Child pornography and sexual grooming on the Internet and mobile phones is becoming an issue of increasing concern.
More than two out of three European children aged between 10 and 11 have regular access to the Internet, according to the Commission, with the proportion rising to 85% for 12- and 13-year-olds. More than half have a mobile phone and nearly 20% admit having been bullied via these new technologies. Almost all admit having been exposed to pornographic images on the Internet.
In an effort to curb this trend and avoid potentially harmful regulation, leading Internet and Telecoms companies launched a new website yesterday (23 April), www.teachtoday.eu. The website is addressed mainly to teachers and aims at increasing their awareness of online dangers as well as making the best use of new technologies for educational purposes.
"It is the first generation ever in which young students know more than teachers", explained EU Information Society Commissioner Viviane Reding, recognising the "embarrassing" situations experienced by educators who can sometimes struggle with new technologies.
At the same time, she said teachers should be incited to use computers in the best way as Internet connections are now available in nearly all schools in Europe, according to the latest figures published by the Commission.
Teachtoday.eu has been promoted by a wide alliance of companies including Telecom Italia and Google, Telefonica and Microsoft, Vodafone and MySpace. The website aims to be an easy tool to explain the new features of Web 2.0, such as blogs or wikis, and to raise awareness on some of the most worrying aspects of the new technologies, like privacy abuses or cyber-bullying.
The European Commission welcomed this effort from the industry and reminded about a set of new initiatives it currently has in the pipeline: This year, the second edition of the EU Safer Internet Programme should be adopted. The new set of projects will have a budget of €55 million and will run between 2009 and 2013.
