Where are the risks and what are the dangers?

In times of the global information society, youth protection can not only be addressed as a national challenge. On the one hand web content is hosted on servers all around the world that are hardly to be controlled by national law. On the other hand besides national legal authorities more and more international players are engaged in procedures of co- and self-regulation. The need for youth protection is acknowledged worldwide and promoted especially in Europe by the measures funded by the European Commission within the Safer Internet Programme.

The Internet and the services available are not only growing but also rapidly changing. Enhanced possibilities for communication, interactivity and the publishing of content by the user are accompanied by new threats and risks. And the measures undertaken to protect children and youth have to be adjusted to the new landscape of the web. Therefore within the survey undertaken for the YPRT 126 experts have answered to the question: Which area of the virtual world do you estimate the most dangerous for children and youth? 31% of the respondents declared the area of Web 2.0 as more risky than i.e. classical Websites. One-to-one communication via email seems not to bear any risks, but communication with many unknown people in chat rooms is estimated the most dangerous.

86% of the experts fear that children and youth are facing age inadequate sexual content while being online, more than 70% see unsuitable contacts as an incalculable threat. While there are some more or less effective instruments to check for the content of classical websites and filter systems what seems to be illegal or even harmful, it is a much more difficult task to supervise chat communication or to ensure that the so called user generated content published in community websites does not infringe the requirements of privacy and decency. In the light of the European experts' opinions as affirmed by the survey the Youth Protection Roundtable has adjusted the project's work plan to the new threats occuring from Web 2.0 and defined more clearly the expected outcomes. In springtime 2009 we will deliver to the public

• Guidelines for technical developments in respect of pedagogical issues
  The adoption of these guidelines shall ensure that technicians take account of the possible effects of newly developed technologies on their safe use by children and youth.
• Product-neutral guidelines for the use of filter technologies and pedagogical measures in private and public areas

These guidelines shall be recommendations that lead to an optimal mix of technical tools and pedagogical measures to ensure a safe and secure of already known and future media. In pedagogical work it is necessary to know how far one can rely on technical tools and how essential additional measures are.