[FYI] CEC promotes safer use of the Internet

["Axel H Horns" <horns@ipjur.com>]

Commission promotes safer use of the Internet  


Published on: 2000-06-21 Record Number: 15047  Category: General 
policy  

Safer use of the Internet is being encouraged by the European 
Commission through ten projects financed under a four-year action 
plan costing 25 million euro.  

The funding will provide for measures to deal with illegal and 
harmful content on the Internet. A new call for proposals for 
awareness actions and hotlines is already underway.  

Projects in the pipeline cover three action lines of the action plan: 
a European network of hotlines allowing citizens to report illegal 
content on the Internet; rating and filtering mechanisms to aid 
parental control; and awareness measures making teachers, parents and 
children aware of the potential of the Internet.  

Two reports on parental control technologies were issued by the 
Commission on 15 June, concluding that further work is needed to 
improve these technologies. The reports cover the two main types of 
technologies currently available - content filtering based on self-
labelling and on third party rating.  

A further call for proposals will be launched at the end of 2000, 
concentrating on close to market solutions in the area of third party 
rating.  

Commissioner for the Information Society Erkki Liikanen said the 
reports 'support the approach which the Commission has adopted to 
deal with the potentially harmful content on the Internet.  

'The Commission supports the principle of user empowerment and user 
choice to help parents ensure that their children can use the 
Internet safely.  

'The Commission will further support work being carried out in 
parallel under the recommendation on protection of minors and human 
dignity to enhance user empowerment and parental control in digital 
broadcasting.'  

The reports can be downloaded at:  

URL: http://www.ispo.cec.be/iap/