Internet providers urge parents to monitor children's web activity
Internet Matters is launched, offering advice on youngsters' online profiles, the sites they visit and protecting against abuse
The UK's four largest internet providers have urged parents to check which websites their children visit, audit their online profiles and switch on filters blocking inappropriate content in an industry-wide response to the government's push for better child protection online.
BT, Sky, TalkTalk and Virgin Media on Tuesday launched the child internet safety organisation Internet Matters, with a portal offering advice on shielding families against cyberbullying, online grooming, sexting and pornographic content.
One in four children have seen sexual images online by the age of 12, while 60% of teens have been asked for a sexual image of themselves, and 28% of children do not tell their parents when they are being bullied online, often for fear of having their phone taken away, according to research by the telecoms watchdog Ofcom, the NSPCC and the market research agency Opinion Leader.
Carolyn Bunting, general manager of Internet Matters, said her portal offered a single authoritative resource on child online safety, and hoped to become a "household name" by focusing the technology industry and policy makers on a sensitive issue.
“Internet Matters will help parents to understand the issues children can face online whether they're five or 15," Bunting said. "We believe this is the first time that the major broadband providers in any country have joined forces for such a venture. The UK is therefore leading the way when it comes to child internet safety.”
Launched by the singer-songwriter Sophie Ellis-Bextor and her mother, the former Blue Peter presenter Janet Ellis, at London's Museum of Childhood, the portal will also advise on how to manage online reputation. Children's social circles can be larger online than at school, with the average eight-to-11-year-old collecting 92 social network friends.
The initiative has cross-party support, with the prime minister describing it as a “significant step forward in our mission to protect children online”. David Cameron called internet companies to Downing Street for a cybersummit in November, to secure stricter controls over online material. Labour leader Ed Miliband and deputy prime minister Nick Clegg also voiced their approval.
The portal will help parents to operate filters, including those on Google and other search engines. It follows the introduction of optional online filters from each of the four internet providers in recent months.
Internet Matters recommends parents manage, rather than block, their children's access to the internet. It advises them to check the websites visited by looking up internet browser histories; install parental controls on computers, but also on phones, tablets and games consoles; delete profiles on social networks that children are no longer using; and encourage children to ignore and block online bullies.
Ellis-Bextor said: “Today's parents need to deal with issues that didn't even exist when we were growing up. I'm careful to keep an eye on my two boys, especially my 10-year-old, who is at that age when he's starting to explore the internet on his own."
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