or presence of the bully themselves.
It is difficult to quantify the extent to which bullying through
new technologies is or can be worse except through the ways described
above.
— In relation to bullying there is
already a great deal of research evidence to show that it can
have a devastating impact on children's social and emotional development.
We consider bullying to be a child protection issue as it can
lead to self harm and in rare and extreme cases it can lead to
suicide. We know that bullying in general is the main reason that
children call ChildLine.[10]
Illegal content
— It is important to acknowledge that
the Internet presents new risks to children in relation to the
rise in the mass market of child abuse images. This is both in
relation to the children abused to make these images but also
in term of the impact on potential perpetrators for whom viewing
images may break down barriers to abusing. We know that the impact
on children abused to produce images is devastating and the continuing
existence of the images of their abuse is likely to impact on
their ability to recover and the success of therapeutic treatment.
What we know less about is whether and if this feeds into a greater
sexual interest in children but Operation Ore revealed an unexpected
prevalence and cross section of society in terms of the numbers
of perpetrators who viewed the images of child abuse.[11]
The NSPCC are currently campaigning to ensure that all Internet
Service Providers are blocking access to Child Abuse Images in
order to help tackle this growing problem.
— Although it is difficult to quantify
it seems plausible that the Internet through facilitating a rapidly
growing trade in images has not only meant that more children
are abused to produce images but also may have sustained a high
prevalence and possibly even an increase in sexual interest in
children. Research on the links between viewing images and going
on to commit contact abuse currently shows a great deal of variation.
— We are concerned that currently not
enough resources are dedicated to identifying and protecting the
children who are abused in images. Currently there are over 20,000
images of children in the Interpol database and only a tiny fraction
of these children (some 500) have even been identified and protected.
Linked to this is our concern about the current lack of government
funding for victim identification work. We consider that CEOP
needs core funding in order to perform this task and should not
have to rely on support from voluntary organisations like the
NSPCC and others.
How do we understand and classify these risks?
In general the perception of risk is shaped
by the level of media interest rather than research and there
is a shortage of up to date relevant and useful research into
children's internet use. However we consider the risks of cyber
bullying and of sexual abuse to be very serious. We know that
bullying has often not featured in conventional approaches or
concerns about children's online safety which has tended to centre
on preventing sexual abuse. Only recently has the scope and scale
of cyber-bullying become clearer as a serious harm to children.
It is also only recently that we have become aware of the extent
and level of sexual interest in making contact with children with
the overview reports from the CEOP centre.[12]
17. What do a) children and young people
and b) parents already know about the potential and actual risks
of using the Internet?
In our experience it tends to be that the majority
of parents have a poor understanding of what children are actually
doing online and an even poorer understanding of how to protect
them in that space. A major new push is needed to reach parents
and more could be done to help them such as in the pre-installation
of internet safety software.
In relation to children the research shows great
variation in understanding and interpretation of the risks.[13]
This is explored in more detail below.
18. What do a) children and young people
and b) parents think and feel about the potential and actual risks
of using the Internet?
Several opinion polls have indicated a high
level of parental anxiety about the risks to children and young
people found on the Internet.[14]
We are keen to highlight here the substantial lack of education
for parents and the overwhelming gap between what parents know
and what children know in terms of the technical aspects of IT.
Recent research from NCH shows that most parents do not know what
their children are doing online and this clearly makes it very
difficult for them to protect and educate them about the risks.[15]
Currently parents that we talk to almost feel overwhelmed by the
risks of the Internet and are unclear about an appropriate response,
there is both a tendency to fail to acknowledge the risks of the
Internet or to overact to the exposure that the Internet provides.
Above all parents have a very poor understanding of risks, benefits
and opportunities of the Internet.
We consider that we need a major new effort
to reach out to parents to help them improve their own understanding
of the online environments which their children inhabit and to
show them how they can better support their children in relation
to that environment. Schools will have a very important part to
play in this but relying solely on schools as the vehicle to reach
parents will not be sufficient. Some of the most vulnerable children
and parents will have little contact with school.
In relation to children and young people there
is also a need for a continued focus on reaching out to children
and young people themselves to teach them about the hazards of
the technologies and how to avoid them. Children often understand
the technology better than they understand the risks.
