Parents have 'responsibility' to protect kids online

Cape Town - Parents have ultimate responsibility to prevent children from accessing harmful content on the internet, but internet service providers can also make an impact, says a local ISP.

"At the end of the day, the buck stops at the parent. However, I do feel that ISPs can do more to educate clients on how to acquire and install monitoring and filtering technology", OpenWeb CEO Keoma Wright told Fin24.

While most generally agree that children should be protected from harmful content like pornography, in the UK regulator Ofcom reported that the large majority of broadband users were reluctant to sign up to web filters.

In its 2012 report into the reasons for the low take-up in installing parental controls for harmful internet content such as suicide, self-harm and eating disorders, Ofcom found that a perception that the process was difficult as well as a lack of awareness were contributing factors.

In SA, it can be difficult to ascertain how child friendly filters work to protect young people from harmful content.

Suicide

"Unfortunately we do not have access to an exact number, but I would say no more than around 1% of people on the internet actively block or monitor their children’s online activity", said Wright.

The fact that mobile phones can access internet content also means that it becomes more difficult for parents to monitor what their young children with smartphones are exposed to.

Social network Ask.fm which has been acquired by Ask.com, was linked to the suicide of 14-year-old Hannah Smith. The teen was found hanged in her bedroom after being bullied online.

The site has around 180 million users and was criticised for not doing enough to police harmful comments.

Still, Wright said that in SA, few parents seemed interested in using filters to protect their kids online.

"I do know of a company that used to offer a 'Parental Control' style broadband package a few years ago.  The interest was so slim that the company had to remove the product from their product basket."

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