Tackling child abuse on 3G services - report

April 16, 2004

Like PCs and the Internet, increasingly feature-rich mobile phones are providing children with a new form of entertainment. But there is an increasing risk from sex offenders exploiting these new technologies for their own ends.

There is increasing concern among lawmakers and child protection charities that mobile phone technology is playing into the hands of tech-savvy paedophiles and pornographers. And because a growing number of children, as well as adults, use these phones, there are now urgent calls for the problem to be tackled. But what can mobile phone operators and manufacturers do to combat this threat? The new report "Preventing child abuse in 3G services" from Visiongain examines the problem and informs you of some of the latest techniques in tackling this form of abuse.

Much of the concern has been over a new generation of mobile phones with built-in cameras, which are proliferating, as well as the onset of mass-market advanced 3G handsets that promise better quality screens and mobile video streaming, as well as live video-conferencing.

Consumer demand also means that mobile devices are increasingly becoming a channel for adult content such as pornography, gambling, financial services and others that may be inappropriate for children to view. As such, there is a fine balance that mobile operators have to thread between offering these revenue-generating services and taking into account children's safety and welfare.

A step in the right direction was taken recently with the signing of a joint Code of Practice by the UK's mobile operators to prevent children accessing adult content.

A number of other measures have to be considered:

-- Can operators be fully accountable for what travels across their networks?

-- To what extent should governments allow industry self-regulation?

-- Is reducing the anonymity associated with pre-pay phones an option

This 70+ page report will look at the dangers that mobile phones pose to children, both to those that own a mobile phone and the threat to every child by paedophiles making use of mobile phone technology. This specific issue is analysed as part of the wider phenomenon of mobile adult content and the growing number of paedophiles making use of new communication means such as the internet. Indeed, child protection groups argue that due to their nature mobile phones could multiply all the problems that currently exist on the fixed-line internet.

The study will also discuss the (predominantly technological) solutions available to tackle this problem, offering recommendations to the mobile phone manufacturers, operators, content providers, law-makers, the police and children's charities.