Kids online

Opportunities and risks for children

Sonia Livingstone, Leslie Haddon

• Publisher: Policy Press
• Year: 2009
• ISBN:
  9781447315322
• Topic: Social Sciences
• Subtopic: Children's Studies in Sociology
• Index: Social Sciences

As the internet and new online technologies are becoming embedded in everyday life, there are increasing questions about their social implications and consequences. Children, young people and their families tend to be at the forefront of new media adoption but they also encounter a range of risky or negative experiences for which they may be unprepared, which are subject to continual change. This book captures the diverse, topical and timely expertise generated by the EU Kids Online project, which brings together 70 researchers in 21 countries across Europe. Each chapter has a distinct pan-European focus resulting in a uniquely comparative approach.

Section IV
Policy implications

FIFTEEN

Maximising opportunities and minimising risks for children online

Jos de Haan1

Protecting or inspiring our children

New and increasingly interactive technologies provide opportunities for children and young people to communicate personal textual and visual information in publicly accessible and searchable online spaces. These new uses not only potentially promote sociability, self-confidence and identity formation, they may also expose children and young people to a variety of risks to their physical and psychological well-being (Hasebrink et al, 2009). In the European Union (EU), several measures have been deployed to promote safer use of the internet by children and young people, often inspired or driven by the Safer Internet Action Plan (1999-2004), Safer Internet Plus Programme (2005-08) or Safer Internet Programme (2009-13). These EU initiatives are evaluated on a regular basis and supported by research into online risks (for example Staksrud, 2005; EC, 2006, 2007, 2008; Deloitte Enterprise Risk Services, 2008). Yet participants at the 2007 Safer Internet Forum still found it necessary to call for reliable facts and figures to inform future work on online safety.

Guided by a conceptual framework including different forms of online risks and opportunities, this chapter makes policy recommendations regarding children’s use of the internet. It asks how positive uses of new technologies can be stimulated, what we can learn from existing research on how to prevent children from harm in online environments and how children can learn to cope with negative experiences. Realising that providing opportunities is one possible way to reduce risks, the classification of opportunities and risks builds on a three Cs approach: content, contact and conduct. This classification derives from the three modes of communication afforded by the internet:

• Content: one-to-many (child as recipient of mass distributed content)

• Contact: adult/child-to-child (child as participant in an interactive situation)

• Conduct: peer-to-peer (child as actor in an interaction in which s/he may be the initiator or perpetrator)

Using each mode of communication, children may encounter risks to their development and well-being. On the other hand, they also have access to many online opportunities such as education and learning, identity formation and social connection. With the evidence base of the EU Kids Online project as a guiding resource, and drawing on the conceptual framework developed in Hasebrink et al (2009; see also Chapter Four, this volume), the policy recommendations in this chapter address both maximising opportunities and minimising risks for children online.

Reducing risks and stimulating positive use

How can we stimulate children’s positive use of the internet while reducing their exposure to risks? In this section we identify several routes for the protection and stimulation of children in an online world. We consider legislation and children’s digital rights, content provision, safety by design, awareness raising, parental mediation, media literacy, education, coping and self-regulatory codes and practices.

Legislation and children’s digital rights

A regulatory framework is a key building block of a national/international strategy for addressing the downside of the internet. While a regulatory framework has elements that are the responsibility of particular parties, such as internet service providers (ISPs), its overall maintenance and development is carried out by national governments. The World Economic Forum (2007) indicates that about half of the countries judge that they have adequate regulation on internet issues in general, and most of these countries can be found in the western world.

In order to achieve wider legitimacy and consistency with advances in our understanding of and respect for children’s autonomy, culminating in the United Nations (UN) Convention on the Rights of the Child, regulatory frameworks should position these rights as their foundation. In general, digital rights refer to the freedom of individuals to perform actions involving the use of information and communication technologies (ICTs) and are related to the protection and realisation of existing rights, such as the right to privacy or freedom of expression. In order to strengthen the position of children in an information age we need a digital rights charter for children based on the UN Convention. Digital rights that encourage creativity and sociability in particular need to be supported. Furthermore, as teenagers value their privacy online and seek to protect it (especially from parents), the right to privacy needs to be included in such a charter.

The availability of a regulatory framework seems to be related to the level of general internet diffusion in the countries. Overall, countries with a greater proportion of internet users often also have more legislation regulating activities on the internet. As a consequence, for children in countries with high internet diffusion, online services are a normal part of their media environment and everyday life, and the availability of a regulatory framework is more likely. On the other hand, children in countries with low internet diffusion lack opportunities to use the internet, and their safety online is less likely to be guided by a regulatory framework. Internet regulation can be supported by e-inclusion strategies that improve access for all. Special attention needs to be paid to those who are excluded. It is necessary to recognise the continuing stratification in access to and use of the internet. Low socio-economic status (SES) groups and often also minority ethnic groups face the risk of digital exclusion. Research shows that the more teenagers take up online benefits, the more risks they encounter (Hasebrink et al, 2009). As far as possible children need to be protected against these online risks. However, safety initiatives to reduce risk also tend to reduce opportunities. It is therefore important to balance children’s protection against children’s rights (to opportunities).

In all countries, guidelines on how to reduce risks are available, although in some countries these struggle to keep up with new risks (often related to Web 2.0 applications). Governments need to pressure content providers to provide more transparency with regards to their commercial interests. For example, advertisements need to be clearly distinguishable from other content. We recommend a code of practice for internet advertising (including a ban on the commercial exploitation of children under the age of 10). Furthermore, commercial parties need to specify to users (especially children) what they do with the information users provide.

