NSPCC - Media Centre - Media Briefings - Children and the Internet

Navigation menu list for sections above the current page: NSPCC Home; What we do

Media briefings

Children and the Internet

Journalist briefing, June 2009

Background

The NSPCC believes the internet is a great educational tool for children and young people. But it is also open to misuse. Children can be vulnerable to abuse through, for example, chat rooms and mobile phone technology and the making and distribution of indecent images.

The Sex Offences Act 2003 protects children from abusers who groom children in internet chat rooms. Once contact is made, it can escalate very quickly to mobile phone, text messaging, and eventually face to face contact.

It is important that children are encouraged and educated to surf safely. Parents and carers should keep up to date with new technologies and the best ways to aid children and young people's safe use of the internet.

NSPCC Safe Surfing Guide

Parents should tell their children:

Never to use their real name in chat rooms but to pick a special online nickname.
Never to tell anyone personal things about themselves or their family. - such as addresses or telephone numbers or school or clubs they go to.
Never to send photographs of themselves.
To remember people online might not be who they say they are.
Never to respond to nasty or rude messages.
To stop a conversation if they feel suspicious or uncomfortable about the way it is going, or if it is getting really personal.
To be careful with email attachments or links as they might contain nasty images. They should not open a link or attachment if they don't know who sent it
To avoid sites meant for adults.

The Internet and Europe - Safer Internet Plus programme

The European Commission's €50 million 'Safer Internet Plus' funding programme is a welcome contribution to making the internet safer for children. The current programme, running from 2005 - 2008, builds on earlier EU work to combat illegal and harmful internet content.

The 'INHOPE' network of hotlines for the public to report harmful internet content is one of positive results of the EU's activities. This includes funding for the UK's Internet Watch Foundation.

A recent Eurobarometer survey of parental attitudes towards internet use among children in Europe highlighted the high levels of internet use by children across 25 EU Member States. However it also showed significant differences between countries, including in the extent to which parents perceive or understand the dangers posed by the internet.

The Eurobarometer survey showed:

Across the EU 25, over 85% of children aged 12 -18, and 50% of all children, are reported to use the internet. This varies from 71% of all children in Denmark to 26% in Greece, with 65% in the UK.
Internet use by children is significantly lower than average in the countries which were not yet EU members at the time of the survey. These include Romania and Bulgaria, who are EU members since 1 January 2007.
In most countries, children are more likely to use the internet than to own a mobile phone. An average of 79% of 12 - 18 year olds own mobile phones, according to parents. 40% of all children in the UK are reported to own a mobile phone, compared to 54% in Denmark and 28% in Spain.
Across the EU, nearly 1 in 5 parents think their child has encountered harmful or illegal content on the internet. 48% say filtering or blocking tools are in place when their child uses the internet.
Around 2 in 5 parents set rules for their child's use of the internet, with the educational level of parents being the most significant factor in determining whether rules are set.
Rules for their child's use of the internet are set by fewer UK parents than the EU average. 55% of UK parents surveyed report setting rules, compared to an average of 57%. This ranges from 73% of parents in Finland, to 41% in Latvia.
Over half of respondents aged 15 and over know where they can report harmful or illegal content. In the UK 60% are aware of this, compared to an EU average of 52%. Compared to the last survey in 2003, awareness levels have increased significantly.
Over half of parents think their children know what to do if they come across content which makes them feel uncomfortable.
In the 25 countries which were EU Member States in 2006, under half of parents would welcome more information on how to protect children from harmful or illegal content, although this figure hides significant differences.
A lot more parents (64% on average) in accession and candidate countries would welcome more information, including 70% in Romania.

The coverage of the EU programme extends to technologies such as chatlines and online messaging, as well as mobile phones. Its four action lines are: fighting illegal content; tackling unwanted and harmful content (including spam); promoting a safer environment, and awareness-raising.

