Content standards
Content standards
Our goal is to be a trusted operator in all aspects of content delivery and control.
We are especially focused on the area of child protection.
The mobile phone industry distinguishes between two forms of potentially harmful content:
1. Commercial content – O2 branded, or sold by a third-party provider through commercial agreement with us. Mobile operators act as the delivery and access provider and exercise some commercial control over the content. This includes pictures, video clips, games, music, sounds and betting services.
2. Internet content – where mobile operators provide only the connection. This content is offered via the internet and mobile operators have no commercial or contractual control over it.
We provide two technical solutions to address harmful content in the UK:
- Age verificationWhere there is a commercial agreement between O2 and a content provider, customers must verify their age to gain access to 18-classification content.
- Parental controls
Parental control functions are designed to help parents restrict internet access on a child’s O2 mobile. When parental control is turned on, customers can access only content that is suitable for all ages.
We do not publish 18-classification content services under our own brand, but we allow commercial partners to bring these only to appropriate, consenting audiences.
“We are very satisfied with our commercial content rules now. Our suppliers are monitored and there are sanctions in place to encourage compliance.”
Jonny Shipp, Head of Content Standards, O2 UK
We insist that our commercial partners ensure that these services are only available to customers who have first proved they are 18 or older.
O2 UK continued its efforts to monitor and control the content provided by third-party service providers. We started to collect monthly management information to identify breaches of our rules on age verification, and subsequent service suspensions. During 2006, the number of services suspended decreased to three per cent at the end of year.
In the UK, Ireland and Germany we aim to comply with all legislation and voluntary codes of practice.
O2 UK
During the year O2 continued to implement the UK Code of Practice for the self-regulation of new forms of content on mobiles. Mobile operators appointed an independent classification body to provide a framework for classifying commercial content that is unsuitable for under-18s.
The Independent Mobile Classification Body (IMCB) – see http://www.imcb.org.uk/ – publishes and maintains a classification framework on which content should be 18-rated, and we ensure that this is clearly labelled and only accessible with age verification. IMCB is a subsidiary of ICSTIS, the Independent Committee for the Supervision of Standards of Telephone Information Services.
In the UK we blocked illegal content based on the Internet Watch Foundation’s database, but only on our i-mode® platform. A programme is underway to extend this blocking to all O2 platforms. A vendor was selected in December 2006 with a view to providing solutions during 2007.
O2 Germany
In Germany, we try to comply with all the rules of the State Treaty on Youth Protection and we do not sell products to the under-16s. These rules commit us to not marketing directly at children or capitalising on their inexperience. Our advertising is designed to ensure it can never inflict physical or mental harm on children or young people or impair their social development.
O2 Ireland
The Irish mobile industry’s Code of Practice on child protection was updated in May 2006. It provided further standards for commercial content, internet access and age-verification, giving us 12 months to comply. The industry worked with the Department of Communications, Marine and Natural Resources to define suitable levels of control for the Irish market.
We introduced internet access controls and age-verification services in late 2006. Parents can now tailor or block their child’s access to age-restricted or inappropriate content while using the internet on their mobile.
Our age-verification process means that anyone who signs up for a pre-pay phone must demonstrate proof of age before they get access to age-restricted services.
Our new leaflet ‘Internet safeguards for your child’s phone’ details the new measures. We put it in stores and on the internet. Our retail and customer care staff have also been trained in the new services.
As part of the code, Irish operators have agreed to appoint an independent body to develop and implement a framework for classifying over-18 rated content. Work is well under way and the system is expected to be in place by summer 2007. Meanwhile O2 Ireland is affiliated to the country’s Hotline.ie service, operated by the Internet Service Providers Association of Ireland and supervised by the Government’s Internet Advisory Board. The primary aim of Hotline.ie is to combat illegal child pornography on the internet.
Telefónica O2 Czech Republic
In the Czech Republic we currently offer parental controls for our O2TV product. The public debate on content standards around child and youth protection is yet to emerge, but our business participates proactively in these conversations and other customer awareness matters within the Telefónica Group.
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