Operators & European Commission Vow To Protect Kids From Adult Content, Violent Images, Bullying

Reuters reports a group of 23 mobile operators, content providers and organizations (including Vodafone, Orange, Telecom Italia, Deutsche Telekom and TeliaSonera) have pledged to support the European Commission in its efforts to protect children from harmful mobile Internet content. The companies have signed the European Framework for Safer Mobile Use by Younger Teenagers and Children, which obligates them to control access to adult material, support awareness campaigns and co-operate with authorities on illegal content.

Specifically, the principles in the Framework call on the companies to develop and agree on mechanisms to classify and even block content. . It also requires the signatories to protect children from paedophiles, bullying and access to pornographic or violent images when they use their phones. The companies will also work towards developing self-regulatory codes in their respective countries by February 2008.

Meanwhile, this post highlights a new problem facing the mobile industry. Minors are using their camera phone to capture and share pictures of under-age teens having sex. It will be interesting to see how operators plan to protect children from exposure to this new twist on user-gen content.

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