The protection and safety of vulnerable users is central in our Corporate Responsibility efforts and we pay special attention to protecting children and young people from abuse within the scope of our services. We actively encourage children, teenagers, parents, teachers and other adults to reflect on and discuss what happens on the internet and where to draw the line between publicly available and personal information.
"Taking a stand against child sexually abusive material online is important. This is the only area where we take an active stand. We believe that a multi-stakeholder approach, including politicians, NGOs and the industry is the only way to identify long-term solutions to tackle these complex issues. TeliaSonera also commit ourselves to various social partnerships contributing to a safer Internet for kids, preventing bullying of children and teenagers and improving the understanding of the psychological effects on children and youth of exposure to abuse via electronic media".
In contributing to a better world and protection of children, we are now taking additional important initiatives to strive to make the Internet safer for kids. Within this initiative there are several activities – one being the CEO Coalition, a call for action from the European Commission, and another the forthcoming ICT principles - Industries working together to increase child online safety.
CEO Coalition
TeliaSonera participates in the CEO Coalition launched 1st of December 2011, in response to a call for action from the European Commission. The CEO Coalition commit as global and local organisations to take positive action to make the Internet a better place for kids, and commit to contribute fresh efforts from the participating companies and organisations representing the full value chain in order to achieve this goal in the European Union. The CEO Coalition intends to work and learn together and individual companies may take individual initiatives where faster progress is possible. The CEO Coalition has decided to take action and devote resources from respective organisations and partners in order to achieve proportionate, pragmatic solutions to real problems, focusing on:
- Simple and robust reporting tools for users
- Age-appropriate privacy settings
- Wider use of content classification
- Wider availability and use of parental control
- Effective takedown of child abuse material.
ICT principles
TeliaSonera is also one of several key industry players that contributes to the ICT Coalition Principles for the safer use of connected devices and online services by children and young people in the EU. Its aims are to increase child online safety throughout Europe and marks a unique step in the evolution of industry self-regulation. It brings together for the first time many key industry players from across an increasingly wide and converging communication and internet market. They include connectivity platforms, online services and internet connected and gaming devices.
The ICT principles will aim to ensure the support for:
- Development of innovative approaches to enhance safe and responsible use by children and young people
- Empowerment of parents and carers to take action to engage with, and protect, their children
- User awareness of ways to ensure safety online and responsible behavior towards others
- Provision of easily accessible, clear and transparent information
- Awareness of how – and to whom – to report abuse and concerns.
The ICT Coalition supports the CEO Coalition. The two initiatives are mutually supportive and will reinforce each other in strengthening internet safety for Children.
ICT Coalition press release : Companies unite to launch the first industry-led Europe-wide principles to enhance online safety for children
Principles for the Safer Use of Connected Devices and Online Services by Children and Young People in the EU
Our initiatives for filtering child sexual abuse content
As a major international operator TeliaSonera carries a significant share of overall Internet traffic. This is a great responsibility and there are regulatory and legal obligations that we must meet that ensure that we manage our business properly and securely.
We have taken the step to find a best practice solution to manage our network in an ethical way. Taking a stand against child sexual abuse content and filtering such content is an important part of our corporate responsibility and we are in a strong position to reduce further propagation of illegal content relating to such abuse. We have worked with the Netclean (www.netclean.com) and IWF (www.iwf.org.uk) to find a solution that allows us to isolate this kind of illegal content, and to deny end user access to it. In 2011, Telia launched and implemented an improved version of a solution preventing distribution of material depicting child sexual abuse in the Swedish Telia network, based on Netclean’s Whitebox solution.
TeliaSonera is also founder of the GSMA organisation – the GSM association, the global trade association for mobile operators. GSMA, in 2008, launched the ‘Mobile Alliance against Child Sexual Abuse Content’ to obstruct the use of the mobile environment by individuals or organisations wishing to consume or profit from child sexual abuse content.
Together we can deprive this content of an audience, and in turn this will reduce the availability of such content on the Internet. We feel very strongly that this is the right step to take.
Social partnerships with Friends, The World Childhood Foundation and Ecpat
In order to further reinforce our stand managing the important initiative we have taken to make the Internet at safer place for Kids, we have formed social partnerships with the organisations of Friends, The World Childhood Foundation and Ecpat.
The World Childhood Foundation
TeliaSonera is a founding member of the World Childhood Foundation and work closely with the organization in many projects. One example is a research project which aims at improving our understanding of the psychological effects on children and youth of exposure to abuse via electronic media.
www.childhood.org
ECPAT
In Sweden, we have partnered with this global network of organizations and individuals working together for the elimination of child prostitution, child pornography and grooming of children for sexual purposes.
www.ecpat.net
Friends
We collaborate with Friends, Sweden's largest anti-bullying organization. We participate in projects to prevent bullying of children and teenagers via mobiles and the Internet.
www.friends.se
Surfa lugnt
Surfa lugn is a network organization initiated in 2005 by TeliaSonera and 40 other Swedish companies, organisations and authorities. Surfa lugnt aims at increasing safety and security for young internet users.
www.surfalugnt.se