Many children inevitably do understand the risks
of the online environment but will take risks as a natural part
of growing up and pushing boundaries. Sonia Livingstone's research
found that some of the most empowered internet users are those
that take the most substantial risks.[16]
In this context protection becomes not only about educating all
children about risks and consequences of the Internet but also
about ensuring that if children do take risks the channels of
communication and ways of accessing help remain open. Inevitably
some children (particularly older children) will push boundaries
online. We need to ensure that they can talk to adults about their
experiences when things do wrong, and that adults around them
know how to act to protect them. We recommend funding a major
public awareness campaign that educates adults and children about
internet safety.
HELPING CHILDREN,
YOUNG PEOPLE
AND PARENTS
MANAGE RISKS
19. What are the range of mechanisms that
exist to help children, young people and parents manage the potential
or actual risks of engaging with the Internet?
There are a number of mechanisms that could
be used to protect children who are using the Internet. There
are several large manufacturers and retailers who aim their products
at the domestic market. As part of their sales pitch, they extol
the educational and other advantages which having ready access
to the Internet at home can bestow on children. Yet at the present
time, when they sell an internet enabled device into the domestic
market, to a parent or carer, for use by a child, they do not
routinely provide any safety related advice about the technology.
The current situation relies on the idea that parents will take
the initiative in terms of buying and installing appropriate safety
software. As Professor Sonia Livingstone's study "UK Children
Go Online" and other studies have shown, the reality is very
different for most parents. That is why CHIS has advocated that
all new internet enabled devices sold into the domestic market
should come with child safety software preinstalled and set to
the highest level of security, and this is currently the subject
of an NSPCC campaign.
Using technical measures, such as child safety
software, is by no means a complete answer to keeping children
safe when they go online, but in our view it is an important first
step, particularly in protecting younger children. Software needs
to go alongside education and awareness of parents and children
and it can be a tool that helps parents while they are also encouraged
to engage with their children about safety issues. We consider
that the point of sale of any internet enabled device should be
a learning opportunity for both the child and their parent or
carer.
A key point was made by the recent House of
Lords Select Committee in relation to the range of technical measure
available to protect children. At paragraph 8.7 the Select Committee
asked for a reappraisal of the "end-to-end-principle".
In paragraph 8.8 they explain that "The current assumption
that end users should be responsible for security is inefficient
and unrealistic". We agree with this point and would like
to see a review of how it would be possible to strengthen the
measures that the industry can take to keep children safe.
However much we educate children there will
still be some whose vulnerability makes them unable to adequately
protect themselves against new and emerging risks. There are big
gaps in the education of parents and with converging technologies
the challenge of protecting children becomes more difficult because
the Internet can be accessed from an increasing number of platforms
without their parents even realising, let alone engaging or monitoring.
There is a need to ask for improvement from
industry at every level. Pre-installation is one measure but there
are a number of other key things. CHIS also considers that there
are roles and responsibilities for Internet Service Providers
in terms of providing safety settings if they are selling internet
connectivity and that ISPs could be better encouraged to police
their own sites. We also support the House of Lords Recommendation
(8.23) that it would be helpful to develop a kitemark for social
networking web sites. The Good Practice Guide being developed
within the Home Office Taskforce subgroup on social networking
services could provide the basis of a kitemark of this kind. This
would help to orientate parents as to the safety of different
sites their children spend time and act as an incentive for sites
themselves to comply with safety standards above and beyond the
guidance.
20. Are children, young people and parents
aware of the tools available and to what extent do they use them?
See above and also Sonia Livingstone's report:
UK Children Go Online. As this report makes clear children and
young people are not a homogenous group with regard to their internet
use. This research found a significant "digital divide"
between those more expert users and those who have a narrow and
far less engaging internet experience. There is also inconsistency
between children in how and whether they are aware of tools and
whether they choose to manage risk posed by the Internet. For
example some children are unaware that their profiles are public
when they put information on social networking sites.
21. In what other ways do a) children and
young people and b) parents seek to manage the perceived risks
of using the Internet and how do they feel about their ability
to do so?
See answers to 17 and 18 above.
22. How well do these different approaches
and mechanisms work?
The available research seems to suggest that
there is a low level of uptake of the technical tools that are
on the market, and a low level of knowledge or confidence about
how to approach the issues.[17]
23. What roles do the retail and advertising
sectors play in child safety online?
