Child protection
Our policy
Young people, more and more, see their mobiles as a way of life.
"Kids may be inexperienced in life but they’re streets ahead of their parents in realizing the creative and social possibilities of mobiles.”
Jonny Shipp, Head of Content Standards and Policy, O2 UK.
They use them to stay in touch, ensure their safety and have fun.
O2 believes that, responsibly used, mobile phones provide a stimulating environment that promotes social networking, technology skills and knowledge.
O2’s child protection policies and procedures concentrate on five key areas:
• Internet content.
• Commercial content.
• Location-based services.
• Subscription services.
• Spam.
In line with best practice, we do not proactively market to children or young people under 16 years old in the UK.
"Children should be allowed their freedom. This does not mean that parents should let them do whatever they want. It is our job to draw the boundaries, just as surely as it is our children’s mission to find ways of breaking the rules.”
Jennie Bristow, parent and freelance journalist.
But we respect parents’ rights to consider the pros and cons of allowing their children to own and use a mobile phone and are keen to encourage a safe mobile environment for children.
We promote awareness by raising the issues in our industry and by engaging with charities, child-safety campaigners, governments, law-enforcement agencies, regulators, content producers and parent groups. We have helped to develop codes of practice on the responsible use of mobile phones in the UK, Germany and Ireland.
O2 UK and O2 Germany operate public forums/chat lines and these are moderated constantly by trained staff to help identify inappropriate, threatening or bullying exchanges with children. We undertake to alert relevant agencies to any complaints and we work closely with the police when appropriate.
We are involved in several social programmes to help children keep safe and to use their mobiles responsibly. They include an interactive CD ‘Mobile phone course with Polly and Fred’ for schoolchildren in Germany; an anti-bullying programme in the Czech Republic; and a programme in the UK promoting text messaging to help parents and children keep in touch, run by The Suzy Lamplugh Trust.
According to an investigation of media literacy among children, conducted by OFCOM in 2006:
“Children would be a lot safer with the simple understanding that cyberspace IS the real world.”
Richard Brown, UK NetMonitor.
• Two-thirds of children aged 8-15 own a mobile phone and 82 per cent of 12 to 15 year olds.
• Across all children with a mobile phone the average (self-reported) weekly volume of calls is eight, plus 25 text messages.
• The most popular uses of a mobile phone are sending text messages and making calls. The third most popular use is for playing games. http://www.ofcom.org.uk/advice/media_literacy/medlitpub/medlitpubrss/children/children.pdf
In fact, the fastest-growing group of new mobile phone users are children between the ages of 9 and 11.
Communicating on child protection in the UK
In 2006, we communicated extensively with our employees to increase the profile of child-protection information in O2 retail stores, so that employees are well equipped to inform customers about the responsible use of mobiles.
In partnership with children’s internet charity Childnet International, we worked to develop programmes and activities that raise awareness of safety and mobile phones and the internet. We have identified over 100 specially trained Child Protection Champions in the O2 business, all of them working in customer-facing jobs.
We have also launched a dedicated website which includes a checklist of important questions for parents to ask a mobile operator when purchasing a mobile phone. It provides practical advice on all aspects of child protection, from text bullying to harmful web content (http://protectourchildren.o2.co.uk/).
In addition, we have worked with Childnet International to produce an O2 film on mobiles and child protection which is being distributed to Telefónica O2 Europe employees to increase understanding of the risks to child safety.
In the UK, Ireland and the Isle of Man we publish child-protection leaflets providing parents with practical help on such issues as what your child’s mobile can do, handset theft, the safe use of camera phones, and grooming by paedophiles via chat rooms.
Our leaflets are available from O2 UK stores and through our websites, including:
• What your child’s mobile can do
• Bullying on mobile phones
• Sensible use of camera phones
• Safe use of mobile chatrooms
• Helping children deal with nuisance calls
• Protecting your child against crime.
Youth protection in Germany
German law aims to protect children and youth in online or mobile content environments. We employ a youth protection officer in O2 Germany who seeks to ensure that we fully comply with this regulation. During the year the Federal State of Bavaria went a step further than national legislation and banned the use of mobile phones in schools.
In Germany our interactive mobile phone course, Polly and Fred, helps children use their mobiles safely. It has been approved to be part of the national curriculum and is used by nine federal states. About 6,600 primary schools in Germany ordered the learning software from their federal media centres. As well as helping to pay for the project, O2 Germany has sponsored the distribution of 1,100 more CDs to pupils.
We publish ‘tips and tricks’ on our website and we developed and launched three online child protection brochures in 2006.
Bullying
Malicious behaviour through email, the internet and mobile phones is often raised as an issue of concern by teachers, parents and children.
However, the mobile phone also provides victims with ways to combat and control nuisance calls or malicious behaviour.
Our literature and awareness programmes remind young people that malicious callers may hide behind the phone.
O2 publishes advice on how to deal with Bullying on mobile phones on our website and in the UK we regularly check to make sure the materials are always available in our retail stores.
We work through our school mentoring schemes to help children cope with bullying by text and to coach them to avoid involving themselves in any malicious behaviour. We also work in consultation with the police through ‘Prison Me? – No Way!’, a schools community programme in the UK with Her Majesty’s Prison Service to educate young people.
In the Czech Republic we support the MIS project (www.minimalizacesikany.cz), to help combat bullying. Nine schools took part in the 18-month trial which introduced an anti-bullying programme, based around sharing experiences and a special methodology for teachers to follow.
Our Nuisance Call Bureau in the UK tackles bulk and nuisance calls, including malicious or inappropriate contact.
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