[FYI] (Fwd) News: Children upset by the Net

["Axel H. Horns" <axel.horns@fitug.de>]

------- Forwarded Message Follows -------
Date:          Wed, 9 Dec 1998 15:29:04 GMT0BST
From:          "Yaman Akdeniz" <lawya@lucs-01.novell.leeds.ac.uk>
Subject:       News: Children upset by the Net 
To:            gilc-plan@privacy.org
Reply-to:      gilc-plan@gilc.org

BBC News
Monday, December 7, 1998 Published at 22:15 GMT 
             Sci/Tech

             Children upset by the Net 

             2.4 million children in the UK use the Internet 

             A survey has suggested that up to half a million British
             children may have been upset by something they have seen
             on the Internet. 

             The NOP poll shows that one in five of nearly 4,000
             children between the ages of six and 16 interviewed for
             the survey between September and October this year were
             "uncomfortable" with some content viewed on-line. 

             In the UK, 2.4 million children are estimated to use the
             Internet - roughly a third of all children between six
             and 16. 

             Of those who have had negative experiences while
             surfing the Internet, the largest proportion - 40% - had
             seen something "rude". 

             'Not surprised' 

             One in seven said they had encountered content that
             had "freightened them", while 25% saw pages that they
             thought "would get them into trouble". 

             NOP Associate Director Rob Lawson described the
             numbers as a "significant minority". 

             The children's charity NCH Action for Children suggested
             the survey strengthened calls for Internet regulation to
             protect younger users. 

             Charity spokesman John Carr said: "I regret to say I'm
             not surprised by this survey's findings, it's what we
             have been saying for some time. 

             Net nannies

             "Parents need to know their children are surfing the net
             in safety and security. At the moment, they have no way
             of knowing that at all." 

             NCH Action for Children, which advises the government on
             children's issues, backs the introduction of "net
             nannies" - programmes which filter out content unsuitable
             for children. 

             The survey, called Kids.net, was paid for by Microsoft,
             the BBC, NatWest and Anglia Multimedia in syndicate. 

             The Department of Trade and Industry's forthcoming
             review on Internet regulation is expected to be published
             before Christmas.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Yaman Akdeniz <lawya@leeds.ac.uk>
Cyber-Rights & Cyber-Liberties (UK) at: http://www.cyber-rights.org

Read the new CR&CL (UK) Report, Who Watches the Watchmen, Part:II
Accountability & Effective Self-Regulation in the Information Age,
August 1998 at http://www.cyber-rights.org/watchmen-ii.htm
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