The internet moves at a rapid pace with new trends emerging weekly, often led by celebrity culture, media, brands, and word of mouth. The latest “in” technology or service is talked about and used by a group of friends, and in no time it will have spread to neighbouring schools and colleges.

In meeting the challenge of protecting children in an increasingly digital and online world, education is vital. From the outset, it is important not to forget that the internet affords tremendous potential for all, with many opportunities to discover, create and connect. However, all too often these great opportunities are also the source of hurt and harm for children and young people.

Online risks come in many different shapes and sizes. Recently at the UK Safer Internet Centre’s helpline there has been a proliferation in “spotted” pages on popular social networks. Often their primary purpose is to name and shame, bully and ridicule. No one is immune: teachers, pupils, even members of the public, many of whom will never know they have been photographed and featured on such sites. Other risks, such as grooming or sexting, are higher profile and attract more column inches.

In responding to risk there is a role for everyone to play. A survey, Have their Say, published this year by the UK Safer Internet Centre, asked more than 24,000 children and young people what they believe their online rights and responsibilities are.

Young people responded that they believe they have a right to feel safe online and that they want online tools to help them manage their privacy and report concerns. As well as turning to friends and family members for support in staying safe online, young people value the growing array of safety tools and services available to them online: both primary- and secondary-age children believe they have a right to report concerns and to manage their privacy online.

While the study shows that the majority of young people are aware of reporting, a number of young people are not making the most of this tool because they lack the skills, knowledge or confidence in the reporting process.

Where removal of criminal content is concerned, the online industry as a whole has rallied behind the Internet Watch Foundation (IWF), which was set up to remove particular types of criminal online content, namely child sexual abuse images and videos. It is not underpinned by legislation but, in the self-regulatory sense, takes a voluntary approach. After identifying child sexual abuse content from a public report, the IWF issues a notice to take down the content when it is hosted in the UK.

The online industry has also created a hostile environment for hosting child sexual abuse images in the UK. Some 18% of this content worldwide was hosted in the UK in 1996. Since 2003, less than 1% is hosted here. This drop has happened through companies voluntarily making it hard for people to distribute the content.

What are the examples of business working pro-actively on internet safety for children and young people?

Partnerships and working closely with those providing the services that children and young people are using are critical. Internet service providers (ISPs), as well as Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Ask.fm and Tumblr, have provided the UK Safer Internet Centre with contacts who can give clarification on their site’s safety features and to whom the centre can address reports of misuse.

The four main ISPs in the UK – BT, Sky, Virgin and TalkTalk – have worked with the UK Safer Internet Centre to produce video tutorials clearly showing how their parental controls work and can be applied. These are hosted on the UKSIC website, a trusted and impartial source of advice for parents, and supported by a range of resources on the safe use of internet-enabled devices and how-to guides for parents.

But there is more that ISPs can do. To create a better internet, it is important that we work together and listen to what children and young people are calling for. This includes ensuring that the barriers that prevent young people from reporting are removed. Service providers need to do more to make these mechanisms more obvious and simpler to use; they also need to introduce more transparency when it comes to informing users how their reports will be dealt with as well as considering feedback to help increase confidence.

Knowledge of privacy settings among children and young people could be improved, and instructions and information need to be more concise and easier to understand, perhaps by using more visual means, such as icons or illustrations.

Authors: Will Gardner (CEO of Childnet International), Susie Hargreaves (chief executive at the Internet Watch Foundation), and David Wright (director at the UK Safer Internet Centre)

Source: The Guardian