International Cooperation Growing for Online Child Safety

The U.S. and other countries are deeply concerned about meeting cyberthreats, David Gross, the U.S. coordinator for international communications and information policy, said Wednesday. International cooperation is needed to create a safe and secure Internet, said Gross, who carries the title of ambassador.

Very few programs aim to protect children online in the developing world, the ITU said Thursday in a news release. About 60 percent of children and teenagers talk daily in chat rooms, recent data show, the ITU said. Three of four children online are willing to give up personal information for goods and services. Twenty percent of children are solicited each year by pedophiles, traffickers and other criminals, the organization said.

The Internet exponentially increased the availability of child pornography and the market for it, FCC Commissioner Deborah Tate said Thursday. The material is likely to spread further unless there is adequate government, industry and community oversight, she said. Tate urged ISPs worldwide to cooperate with law enforcement to protect the children in their communities. Police agencies are working hard to combat the crisis, Tate said. The U.S. and other countries are updating and revising child protection laws, she said.

Business also is getting involved, Tate said. Child traffickers use popular Web sites to recruit victims, she said. Real world solutions, innovative partnerships and industry engagement can be developed, Tate said. The ITU is perfectly positioned as an information clearinghouse, through its child online-protection Web site, she said.

The ITU said its Child Online Protection effort aims to increase global cooperation to protect children online and make efforts more effective and accessible, the ITU said. The effort aims to boost awareness, to develop and promote risk-reducing tools and to share knowledge and experience and promote international partnerships, it said.

Keeping children safe is the goal, Tate said. ITU Secretary General Hamadoun Toure’s vision and leadership moved online child safety to the international level, she said. The next generation depends on adults for a safe and steady path through cyberspace, Tate said. -- Scott Billquist

ITU Council Notebook…

The ITU’s Global Cybersecurity Agenda framework for international cooperation aims to propose strategies that enhance confidence and security in the information society, Halim Shafie, chairman of the Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission, said at the ITU Council high-level segment on cybersecurity and climate change. Malaysia spent $13 million to kick off the public-private International Multilateral Partnership Against Cyber-Terrorism, Shafie said. Most of the money went for a facility custom-made to enable: (1) Global response to a network early warning system, identification and cross-border resource sharing. (2) Policy, regulatory framework and national cooperation. (3) Training and skills development. (4) Security certification, research and development.

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Information and communications technologies account for about 10 percent of the Tunisian economy, Elhadj Gley, that country’s minister of communications technologies, said Wednesday. Tunisia’s national cybersecurity strategy has dealt with legislative, organizational and technical matters, and with raising awareness and international cooperation, Gley said. A team of 150 cyberauditors studies companies that use communications networks for electronic applications, he said. A rapid-response center has a monitoring and alarm system for vulnerabilities and threats, he said. About 1,000 businesses have direct links the center, which gets the data, offering aid as needed, Gley said. Another agency handles electronic certification, promoting electronic signatures and ensuring trust and confidence in them, he said. Tunisia granted 3,000 certificates in 2008, Gley said.

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Ghana has about 1,000 cybercrime incidents yearly, said Benjamin Ntim, Ghanaian minister of communications. New laws will allow authorities to punish crimes committed on Ghanaian networks, Ntim said. The legislation was developed with all stakeholders in Ghana, Ntim said. The major challenge has been limited time and resources for cybersecurity, he said. Another is resistance to constraints on user behavior -- for example, the response to government’s call on telecom service providers to introduce equipment identity registration and to maintain up-to-date subscriber databases. The companies agree in principle, but implementation is hampered by suspicions and perceptions of anti-competitive behavior, Ntim said. Members of the West African Telecommunications Regulatory Association agreed to registration to fight phone theft and criminal use of phones, he said. Government will set up institutions and emergency teams to help with cybersecurity, Ntim said. The Ghana Internet registry will be formalized, he said.

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Access to technology is sometimes not enough for people to learn and speak more freely, said David Gross, the U.S. coordinator for international communications and information policy. Some governments and others try to restrict peoples’ access to information, he said. Work must continue toward ensuring that the Internet is a place where information flows freely, he said. A resolution adopted last month at the World Telecommunication Standardization Assembly said ITU member states will refrain from unilateral or discriminatory actions denying users in another member state access to public Web sites, Gross said. The resolution covers the private and public sectors, he said. The ITU has been a leader in this area, Gross said. Finding effective and innovative ways to help connect people to the Internet will remain a high U.S. priority into the next administration, he said in his last speech to the ITU Council.