Child safety threatened by 3G: survey
06-05-2004
by Ciaran Buckley

Mobile operators will have to win over parents if they want 3G phones to succeed in the youth market, according to a UK-based children's charity.

This was the conclusion drawn by NCH, which organised a survey asking 624 parents with children up to the age of 15 about their perception of the link between 3G mobile Internet access and their children's safety.

Seventy-eight percent of people agreed with the statement that, although it is currently difficult to supervise children on the Internet, the availability of the Internet on 3G phones would make it impossible. Seventy-three percent of people said that they were concerned that 3G phones with Internet access could threaten a child's safety.

"This poll is the first concrete evidence that there is a great deal of anxiety and worry among parents about the arrival of the next generation of telephones with Internet access," said John Carr, NCH's Internet advisor, in a statement.

Carr also said that its survey provided a challenge to mobile operators, who needed to convince a lot of parents that they are safe if they want their phones to be successful in the youth market.

Sixty-six percent of respondents thought that responsibility for educating young people about the new mobile technology was the responsibility of parents. Another 14 percent reckoned that it was the responsibility of the phone company and 10 percent thought that it was the responsibility of the government.

If education is the responsibility of parents, then this group perceives itself to be inadequate for the task. Only 53 percent said that they know more than their child about mobile phones and 32 percent said that their child knew more than they did about mobile phones.

The report recommended that all 3G mobile phones should be equipped with screening and filtering software and that this software should be pre-configured to provide maximum protection to children.

It also recommended that Internet access on 3G mobile phones be designated an adult service and restricted to subscribers over the age of 18.

UK mobile operators O2, Orange, T-Mobile, Virgin and Vodafone intend to introduce 3G phones and services to the UK in 2004, services which could include an integrated Internet service. Mobile phone company 3 has said it has no plans to introduce Internet access as part of its service.