Press Release: 14 May 2013

Protected offline, but exposed online, says Baroness Howe

Today, Baroness Howe of Idlicote will introduce legislation intended to protect under-eighteens from adult content online. Welcomed by internet safety charities, her new Online Safety Bill has its First Reading in the House of Lords today.

Baroness Howe explained the hypocrisy of our current child protection laws and the importance of her Bill proposing web filtering on the basis of age-verification:

“If we really care about children then we must not shy away from using the law to protect them online, as we do very properly offline.”

“It makes no sense that children are prohibited by law from accessing adult content offline but that no parallel regulatory framework exists online. If we value children and recognise that it is not appropriate for children to access adult content offline then the same must apply online – and yet, all too often, it doesn’t.”

Critical of the Government’s current approach to internet safety, the Crossbencher life peer is proposing a statutory approach to protecting children from adult content online. She said:

“While I recognise that the Government has shown an interest in addressing this challenge, it is far from clear to me that their voluntary approach is working or is likely to.”

“It is interesting to note that, prior to 2005, children’s charities drew attention to an increased incidence of children gambling online. The industry agreed that this was a problem. Very little happened to address the problem until the online gambling providers were required to introduce online age verification by law, courtesy of the 2005 Gambling Act. The 2005 Act established a very important precedent that my Bill builds on in relation to other adult content.”

The Online Safety Bill has received an enthusiastic welcome from charities working to promote internet safety for children.

Dan Boucher, Director of Parliamentary Affairs from the charity CARE, said:

“We are facing the reality that children across the UK have easy access to sickeningly abusive images and content online, from violent pornography to websites promoting self-harm. The internet giants are not doing enough to stem this tide of harmful material so greater demands must be made of them by Parliament. Baroness Howe’s Bill provides a critical opportunity for Parliament to compel mobile phone operators and internet service providers to take responsibility for their inaction in what would be a major step towards greater internet safety for children.”

Miranda Suit, Co-Chairman of the charity Safermedia, responded to the Bill’s plans:

“Baroness Howe’s Bill contains effective and well-thought-out measures which will keep children much safer whenever and wherever they are online. The Bill’s opt-in ISP level filter would provide the best protection from increasingly violent and abusive pornography which should not be left to self-regulation.  After several years of raising the alarm, Safermedia is delighted to see vital legislation on this issue.”  

For further information please contact Ruth Bessant on tel: 07581 153693 or email: ruth.bessant@care.org.uk

Editors Notes:

1. Baroness Howe’s Online Safety Bill will have its First Reading in the House of Lords on 14 May 2013.
2. CARE (Christian Action Research and Education) is a well-established mainstream Christian charity providing resources and helping to bring Christian insight and experience to matters of public policy and practical caring initiatives.  CARE is represented in the UK Parliaments and Assemblies, at the EU in Brussels and the UN in Geneva and New York.  CARE is a company limited by guarantee registered in England and Wales at 53 Romney Street, London, SW1P 3RF, Company No: 3481417, Charity No: 1066963, Scottish Charity No: SC038911 Website: www.care.org.uk
3. Safermedia is a Charity seeking to reduce the harmful effects of the media on our children, families and society. http://www.safermedia.org.uk/

This week, Baroness Howe of Idlicote linked increasing sexual offences with the availability of explicit violent pornography online.

In a speech to the House of Lords, Baroness Howe pointed to the Government’s report that revealed one in five women surveyed had been a victim of a sexual offence at some point in her life since the age of 16.

She told fellow Peers:

‘that such a large proportion of women in England and Wales should have experienced this sort of assault is yet another indication serving to highlight the urgency of the need to address the very damaging effects of the increasing sexualisation of our society.’

Baroness Howe highlighted the cultural permeation of provocative images and language, including on TV, films, in the music industry and advertising, whilst the accessibility of explicit pornographic material on the Internet continues to grow. She explained that because this type of material is now so commonplace, it creates an environment in which more and more people are exposed to images of sexual violence which can, in turn, have a serious impact on their own attitudes, expectations and behaviour.

Children and young people are particularly exposed to these harmful influences. The sexual offending report records that young women aged between 16 and 19 are most at risk of being victims of sexual offences, while an NSPCC survey reported that physical and emotional violence is commonplace within teenagers’ intimate relationships.

