World First Mobile Chat Guidelines To Protect Children

Written by Adam Gosling

Thursday, 11 May 2006

With social networking becoming more popular on mobile phones the Australian Communications and Media Authority has released a guide for mobile chat providers on how to make their services safer for children. While the ACMA says it appreciates how mobile chat is becoming a popular and beneficial social networking tool, the Authority has expressed some concern at the “small but real risk of mobile chat services being used to facilitate illegal contact between children and adults”. Accordingly, it has released a Guide to the Implementation of Safety Measures in Mobile Services which contains a Safety Measures Notice listing the steps mobile chat providers can take to enhance safety. These steps include increasing the awareness of children and parents of risks associated with mobile chat, electronic intervention such as automatic filtering of chat to reduce the potential for illegal contact to be established and restricting access to mobile chat services that are not intended to be used by children. “ACMA is the first communications regulator in the world to establish a framework to promote the safety of young people at this early stage in the development of mobile chat services. The measures set out in ACMA’s guide are likely to enhance young people’s enjoyment of new communications services by providing them with an environment that maximises their safety,’ said Nerida O’Loughlin, ACMA General Manager, Industry Outputs Division. ‘For mobile chat providers, implementation of safety measures will enable them to highlight the safety of their services to younger users and parents,’ she said. Within 60 days of the publication of the Safety Measures Notice, all mobile chat providers must undertake an assessment of the risk of a particular mobile chat service being used to facilitate illegal contact between adults and children, and implement measures to minimise that risk. This approach will minimise the potential for children to be approached by adults for the purposes of illegal contact. It’s all available on the ACMA website Related news items ACMA Hunts For Useful Spectrum -05/12/2006 Zamro To Audit Next G -30/11/2006 ACMA To Hold Spectrum Management Conference -14/11/2006 ACMA To Auction 2010-2025 MHz Band -22/08/2006 ACMA Launches SPAM Toolbar -29/05/2006 Newer news items Fortinet Offers Mobile Operators Security Solution -10/07/2006 PC Failures Down As Dell Laptop Blows Up -29/06/2006 Dell Laptop Explodes: Amazing Photos -21/06/2006 i-mate Eases Corporate IT Fears -01/06/2006 Microsoft Beefs Up Remote Access Credentials -18/05/2006 Older news items Backup Your Laptop Anywhere -02/04/2006 Ericsson Does Security Deal With Trend Micro -09/03/2006 MOBILE WORKERS GET NAKED -28/02/2006 EMERGENCY DIALLING FOR MOBILES -16/02/2006 TROJAN TARGETS PC AND PHONE -22/09/2005 Tag This Now: