The difficulties facing Digital Britain

The government’s advocacy of self regulation in Chapter 7, Digital Security and Safety of the Digital Britain report, out yesterday, is the only practical option available in applying content safeguards. The Internet Watch Foundation, which plays a pivotal role in implementing these standards (and has done a great job in the UK) will see its remit expanded across Europe as the government works with EU bodies to create a pan-European body based on the IWF. This is a very welcome announcement, and the first step in international collaboration to keep children safe in an online environment that knows no borders.

The issue of funding for the IWF is interesting. The report calls for the IWF to ensure that an adequate funding model is developed to allow it to continue its role within online protection. If funding dries up, a huge part of the work it does will be under threat. The government has said it will consider intervention to find funding from industry, if necessary.

Also in the report, the UK Council for Child Internet Safety is tasked with developing a strategy to include: “better regulation in the form, wherever possible, of voluntary codes of practice that industry can sign up to; and better information and education where the role of Government, law enforcement, schools and children’s services will be key.”

It’s not yet clear how this will work in practice. The report states that four working groups will be set up to apply standards in four areas: “industry standards, video games, public awareness and better education”. Video games will adopt the new Pan European Game Information system (PEGI), which meets all the criteria set out by Tanya Byron in the ‘Safer Children in a Digital World’ report. But the sale of video games, sold on an individual basis to children or adults, is easier to control, in the same way that film classification works. What is much harder is to control the content in an online environment (such as a virtual world, or an MMOG – massively multiplayer online game) where users upload their own content. Classification will need to adapt continually to changing online behaviour.

The report does reference areas that are within control. Better access to advice for parents, for example, on online safety and content filters is a good place to start. But children have a way of getting round these filters – changing language, code words and so on. And it does require parents to be involved, and more savvy than their children, as pan-European research from the recent EU Kids Online Final Report highlighted.

There is a responsibility on the part of the providers of social networks to filter inappropriate content, but who takes responsibility for user-created networks? If the basis of PEGI is to be applied to online games and virtual worlds, who will check that content adheres to content classification codes? Moderation can address this, of course, with a combination of human and automated systems. But again, how will this classification evolve and keep up with online trends? And who will create the moderation standards to ensure that consistency is applied across all online content?

The report acknowledges that these are difficult areas, and it will take a huge collaboration between the various online bodies, government and industry to come up with solutions. In many ways, the report on Digital Security and Safety raises at least as many questions as it answers, but it's a significant step in the right direction.