‘The development of communications technology is increasing young people’s access to sexually explicit material whilst simultaneously reducing the ability of parents to oversee what their children are viewing,’ acknowledged Baroness Howe.

Concern about the harmful influence of violent sexual images and the sheer scale of their availability to under-eighteens has led Baroness Howe to seek to change the law in this area. Her Online Safety Bill is currently awaiting committee stage in the Lords.

She proposes simplifying mechanisms which reduce access to explicit content for the ordinary internet or mobile phone user whilst placing greater responsibility on the internet service providers to ensure young people are protected from inappropriate online content.

To do this the Bill would introduce an opt-in mechanism for internet users to prevent children and young people from accessing pornographic material online. Adult consumers who wish to view explicit material will be required to opt-in using a robust age-verification process. The Bill also creates an educational obligation designed to deal with online behavioural challenges such as cyber-bullying and grooming.

Commenting on the necessity of tackling websites which promote such violence, Baroness Howe said, ‘Sexual violence in all its forms…is extremely dangerous and damaging for individuals and for society as a whole…it is vital that we seek to redress this situation wherever and however it occurs, including in the digital arena.’

To read the original speech by Baroness Howe please click here

Momentum is building for Baroness Howe’s Online Safety Bill, following disappointment with the Government’s lacklustre response to the proposal to introduce an opt-in system for protecting children online. In the week running up to Safer Internet Day, a series of amendments have been tabled to support Baroness Howe’s efforts to improve the safety of children when using the internet.

Baroness Howe, who introduced the Bill and has led the fight to protect children online, has tabled an amendment to strengthen the educational provisions in the Bill.

Baroness Howe said:

 ‘Clause 3 of my Bill is all about education. Whilst we know the wonderful education and social advantages of the internet, children need to be taught about the best ways to keep themselves safe online and to understand the potential harms they could encounter in the online world. It is only though better education that we can tackle online behavioural challenges like cyber-bullying and grooming.’

 ‘My amendment further strengthens the educational mission of the Bill, underlying the fact that it has a two-pronged strategy. On the one hand it introduces the opt-in system, requiring proof of being over eighteen years of age, in order to protect children from accidentally stumbling across inappropriate content as well as intentionally seeking it out. On the other hand it has an educational obligation to deal with, among other things, the online behavioural challenges that opt-in was not designed to, and indeed cannot address.’

Former children’s television presenter, Baroness Benjamin, has tabled an important amendment that broadens the scope of the opt-in system to cover all adult content. Commenting on the amendment and the Bill Baroness Benjamin said:

‘I have raised in the House of Lords before the great concern among parents and teachers and the growing vulnerability of children to websites which contain extreme violent content, and glorify and promote suicide, self-harm and eating disorders. The Online Safety Bill will help protect young people from the harmful messages of these websites. I very much look forward to its Committee Stage and working hard to put in place a strong legal framework to provide our children with the very best online safety protections.’

Baroness Massey, whose speech at the Bill’s Second Reading made the news because of her exposure of the failure of the coffee chain Starbucks to filter adult material from its free wi-fi service, said:

‘I was very concerned when the Government consultation on online safety made absolutely no reference to age verification. One of the great strengths of Baroness Howe’s Bill is that age verification is right it its heart.

Without proper age verification – which we already see working well with online gambling for under-18’s thanks to the statutory obligation placed on online gambling sites via the Gambling Act – child protection mechanisms will be fairly useless. Among other things my amendment places an obligation on OFCOM to set the standards for age verification’

Baroness Howe warmly welcomes the amendments put down by Baroness Benjamin and Baroness Massey:

‘I very much support these amendments and look forward to the Committee Stage debate on the Bill in the near future.’

For further information contact Ruth Bessant, Public Affairs Media and Communications Officer on tel: 020 7227 4731 or 07581 153693 or email: ruth.bessant@care.org.uk

Notes:

1. Baroness Howe’s Online Safety Bill can be found here: http://services.parliament.uk/bills/2012-13/onlinesafety.html
2. Safer Internet Day takes place on 5 February 2013 organised by the UK Safer Internet Centre. Full details available on the Safer Internet Day website: http://www.saferinternet.org.uk/safer-internet-day/2013

CARE has expressed its disappointment that the Government has rejected the opt-in system of protecting children from accessing adult content online, despite the Prime Minister’s latest announcement. We are particularly unimpressed at the justification given by the Government for not proceeding with an opt-in system.

