Online Child Protection 'Insufficient' – EC

The European Commission has said member states are not doing enough to safe guard children online, in a report on Tuesday evening.

The EC report said EU countries were not responding "adequately, or have varying approaches" to tackling illegal or harmful content, ensuring children access age-appropriate content, making social networks safer for children and protecting children from harmful video games.

"For example, there are many differences between Member States in the way hotlines check the illegality… or the harm involved in the content reported to them, track its source and notify it to the competent authorities.

"Similarly, EU countries use different age rating systems and technical means to keep website and games age-appropriate."

The report said there was considerable scope for enhancing children's protection and that the Commission would address the issues later this year in a comprehensive initiative to empower and protect children who use new technologies.

Last week, the latest initiative to make the avoidance of sexually explicit content easier was asking companies and celebrities to register their names against "porn hijacking" ahead of the launch of the .xxx web domain.

Brands and trademarks were requested to write in and have their name blocked from use with the new suffix, which goes live next year.

The "red light" domain is intended to make it easier to find or avoid sexually explicit material online.

However, responding to the new EC report, Neelie Kroes, Commission Vice President for the Digital Agenda said member states needed to "step up a gear".

"Children are going online more, and younger, and are exploring an exciting digital world of opportunity. But 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. We need to give parents and teachers the confidence to take on their responsibilities. The strategy I will present later this year will tackle these problems head on."

(DW/GK)