Brussels, 25/04/2002 (Agence Europe) - On 29 April, in the context of the Internet and e-Europe Initiative, Commissioner Liikanen (Information Society), and Ann Davison (Member of the European Economic and Social Committee) will be reviewing ways of protecting children who surf on the Internet. Ms Davison will be offering the Commissioner her total support for the Commission's Internet action plan, whilst calling on Member States to, "do the same but in a way that is more vigorous and firm".
Children are now often more skilful than their parents in using computers and the Internet. Without a filtering system (which would censor harmful images and bad language), children can easily be confronted with violent or indecent images, as well as sites that are informative or amusing. In an effort to combat these dangers, Ms Davison will launch a formal appeal to Commissioner Liikanen to help the Committee in its work on this issue (the Committee adopted the Opinion of Ann Davison on child protection on the Internet last November: see EUROPE 30 November). The Commission had already tackled a number of problems raised on the Internet, in the area of education, for example. Ms Davison will explain to Mr Liikanen that, "it is important not to ignore the issue of child safety on the Internet" and to ensure that "on-line providers be legally compelled to protect children who surf the Internet". While pointing out the high percentage of children who surf the Internet (aged between 11-14) and (75%-80% of Britons and Austrians, for example) without parental supervision, Ms Davison will be requesting better filter systems, "which would be a great help in protecting children from being exposed to sites showing suicides, pornography or even bomb making". In a reference to a study in the Test Achats magazine's results on tests carried out on consumer organisations' filter systems in Portugal, Italy and Spain, Ms Davison drew attention to the fact that, "the programmes do not generally filter inoffensive sites, including those whose names could lead to confusion. On the other hand, sites on weapons, violence, hatred, racism, drugs or sects pass through the chains in the net rather easily". Ms Davison indicated that parents must be able to receive advice (to ensure that their children do not accept meetings with someone they've met on the Internet, that their personal data is protected, such as their telephone numbers, name of school, photos etc.) as well as the children themselves (for example to keep them away from sites forbidden to those under eighteen). (Further information can be found on http: //http://www.net-consumers.org ).