Nola Leach, Head of Public Affairs, explains: ‘The Government’s justification for rejecting an opt-in system seems to be based on the argument that it’s not a fix-all solution. Specifically, they claim that it is not 100% foolproof and does not deal with sexting, cyber-bullying and grooming – but in truth anyone who knows anything about opt-in could have told them that from day one! Rather than assessing its utility on the basis of what it was not designed to do, it would be better to assess it on the basis of what it is designed to do: namely, making access to robust filtering easy for parents.’

CARE strongly believes that an opt-in system would be a very important tool that the Government should adopt.

Nola continued, ‘We know that parents find installing content filters a real challenge and that the difficulty involved with putting filtering in place acts as a significant disincentive. In 2011, an OFCOM report found that only 39% of parents of children aged 5-15 using the internet said they had controls or filtering software in place.’

‘The beauty of the opt-in system is that it is the most simple, least labour-intensive means of providing filtering to parents which in no way removes them from the driving seat.’

‘It results in filtering being put in place by default and gives parents the option of whether they want it to stay in place or whether they want to remove it, which can be actioned with a few clicks through a speedy age-verification process.’

Dr Dan Boucher, CARE’s Director of Parliamentary Affairs, said, ‘A voluntary approach by internet service providers (ISPs) to promote parental controls is not sufficient to protect children online. CARE continues to argue that the opt-in model constitutes a key part of any credible online safety strategy, working in tandem with better education for parents and children.’

‘The Government may have made its mind up, but the opportunity for Parliament to have their say has not yet passed. Baroness Howe’s Online Safety Bill, currently awaiting its Committee Stage, offers effective protection for keeping children safe online through an opt-in system, but also crucially goes beyond that. It provides for better education of parents and young users, as well as making it a requirement for device-level controls to be a part of any new device that is internet enabled. This is a threefold approach which renders the Government’s criticism of opt-in void.’

However, it is not all bad news, as although the Government has baulked at the opportunity to introduce the bold change that our children deserve, they are proposing some useful changes, including asking ISPs to encourage households with children to put filtering in place and in relation to age-verification, something on which their initial consultation was completely silent. CARE also very much welcomes the announcement yesterday that Claire Perry MP has been appointed as the Prime Minister’s advisor on these key issues.

Dan Boucher concluded, ‘These are all steps forward and we welcome them. It is just a shame that they fall short of the important step forward that we really need, which is an opt-in system.’

Why more tools like Olly should be developed and used

Some time ago I wrote a short piece about how new technologies, such as tablets and smartphones, can distract parents from paying full attention to the life of their children.  The portability of technology means it can be readily accessed and the temptation to check your email or Twitter feed at any time, perhaps during your child’s school play or sports day, can be irresistible.  On the other hand, whereas television was once the great occupier of your child’s time, which enabled you to focus on doing the dishes or hanging up the washing, the iPad and new technology is now also fulfilling this task.  Portable computing is also increasingly being used in schools.  In fact, this technology is all around us and increasingly all-pervasive.

However, as technology becomes increasingly personal, the value that we put on talking to our children about their internet use should increase.  So too should the value we place on tools that can help build a safer environment for them.  At CARE, we have been working with Baroness Howe on her Online Safety Private Members’ Bill, which would make it a requirement for all internet service providers, to provide a pornography-free internet service as a matter of course unless a client decides to opt-in to an unfiltered service.  This would mean that the Wi-Fi in a family home would protect a 13 year old from accessing age-sensitive content on his iPad.  However, the sort of excellent protection that you might have at home does not always extend elsewhere.  It is possible to use the same iPad connected to an internet connection in which the filter has been turned off.

This is why, in addition to the opt-in mechanism proposed by Baroness Howe, tools like Olly are such a good idea and why we would also like to see Baroness Howe’s Bill succeed in conjunction with the development of more tools to help children stay safe online.  Olly is a web browser available free on the iPad which will eventually be made available on several other platforms.  Built into Olly’s search function is a filter which steers children away from more than 600 million adult websites making the iPad that much more family-friendly.

