The publication coincides with the Protecting Children Online
EU/Virtual Global Taskforce conference, taking place in Belfast
yesterday and today.
In particular the guidance suggests that ISPs should:
- offer users a way of reporting material that is illegal or
potentially harmful to children;
- offer content filtering on search engines;
- manually review and approve websites included in search
services aimed at children;
- consider whether they need human or automatic moderation for
chatrooms;
- ensure where necessary staff who come into contact with
children have had relevant Criminal Records Bureau checks.
"These guides will ensure safer online standards for our
children,” said Paul Goggins, Home Office Minister and Chair of the
Government's Taskforce on Child Protection on the Internet.
“The internet is a great tool for children with massive benefits
for our society, but we know that paedophiles will target children
in any setting they can. Our message to them is clear – there is no
place for online abuse anywhere in the world, and our police are
one step ahead in the fight to protect children," he added.
The Minister also provided more details of a new Child
Exploitation and Online Protection Centre which will be operational
from April next year.
The Centre will provide a single point of contact for the
public, law enforcers, and the communications industry to report
targeting of children online, and will offer advice and information
to parents and potential victims of abuse 24 hours a day. Based in
London with up to 100 staff, it will also carry out proactive
investigations and work with police forces around the world to
protect children
The CEO of the new centre will be National Crime Squad Deputy
Director Jim Gamble, said Mr Goggins.
