The highly respected Dr. Tanya Byron of the United Kingdom was commissioned by Prime Minister Gordon Brown to conduct an extensive review of the issues around e-safety for children and make concrete recommendations for what government, education, private industry and the public should do in order to improve the safety of gaming and in the Internet. The report has now been issued and includes such directives as public awareness campaigns, new age-based game guidelines and parental controls included in all new computers sold in the UK. Additionally, the report recommends changes to social networking and search sites to solidify their secure settings.
You can read the Executive Summary (just 12 pages) here. I was honored to be a contributor to the research process and gratified to see many of our best US Internet Safety organizations similarly included: IkeepSafe Coalition, Family Online Safety Institute, and the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children.
Some of the early reactions to the report include the almost de rigeur knee jerk reaction against anything that sounds like restrictions or barriers to free speech on the Internet. But a careful read of the recommendations merely asks that we provide more tools for parents and schools to provide a safer, more protected environment while we are teaching our children how to accomodate the risks unique to the Internet and gaming. As an example, the Report often uses metaphors of physical safety to communicate their approach. At a public pool, you find gates, safety signs, lifeguards, “floaties” and other protective measures. Yet, we still teach our children to swim. We accept the risks and create an environment where it is safe to learn something dangerous. Or when we teach our children how to cross streets. At first, they only do so holding the hand of an adult. Later, we allow them to cross at our side or to watch the lights and tell us when it is safe. Soon, we are watching them cross the streets from our front porch or nearby. And then, finally, they are out of our sight, walking on their own and we hope, using our lessons to ensure their safety while on public streets. I think these metaphors are a helpful reminder that the ways we teach our children how to swim at the pool or at the beach, how to cross the street, how to make a purchase at the store (and get the correct change) are all a good set-up for teaching safe computing.