John Carr, one of the world’s leading authorities on children’s use of the Internet, has praised the app:

“Parents love technology and rightly want their kids to have it both for educational reasons, to help them stay in touch with friends and family, and have fun.  But parents are also very concerned about their children’s potential exposure to an almost endless supply of porn that is easily accessible online.  Olly can deal with that.  And the beauty is in its simplicity.  Many parents find some of the available filtering programmes fiddly, daunting and complex.  Olly is very straightforward.

An important feature of Olly is its ability to distinguish between sites that contain sexually explicit content and sites that contain information about sexual health or might be relevant in the context of schoolwork. ”

It is fantastic to see initiative being taken to promote healthy, family-friendly browsing.  We hope that others will be encouraged to generate similar tools as we look forward to the next stages of Baroness Howe’s Online Safety Bill.

Baroness Howe of Idlicote (pictured, right) introduced her Online Safety Private Members Bill to the House of Lords on 10 May. It requires those companies that supply internet services – whether at home or on a mobile device – to filter pornographic content, unless an adult user specifically asks for access to such content. This mechanism is called an ‘opt-in’ system. The measure is intended to help parents bring up their children in an internet-enabled age without them being able to access, whether purposefully or by accident, such content. It would also allow those adults who do not want to access pornography, to surf the net more safely.

Because the internet is notoriously hard to police, due in part to issues related to where legislative boundaries begin and end, CARE believes that, at the very least, Internet Service Providers (ISPs) and Mobile Phone Operators (MPOs) should provide a service which empowers their adult customers to make decisions about what sort of content they don’t want on their home broadband or their children’s mobile phones. It should be offered to all adults, whether or not they are new customers or existing customers and should be promoted as a responsible mechanism to help children grow to maturity while enjoying the good that the internet can bring.

There is no reason why two separate approaches should exist for when children are walking down a high street, or when they are surfing the net. We do not allow children to buy films or computer games which are classified 18. We do this by verifying their age if it seems a person younger than 18 is attempting to purchase something they should not have. We should do it online as well. The technology exists. Talk Talk have implemented something which comes close to what we want to see, so other ISPs and MPOs should do the same.

Lady Howe’s Private Members Bill is the first legislative attempt to introduce an opt-in system for accessing pornography. It follows from the work of Claire Perry MP, who in 2010 introduced the idea to parliamentarians and recently conducted an Independent Parliamentary Inquiry into Online Child Protection (view the Inquiry’s Report here). The Bill is a key milestone in the battle to secure a safe online environment for our children. The Government have so far said they are in favour of the proposals put forward by Mrs Perry, but would like the industry to self-regulate and bring about these changes without amending primary legislation.

Lady Howe made proposals that did not go as far during the passage of the Digital Economy Bill in 2009. Her suggestions then were to ensure ISPs and MPOs inform their clients, at the point of purchase and for the duration of the contract, about how they can help keep their children safe. These ideas were taken up by the Bailey Review of the Commercialisation and Sexualisation of Childhood. Reporting to the Prime Minister later last year, the Review’s author – Reg Bailey, Chief Executive of the Mothers’ Union – also said ISPs could do more to give parents tools to help protect their children online though he did not specify how this should be done.

The industry, responding to the review, made the pledge to bring forward self regulatory measures, but did not go as far as endorsing the requirement to have an opt-in to access pornography through a filter at network level.

That is why CARE is glad that Baroness Howe has brought forward this Private Members Bill, to encourage Government to require more from the industry to help parents bring their children up in the 21^st century.

A copy of the Bill can be found here.

CARE warmly welcomes the Report from the Independent Parliamentary Inquiry into Online Child Protection, published today.

Conducted by Claire Perry and a cross-party group of MPs, the Inquiry’s Report tackles the issue of protecting children online – a cause CARE has worked on for a number of years, most recently with Baroness Howe of Idlicote whose Online Safety Private Members’ Bill was recently introduced in the House of Lords.

The Howe Bill, which builds upon work begun by Mrs Perry, represents the first serious legislative attempt to introduce an opt-in system for accessing pornography.  In an internet-enabled age where children are increasingly technology-savvy, the Bill seeks to help parents bring up their children without them being able to access, whether purposefully or by accident, inappropriate content.

