Brussels, 13/09/2011 (Agence Europe) - A report published by the European Commission on 13 September shows that member states are making a real effort to step up online protection of children, in line with EU recommendations. Over all, however, measures taken have proved insufficient. “We urgently need to step up a gear on what we do and how we work together to empower and protect children in this ever-changing digital world”, Digital Agenda Commissioner Neelie Kroes said. She announced that a strategy would be presented later this year, saying: “We need to give parents and teachers the confidence to take on their responsibilities” for protecting children who use the new technologies.
In 1998 and 2006, the European Union published several recommendations to protect minors online. These aimed to offset the void in European and national legislation unable to keep up with the pace of new technology, and called for cooperation and the exchange of best practice between parties involved. According to the report, member states do not use, or insufficiently use, the appropriate means, and, for example, there are many differences between member states in the way hotlines check the illegality of, or the harm involved in, the content reported to them. There is no guarantee that children have access to content adapted to their age, and social networks should be made safer, while children should be protected against harmful video games. The report suggests several courses of action. For example, to counter illegal and harmful content, member states could make the public more familiar with hotlines and improve support infrastructure to make the removal of harmful content more effective. When it comes to social networking and the protection of privacy, it is necessary to heighten awareness of the risks and ways to mitigate them. Finally, for online games, the classification of games according to age should be used (for example, PEGI), developing codes of conduct and other ways of making retailers more aware of age-ratings, to prevent “under-age” sales of games. (I.L./transl.jl)