A European Commission public consultation in 2006 aimed to gather more information about risks to children posed by mobile phone use, and determine what European action would be helpful. The NSPCC responded to this consultation as part of the UK Children's Charities Coalition for Internet Safety (CHIS). More information can be found at http://europa.eu.int/iap

Internet Safety Statistics

A nationally representative survey of 1000 young people aged 11 -18 and one amongst 2000 adults aged 18-65 found that:

One in three British young people between the ages of 11-18 say that they interact with strangers online.
10% of British young people between the ages of 11-18 say that they have conducted sexually explicit conversations with people online that they know, and 1% have conducted sexually explicit conversations online with strangers.
1 in 7 of of British young people between the ages of 11-18 say that they have found themselves in a situation online where they have felt uncomfortable.
Just 40% of parents surveyed use security software to control their children's online activity, Of those that don't currently use it, 55% of parents felt control technology was 'unnecessary' and 5% didn't know how to put such controls on.
Interestingly a high 87% of parents believed that they were fully aware of what their children access online and 86% said they were confident that their children do not access anything they would disapprove of.
Around one in four parents in the UK have checked their children's emails and 31% of parents in the UK have checked their internet history. Of those who checked, one in four found something that concerned them, in the majority of cases unsuitable or adult internet sites.
One in two children said they pretend to be doing school work online while actually surfing the net and nearly one third of children say they would be in trouble if their parents knew what they were looking at.

The Mobile Life Report (2008): The connected world, exploring our relationships with modern technology in a wireless world. Ipsos MORI and London School of Economics.
http://www.mobilelife2007.co.uk/Mobile_Life_2008.pdf

Indecent images of children

Operation Ore
http://society.guardian.co.uk/children/comment/0,1074,838567,00.html
In early 2002 the US Postal Inspection Service informed the British police of thousands of Britons who had subscribed to US websites showing indecent images of children. The investigation into this list is codenamed Operation Ore. This was the largest ever list of British names to be involved in an investigation of this kind. And the list included people from all walks of life, backgrounds and professions.

Behind many of these indecent images are real children who will have suffered immense trauma and pain. Receiving or downloading abusive images of children perpetuates its production and reinforces the cycle of exploitation.

The NSPCC believes that if sexual abuse of children is to be addressed effectively, a broad approach is required to ensure that children are enabled to tell about abuse, that adults take responsibility to stop abuse and potential abusers are provided with help before they abuse.

During 2007, 34,871 reports of child abuse images from the public were processed by the Internet Watch Foundation.

These reports resulted in 2755 'top level domains' where child sexual abuse content was assessed, confirmed as potentially illegal, traced and the appropriate intelligence being disseminated accordingly. Of these 80% are commercial operations.

There has been a 10% rise in the number of child abuse images reports processed compared to 2006 figures which the IWF believes is due to increased awareness of the 'hotline' and conscientious action by the public.
Internet Watch Foundation 2007 Annual and Charity Report http://www.iwf.org.uk/corporate/page.188.htm

The NSPCC is involved with the following internet bodies:-

Home Office Internet Task Force - established in March 2001. The Task Force is chaired by the Home Office and brings together representatives of the internet industry, child welfare organisations, the police and the Government. See link below.
http://police.homeoffice.gov.uk

Children's Charities Coalition for Internet Safety (CHIS) - is a coalition of UK charities campaigning to make the internet a safer place for children. It involves Action for Children, Children England, ECPAT UK, NCB, NSPCC, Stop It Now UK and Ireland and The Children's Society

Child Exploitation and Online Protection Centre (CEOP) - provides a single point of contact for the public, law enforcers, and the communications industry to report targeting of children online, and offers advice and information to parents and potential victims of abuse 24 hours a day. Based in London with up to 100 staff, it also carries out proactive investigations and work with police forces around the world to protect children. The NSPCC has two staff seconded to the centre. http://www.ceop.gov.uk/

http://www.nspcc.org.uk/helpandadvice
Virtual Global Task Force
Home Office Internet Safety
MSN web safety site, Websafe Crackerz
Internet Watch Foundation
Childnet
BBC Online
Parent's Information Network
IWF Hotline - for reporting illegal or harmful material
For Parent's Information Network review of filtering software:
http://www.pin.org.uk/filtering/index.htm