There have not been any major public facing
awareness campaigns in the mass media on the wider issues of child
safety on the Internet. So far the only awareness campaigns have
been Government or police sponsored campaigns that have focused
on the most extreme form of risks such as abusers trying to groom
children over the Internet. Given how much the internet industry
spend on advertising their products to customers we consider that
the absence of an equivalent advertising spend on child safety
is regrettable.
24. What opportunities exist for children,
young people and parents to learn about safe, responsible and
fulfilling internet use—and do they help?
There are tools available to children to help
them surf the Internet more safely. In particular CEOP manage
the excellent thinkuknow.co.uk site. However our experience is
that children are not necessarily accessing the safety tools enough
and that the subject is not necessarily integrated into a whole
school approach or within the PSHE curriculum. We recommend that
children and young people are taught about internet safety skills
within the Personal and Social Health Education where children
learn about acceptable behaviour and staying safe in relationships.
There are also clear gaps in terms of the skills
and capacities of the workforce to educate children about online
safety. Recent research shows that the current professional awareness
and training in e-safety is low, for example research carried
out by Childnet International which involved interviewing 400
teacher trainees at four different initial training institutions
showed that currently online safety was not being covered within
the teacher training curriculum and there was no statutory or
other requirement that it should be so. Yet overwhelmingly both
students and tutors alike thought that this was an issue which
ought to be covered.[18]
There is now a provision within the National
Curriculum which addresses online safety and related issues for
school students. However, it is still left to individual schools
to determine whether or not to take up this module and incorporate
it into lesson plans. We consider that this should be part of
the compulsory or core curriculum at all schools and similarly
that it ought to be a compulsory part of the curriculum for all
trainee teachers at teacher training institutions. Ways should
also be found to ensure that the existing body of practising teachers
are equipped with basic training and skills in this area.
Schools are in a sense the most major and obvious
gap. However there are a range of professions which focus on child
development or child protection in education, in social services
and in the health service, or that work with child sex offenders
within the National Offender Management Service. In all these
professions we need to ensure that all new entrants and existing
practitioners are familiar with the broad spectrum of online risks
facing children, and how to avoid or deal with them.
It is also important to ensure that e-safety
is promoted more widely among adults, rather than simply to parents
or "professional" audiences. It is important to build
awareness and capacity not only among professional groups of staff
but also among all workers or practitioners providing services
or creating spaces for children and young people. For example
adults working in care homes, community groups, play groups and
youth clubs can have an informal and yet highly influential impact
on children lives. Given the Government's recent commitment to
widening access to the Internet to all children, including some
of the most excluded and vulnerable, it is important to reach
out to all adults in order to ensure that they have at least a
basic knowledge of how to protect children online and about how
to intervene to help prevent abusive behaviour. Teaching on e-safety
should therefore be part of a wider range of courses and training
materials for all of those responsible for any kind of care or
supervision of children.
25. What, if anything, needs to be changed
in order to help children, young people and parents manage the
potential or actual risks of going on line and what are the pros
and cons of different approaches?
The answers above explore the different initiatives
that could improve children's safety on the Internet. It is important
however to consider the whole political framework within which
we work on internet safety issues in the UK. Currently in the
UK there is a system of self-regulation of industry whereby we
achieve improvements in children's safety in the online environment
through successful partnership between industry, government and
children's charities.
Overall we consider that the online environment
is balanced in favour of self-regulation. However we do think
that there are a number of improvements that need to be made for
the current regulatory regime to be satisfactory for the children's
charities. The high tech companies need to make child protection
issues a greater priority in their overall work and to continue
to develop better technical solutions to help keep children safe.
One example of this would be to encourage the greater use of age
verification technologies. This would help discourage many offenders
who otherwise to seek to exploit the apparent anonymity of the
Internet, and it would also help sustain various laws which restrict
the provision of certain goods and services to minors.
SECTION THREE:
GENERAL
27. What impact will new ways of accessing
media have on the questions being considered in this review?
The emergence of converging technologies changes
the way we need to work and the way we think about child protection
and safety issues. As increasingly all technologies increasingly
speak the same internet enabled language to each other this changes
the magnitude of the risks. Points of access to the Internet are
multiplying and the Internet is available on phones, on lap tops
and on games consoles.
One particular feature of changing internet
use is of course the huge rise (and popularity among children
and young people) of social networking and user generated content.