As the Inquiry’s Report makes clear, children accessing pornography online is not a baseless concern.  Indeed, according to the Report, six out of ten children download adult material due to insufficient filters on their computers.  Of equal concern is the finding that the use of filtering software in homes has fallen from 49% to 39% in the last three years.

The fact that children are able to access inappropriate content online is not a new revelation, but the findings of the Inquiry serve as a sobering and timely reminder of the need to equip parents to ensure children are protected as they access the internet.

CARE’s Chief Executive, Nola Leach, welcomed the Inquiry’s Report, saying: “I think we can all agree that the internet and mobile technology are wonderful tools but, as with all tools, they must be used with proper safety measures in place.  Both the Inquiry and Lady Howe’s Bill are encouraging developments which provide a wonderful opportunity for the Government and particularly Internet Service Providers to step up and help parents meet the ever-present challenge of protecting their children online.”

Notes:

1. The full Report from the Independent Parliamentary Inquiry into Online Child Protection can be found here: http://www.claireperry.org.uk/downloads/independent-parliamentary-inquiry-into-online-child-protection.pdf

2. Information on Baroness Howe’s Online Safety Bill can be found here: http://services.parliament.uk/bills/2010-12/onlinesafety.html

·        One in three children has seen hardcore internet pornography
·        Software to protect children absent from half of computers

New laws which will make it more difficult for children to access hardcore pornography were introduced in Parliament on Wednesday.

The legislation will introduce new controls to halt the rising numbers of children who have accessed hard core pornography on the internet.

The Bill was introduced in the House of Lords by Baroness Howe of Idlicote and has been warmly endorsed by Devizes MP, Claire Perry, who recently convened a cross-party enquiry into the subject of on-line child safety.

Lady Howe said, “My Bill will help parents protect their children from  access pornography by requiring internet Service Providers and Mobile Phone Operators to block pornography at the network level unless the customer buying access to the internet or mobile network is 18 or over and asks them to remove the block through an opt-in mechanism.”

Campaigners argue that this change would mean children surfing the internet could not visit ‘disturbing, harrowing and graphic’ websites.

Lady Howe continued, “Historically, most internet content has escaped regulation.  A laudable industry-wide effort in the UK resulted in the Clean Feed system that blocks illegal child abuse imagery, but there has always been a reluctance to block, or limit access to other forms of adult material due to the international nature of internet content.”

“We don’t accept this situation with any other form of media.  Our TV viewing is guided by clear Ofcom advice, our cinema screens are subject to British Film Board classifications and High Street hoardings and general print advertising are regulated by the Advertising Standards Agency.  And growing internet enabling of household devices and technological convergence – a quarter of TVs sold in the US are now internet enabled – means that the difference in regulation is going to come crashing into our living rooms,” Claire Perry added.

The campaign to change the law gained new momentum following a study that found one in three children had seen hard core pornography on the internet by the age of 10 and that four in every five children aged 14 to 16 ‘regularly’ accessed explicit photographs and movies on their home computers.

And evidence suggests that the problems are getting worse. Half of British computers are currently unprotected and one survey found that many parents felt intimidated by the ‘apparent complexities’ of setting up their own filter.

A YouGov poll found that the new generation of mobile phones was making accessing pornography easier with two-thirds of children admitting that they had accessed explicit material on their handsets. Worryingly most parents are oblivious to how easy it is for children to download images of the most extreme nature.

The Bill coincides with the new Safety Net campaign petition which states ‘To protect children I call on the Government to force Internet Service Providers to make accessing pornography an adult only opt-in service.’ It has gathered 40,000 signatures in just a few weeks.

Mrs Perry concluded:  “The Howe Bill addresses very effectively one of the greatest challenges for UK parents today, protecting children on-line. It is a timely and important piece of legislation that I hope will have a big impact.”

For media enquiries, please contact Alistair Thompson of Media Intelligence Partners on 07970 162 225, or 0203 008 8145.

