Measures to protect children online

Friday 02 May 2014

JT has taken steps to make it safer for young Islanders using the internet but says its not just down to them to decide what sites should be blocked.

The company has joined the Internet Watch Foundation which has a membership of around 120 organisations who are committed to getting rid of child sex abuse imagery from the internet.

JT’s Chief Operations and Technology Officer Dave Newbold said: “The issue of children accessing inappropriate material on-line, whether through a computer, tablet or mobile phone, is one which JT as a responsible operator takes very seriously indeed.

“We are therefore pleased to have joined the IWF and work with fellow members to drive the changes to ensure that children can be safe on-line.

As a member, JT will be able to tap into a range of services designed to combat online child sexual abuse images and videos, making it harder for criminals to exploit young children.

But Mr Newbold says it's not just down to service providers to decide what sites should be blocked.

He said: “We welcomed the announcement by Google last year that it is to block Internet search results that are linked to child abuse sites. As we have said before on this issue, it is not a problem which can be solved by the internet service provider, such as JT, in isolation; there is also a role to play here for government, schools and parents as well, as it’s not a straightforward subject. For example, who decides which sites to block and how do we safeguard that sites do not continue under our radar?

JT will be watching very closely to see how these problems are resolved in the UK, in common with other operators and interested groups, and then carefully assessing that solution for our customers in the Channel Islands”.

The IWF is part of the UK Safer Internet Centre, working with Childnet International and the South West Grid for Learning..