MobileNest

In celebration of the Safer Internet Day, which is being celebrated today by approximately 40 counties around the world, a group of a dozen European mobile phone companies met in Brussels Belgium to sign an agreement to make mobile phones safer for children.

The agreement cover the following commitments from all mobile companies signing the agreement:

• support access control for adult content
• awareness-raising campaigns for parents and children
• the classification of commercial content according to national standards of decency and appropriateness
• the fight against illegal content on mobile phones

“This agreement is an important step forward for child safety,” said Viviane Reding, the EC commissioner responsible for telecommunications and media. “I congratulate the mobile phone industry for moving towards protecting minors. It shows that responsible self-regulation can work at the European level.”

“The Framework is setting ambitious principles for the EU-wide (European Union) mobile industry,” said Kenneth Karlberg, president of Stockholm, Sweden-based TeliaSonera Mobility Services. “We are pleased to be part of an industry that takes actions in this field. By signing this Framework, we increase our efforts to create a safer environment for children using mobile phones.”

While some U.S. firms have added location-based safety features to their services, European mobile companies have been more wary of marketing to child users, Ambrosio explained. “They’ve been a little more liberal in trying to be proactive on issues like this,” he told TechNewsWorld, “but as penetration ramps up in the U.S., it will become more of an issue in the next three or four years.”

Euro Mobile Phone Firms Pledge to Support Children’s Safety [TechNewsWorld]