These sites bring together into one platform all the pre-existing
interactive technologies, in other words chat discussion, photo
email messaging and webcams. This accompanies the rise and ubiquity
in the UK of mobile phones where children can now access the Internet,
including social networking. In the UK 96% of children have access
to mobiles by age 11 and more or less a third are using the internet
on their mobiles.[19]
The average age at which children are being given their first
mobile appears to be continuing to fall. In fact mobile phone
use has reached almost 100% of children and young people in particular
age groups.[20]
As we have already noted, the ownership of computers with internet
access at home is also high and rising.[21]
In a study published by the "End Child Poverty Campaign"[22]
it is clear many children now believe that not having a mobile
phone or not having access to a computer with internet access
at home are becoming modern day signs of poverty. While not every
child currently has access to the internet or other enabling digital
devices such as a mobile phone, the whole drift of policy looks
forward to a time when we are all connected.
This raises the debate about the changing the
nature of children's lives and ways in which children may not
think about technology like adults do and they do not seem to
distinguish between the online and offline worlds. Increasingly
child protection has to keep up with the fact that the internet
is seamlessly integrated into children's lives. This has implications
for the risks they face and we need consider better the ways we
can attempt to protect children. With converging technologies
our advice can end up looking a bit "old fashioned"
for example a few years a key piece of advice to parents was to
"put the computer in the family room"—and this
still is important advice especially for young children, but with
children increasingly accessing the Internet in multiple different
locations this is no longer the most practical piece of advice
we can give.
January 2008
1 If a family with four children of school age only
has one computer with internet access in the home, and they all
need to do their homework on the same day, several practical problems
could arise which could create or exacerbate tensions within the
family. Back
2
Although the challenges of reaching all sections of society are
not to be underestimated. See "The Digital Divide in 2025",
Future Foundation, London, 2004. Back
3
See in particular "UK Children Go Online", Professor
Sonia Livingstone, LSE. Back
4
BECTA (2006) "What the research says about ICT supporting
special educational needs and inclusion" http://www.becta.org.uk/page_documents/research/wtrs_ictsupport.pdf Back
5
Finklehor, D. (2007) "Online Sex Crimes Against Juveniles
myth and Reality: Testimony of D Finklehor, hearing before US
senate", Crimes Against Children Research Centre, Washington:
Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation. Back
6
http://www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk/news/s/1010/1010104_kids_arrested_for_fixing_up_fights.html Back
7
http://www.childnet-int.org/downloads/cyberbullyingOverview.pdf Back
8
Anti-bullying Alliance Research-do they define cyber bullying. Back
9
An investigation into cyberbullying, its forms, awareness and
impact, and the relationship between age and gender in cyberbullying,
A Report to the Anti-Bullying Alliance by Peter Smith, Jess Mahdavi,
Manuel Carvalho and Neil Tippett Unit for School and Family Studies,
Goldsmiths College, University of London. Back
10
There were over 37,000 calls to ChildLine about bullying in 2006-07. Back
11
Operation Ore is a large-scale international police operation
that commenced in 1999 intending to indict thousands of users
of websites featuring child abuse images. In the United Kingdom,
it has led to 7,250 suspects identified, 4,283 homes searched,
3,744 arrests, 1,848 charged, 1,451 convictions, 493 cautioned,
879 investigations underway, 140 children removed from suspected
dangerous situations and at least 35 suicides. Back
12
http://www.ceop.gov.uk/pdfs/CEOPStrategicOverview2007.pdf Back
13
Livingstone, S. (2005) "UK Children Go-Online", London:
ESRC. Back
14
http://www.ipsos-mori.com/polls/2006/s060117.shtml Back
15
Carr, J. (2006) "Get IT Safe: children, parents and technology
survey", www.nch.org.uk Back
16
Livingstone, S. (2005) "UK Children Go-Online" ESCR
Research programme. London: LSE www.children-go-online.net Back
17
Livingstone, S. (2005) "UK Children Go-Online", London:
ESRC. Back
18
ChildNet (2007) "E-safety: Evaluation of Key Stage 3 Materials
for Initial Teacher Education", http://www.childnet-int.org/kia/trainees/ Back
19
Interactive Kids (2005) http://www.childwise.co.uk/images/Interactive%20Kids%2005.ppt Back
20
The Mobile Life Youth Report See http://www.yougov.com/archives/pdf/CPW060101004<mv2>-<mv-2>2.pdf Back
21
See http://www.evaluation.icttestbed.org.uk/community/2005/findings/3 Back
22
See www.endchildpoverty.org.uk Back
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