Notes

1.You can find the bill on the Parliament website here: http://services.parliament.uk/bills/2010-12/onlinesafety.html

2. The Safety Net Petition backed by CARE, Premier and Safer Media can be accessed at www.safetynet.org.uk

Baroness Howe of Idlicote (pictured, right) introduced her ‘Online Safety’ Private Members Bill to the House of Lords today. It requires those companies that supply internet services – whether at home or on a mobile device – to filter pornographic content, unless an adult user specifically asks for access to such content. This mechanism is called an ‘opt-in’ system. The measure is intended to help parents bring up their children in an internet-enabled age without them being able to access, whether purposefully or by accident, such content. It would also allow those adults who do not want to access pornography, to surf the net more safely.

Because the internet is notoriously hard to police, due in part to issues related to where legislative boundaries begin and end, CARE believes that, at the very least, Internet Service Providers (ISPs) and Mobile Phone Operators (MPOs) should provide a service which empowers their adult customers to make decisions about what sort of content they don’t want on their home broadband or their children’s mobile phones. It should be offered to all adults, whether or not they are new customers or existing customers and should be promoted as a responsible mechanism to help children grow to maturity while enjoying the good that the internet can bring.

There is no reason why two separate approaches should exist for when children are walking down a high street, or when they are surfing the net. We do not allow children to buy films or computer games which are classified 18. We do this by verifying their age if it seems a person younger than 18 is attempting to purchase something they should not have. We should do it online as well. The technology exists. Talk Talk have implemented something which comes close to what we want to see, so other ISPs and MPOs should do the same.

Lady Howe’s Private Members Bill is the first legislative attempt to introduce an opt-in system for accessing pornography. It follows from the work of Claire Perry MP, who in 2010 introduced the idea to parliamentarians and was welcomed by Government Ministers. The Bill is a key milestone in the battle to secure a safe online environment for our children. The Government have so far said they are in favour of the proposals put forward by Mrs Perry, but would like the industry to self-regulate and bring about these changes without amending primary legislation.

Lady Howe made proposals that did not go as far during the passage of the Digital Economy Bill in 2009. Her suggestions then were to ensure ISPs and MPOs inform their clients, at the point of purchase and for the duration of the contract, about how they can help keep their children safe. These ideas were taken up by the Bailey Review of the Commercialisation and Sexualisation of Childhood. Reporting to the Prime Minister later last year, the Review’s author – Reg Bailey, Chief Executive of the Mothers’ Union – also said ISPs could do more to give parents tools to help protect their children online though he did not specify how this should be done.

The industry, responding to the review, made the pledge to bring forward self regulatory measures, but did not go as far as endorsing the requirement to have an opt-in to access pornography through a filter at network level.

That is why CARE is glad that Baroness Howe has brought forward this Private Members Bill, to encourage Government to require more from the industry to help parents bring their children up in the 21^st century.

A copy of the Bill can be found here.

Today, 7 February, is Safer Internet Day.  Coming, as it does, on the same day that the Police Federation expressed their fears over cuts to online safety work, Safer Internet Day is a timely and necessary opportunity for UK families to think about how they use the internet and engage with the online world.

This time last year CARE launched ‘Protecting Families Online’ to affirm the opportunities the internet provides but also to encourage families to think about how they can protect themselves from harmful and inappropriate content online.  That Safer Internet Day occurs in the same week as Marriage Week (which encourages marriage and commitment) is a happy coincidence as the link between strong, stable family life and childhood development and prospects is well documented.

Our approach to this complex set of issues has been to point toward the need for industry to step up and meet its obligations to its customers, for the Government to provide an appropriate legal and regulatory framework, as well as for parents to recognise the key they have to play in educating both themselves and their children.

What’s going on today?

Labour MP Alun Michael is inviting MPs to attend the UK Safer Internet Centre’s event at Portcullis House this afternoon and there plenty of ways for parents, teachers and young people to get involved too.

You can access advice and resources suitable for parents, children and teachers; take part in an Internet safety IQ test; listen to the 12 hour radio show with features from young people, parents, representatives from industry and the Government; and find out more about what is going on today by visiting the UK Safer Internet Centre website.

Also, do take a moment to read an opinion piece on the Christian Today website by CARE’s Lauri Moyle which can be found here.

You can also follow @UK_SIC and @marriagewk2012 on Twitter for the very latest news on Safer Internet Day and Marriage Week 2012.