Best practice guides need to be provided to reduce risks. These should promote positive uses as well as discouraging potentially harmful ones.

Content provision

The digital rights of children can be supported by providing content that stimulates the intellectual and artistic development of children and by promoting civic information and learning opportunities. Although there is little cross-nationally comparable evidence regarding the incidence and take-up of these various opportunities, in line with the new European Commission (EC) Safer Internet Programme we would like to stress the need for positive content provision. In countries such as Denmark, the Netherlands and the UK, media content for children seems to be rich and broad, whereas other counties lag behind. In most countries, public service broadcasters seem to be the major media content providers for children, followed by some commercial broadcasters (Hasebrink et al, 2009). Increasingly, cultural heritage institutions such as museums, archives and libraries are digitising their collections and making them available to the public at large and to children in particular (de Haan et al, 2006). These digitisation efforts are supported by many different EU initiatives, but mainly depend on the funding capacity of member countries. More and more children use these materials for educational purposes (Duimel and de Haan, 2009). Research suggests that the provision of good online content for children reduces their exposure to risk (Bauwens et al, 2009: in press). A broad discussion is needed on how positive content can be provided and put to use for the benefit of children. To enable provision of high-quality content both governments and industry should support non-profit organisations.

Safety by design

In at least 10 European countries (Belgium, Denmark, Estonia, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Italy, the Netherlands, Slovenia and the UK), ISPs seem to play an active role in safeguarding online safety for children by offering the typical ‘safety packages’, participating in local projects to raise public awareness, collaborating with Insafe’s safety nodes and producing and distributing online safety awareness-raising material for schools. ISPs in other countries appear less active in these respects. The safety packages on offer from ISPs include a wide range of services such as anti-virus and anti-spyware protection, defence against phishing attacks with URL filtering and anti-spam functions, detection of Wi-Fi intrusion, improved personal firewalls to discourage intrusions by hackers and the blocking of viruses targeting loopholes in the network (Hasebrink et al, 2009).

Although the use of safety packages is widespread, the Safer Internet Programme bench study (Deloitte Enterprise Risk Services, 2008) reveals that, notwithstanding recent improvements, the software on the market that attempts to protect children from harmful content leaves much to be desired. Furthermore, it seems hard to get a consensus on what constitutes good protection. Only just over half (59%) of parents declare that they use filtering or monitoring software (EC, 2008). However, there is a need for continued improvements to filtering technology, and a continued need to empower parents and educators to choose and use adequate filtering solutions as appropriate.

Although it is highly plausible that safety information provided by ISPs can raise awareness and reduce risks, few empirical evaluations have been conducted. However, as it is likely that safety considerations built into online spaces (such as report abuse buttons, pre-installed filters, warnings and age verification) can improve safe internet use by children, we suggest it is part of the responsibility of ISPs to implement such features in products and services used by children.

ISPs can also provide technical protection against risks related to personal blogging or to social networking. On Safer Internet Day, 10 February 2009, the EC’s Safer Internet Programme presented agreed principles for guidance on social networking signed up to by all of the major industry players (EC, 2009). Following this achievement, careful implementation of practices in line with these principles is important. Furthermore, ISPs should also provide technical protection against cyber-bullying risks, by enforcing their terms and conditions of use and removing persistent abusers from their networks.

Awareness raising

Many risks arise out of ignorance. Insafe is already working to maximise awareness of online risk among parents, teachers and other stakeholders, including children. Given the development of internet use (the advent of new forms of online activity, for example social networking and other Web 2.0 applications) and the rise of new risks attached to these activities, awareness campaigns need to be continuously updated. Some countries report high levels of risk, while the internet use is relatively modest (Hasebrink et al, 2009). These countries in particular, Estonia, Poland and the Czech Republic, require urgent awareness raising.

The use of picture and video sharing, for example through social networking or blogging, gives rise to new awareness issues with regard to personal information risks. Awareness-raising materials should contain specific information about the danger that user-published picture and video files can reveal young people’s locations and personal details. They should also address risks associated with the fact that such information, once available online, may circulate freely in networks beyond the user’s control or knowledge. In particular, awareness-raising materials should focus on both the collection and dissemination of pictures and videos by adults or adolescents with a sexual interest in children, as well as their use in other forms of online abuse such as bullying and stalking. Information should also include the risks associated with producing and uploading image or video-based content that has been requested by a user whose identity the child or young person is unsure of.

Children should be educated about the fact that cyber-bullying can have far-reaching consequences for the victim. Although many victims appeared not to have been traumatised by this cyber-bullying, others felt threatened or harassed (Hasebrink et al, 2009). Children should be made aware that high-risk behaviour on the internet (such as handing passwords to peers, posting personal information online without appropriate privacy controls) increases the risk of being bullied. Because of the anonymous nature of some internet communication services, children believe that they cannot be traced and consequently cannot be punished. Parents and teachers should be made more aware of cyber-bullying, and encouraged to involve themselves with their children’s use of the internet and mobile phones as well as e...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Title Page
• Copyright
• Contents
• Notes on contributors
• Acknowledgements
• ONE: Introduction
• Section I: Researching European children online
• Section II: Going online: new opportunities?
• Section III: Going online: new risks?
• Section IV: Policy implications
• APPENDIX A: List of country codes
• APPENDIX B: Children and parents online, by country
• APPENDIX C: The EU Kids Online network