Channel Islands mobile telcos must do more to ‘block inappropriate content’

The Internet has become a source of information for a lot of people, mainly because it’s so easy to find and access whatever you might be looking for. Most users just key in their search terms and find links to sites that may contain the product or information they need via search engines. However, for the young and “curious” minds, it has also become a tool to use to access content that has been generally deemed as inappropriate for their age. Specifically, this involves pornography and other related material.

Prime Minister David Cameron has actually called on Internet service providers to instal porn filters so that parents or adults can limit what any minor in their household can view or access when left unsupervised while browsing the web. But aside from using desktop computers or laptops, many minors are also using their mobile devices to access such content.

As a result, Jersey’s internet safety officer has called on Channel Islands mobile telcos to “block inappropriate content” from being accessed on mobile devices. Jon Tarrant explained that these mobile networks must be held socially responsible in stopping minors or those below the age of 18 from accessing R-rated content.

In general, UK mobile phone operators provide Internet filtering services free of charge. However, the operators in Channel Islands do not. This means that children and minors are able to gain access to pornographic websites and content using their mobile phones and other mobile devices.

Some of Channel Islands’ mobile phone operators, Sure Cable and Wireless, JT and Airtel Vodafone, have expressed that it was difficult to instal such features, citing that it would be complicated and expensive to do so. However, they have vowed to continue exploring other options.

Airtel Vodafone’s Ian Campbell explained that the filter Vodafone UK used is not able to filter everything, stating: “It filters some sites but you cannot give a guarantee to parents that it will filter every single site that has inappropriate content on it.” He added: “It’s important that we recognise that child safeguarding is a really crucial issue and the companies are effectively ducking their social responsibility in this issue. They know about the UK policies, they know about the EU initiatives, and they’ve still decided not to do it yet in Jersey, and it’s been in the UK since 2005 so we’re talking about six years later it’s still not in Jersey.”

Source: BBC