The UK Council for Child Internet Safety (UKCCIS) will police
websites containing inappropriate content, write industry codes of
practice for publishers and advertise to children about how to stay
safe online.
UKCCIS said that it would tell the publishers of sites which
accept material from the public for publication how quickly they
must take down content once they have been told that it is
inappropriate.
"[UKCCIS's strategy will] establish voluntary codes of practice
for user-generated content sites, making such sites commit to take
down inappropriate content within a given time," said a statement
from the Department for Children, Schools and Learning, which
launched UKCCIS.
The creation of the body was proposed by Dr Tanya Byron, a child
psychologist who was commissioned by the Government to produce a
report on child safety in relation to digital technologies. It
adopted all of her recommendations.
"The Council will be a powerful union of some of our key players
giving support to parents and guidance to children as they come
more and more accustomed to the virtual world," said Byron. "It
will also give families, teachers and most importantly children and
young people the ability to input experiences and concerns."
The UKCCIS will have over 100 members including the Internet
Watch Foundation (IWF), Child Exploitation and Online Protection
Centre (CEOP), BT, Microsoft, games industry body the Entertainment
and Leisure Software Publishers Association (ELSPA), Google,
MySpace, Facebook and the Press Complaints Commission (PCC).
"By putting in place the right support for children, young
people and parents we can reduce much of the anxiety that exists
around the internet," said children's minister Ed Balls. "UKCCIS
will enable everyone from parents to industry, Government,
education, and children’s welfare organisations to play their part
in keeping children safe online."
The Department for Children, Schools and Families said that the
UKCCIS would develop a number of codes of practice which it will
expect internet the industry to sign up to and abide by.
The UKCCIS will meet four times a year and will be chaired by
the home secretary or children's minister. It will report to the
Prime Minister once a year, the Department said.
"Earlier this year, the Home Office published the first ever
social networking guidance developed with industry, charities and
law enforcement," said home secretary Jacqui Smith. "The new UK
Council builds on this by bringing together over one hundred
organisations all committed to keeping children safe online. By
working in partnership we can intensify our efforts to protect
young people.”
In her report, Byron had said that parents felt fear and
helplessness when they contemplated the "digital divide" that
separated them from their children.
"Headlines have contributed to the climate of anxiety that
surrounds new technology and created a fiercely polarised debate in
which panic and fear often drown out evidence. The resultant
clamour distracts from the real issue and leads to children being
cast as victims rather than participants in these new, interactive
technologies," she said in her report.
She proposed the UKCCIS as a partial solution to those problems,
hoping that its codes of conduct and advertising and awareness
campaigns would alleviate parests' fears.
