UKCCIS was formed in 2008 and has been working very hard to agree how industry self-regulation and parental controls can work to protect children. Some of the key achievements include:
- The four main fixed-line Internet Service Providers (ISPs), BT, Sky, TalkTalk and Virgin, were the first to commit to active choice for broadband connections. They published a code of practice in October 2011, which will see all new customers making an active choice about parental controls by October 2012;
- Ministers have chaired roundtables to help progress active choice with desktop, laptop and tablet sectors, and with the mobile phone industry. Vodafone has recently released its own applications for Android smartphones, which lets parents apply advanced controls across the range of things that smart phones do, and Dixons has led the way with in-store promotion of safety messages, on screen demonstrations and till receipts wallets;
- The Child Exploitation and Online Protection Centre (CEOP) has led on the creation of UKCCIS advice on child internet safety which is a perfect example of the benefits of the partnership approach to protecting children online; and
- There has been widespread support for Safer Internet Day every year. The theme of Safer Internet Day 2012 was ‘Connecting generations’.