US Child Safety Online Report

The US Internet Safety Technical Task Force, led by Harvard University's Berkman Centre, has released its report 'Enhancing Child Safety & Online Technologies'.

Commissioned by 50 state Attorneys General, the Task Force was formed to determine the extent to which today's technologies could help protect youth in the United States from the online risks of sexual solicitation, online harassment and bullying. Over the course of a year, it brought together leaders from all kinds of stakeholders in Internet Safety: ISPs, child safety experts, technology experts and academics, and also sought input from the public.

To summarise very briefly, the report concludes:

Sexual predation on minors by adults, both on and offline, remains a concern. The Task Force notes that more research specifically needs to be done concerning the activities of sex offenders in social network sites and other online environments, and encourages law enforcement to work with researchers to make more data available for this purpose.
Youth report sexual solicitation of minors by minors more frequently, but these incidents, too, are understudied, underreported to law enforcement, and not part of most conversations about online safety.
Bullying and harassment, most often by peers, are the most frequent threats that minors face, both online and offline.
Unwanted exposure to pornography does occur online, but those most likely to be exposed are those seeking it out, such as older male minors.
Minors are not equally at risk online. Those who are most at risk often engage in risky behaviors and have difficulties in other parts of their lives. The psychosocial makeup of and family dynamics surrounding particular minors are better predictors of risk than the use of specific media or technologies.
Technology can be a component in the strategy to protect minors online, but Internet companies should not overly rely upon any single technology or group of technologies as the primary solution.

The full report is available here, and the executive summary here.

Further coverage and comment on the report can be read at:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/blog/2009/jan/13/child-safety-internet-report?commentpage=1

http://technology.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/tech_and_web/the_web/article5515188.ece

http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5iTlgXwjK7neNbdq0KfczHNBYFXnQD95MI3IO1