La Strada Documentation Center

Enhancing Child Safety and Online Technologies

Document number
2306
Date
2008
Title
Enhancing Child Safety and Online Technologies
Author/publisher
Internet Safety Technical Task Force
Availability
View/save PDF version of this document
Document type(s)
Guidelines/Recommendations, Research/Study/Analysis,
Keywords
Corporate social responsibility, Multi-stakeholder partnerships: Child Trafficking, Child Prostitution, Child Pornography,
Summary
Minors face risks online, just as they do in any other public space in which people congregate. These risks include harassment and bullying, sexual solicitation, and exposure to problematic and illegal content. These risks are not radically different in nature or scope than the risks minors have long faced offline, and minors who are most at risk in the offline world continue to be most at risk online. In the past, however, the risks were primarily local, and ideally addressed by parents, educators, social services, law enforcement and others working together at the local level. In the online context, the risks implicate services from companies and access to audiences from around the world. The technologies involved also make visible risky behaviors and problematic interactions that were less visible offline, while allowing at-risk youth to more publicly and prominently display signs that they need help. Parents and local community members often are unfamiliar with the relevant technologies and do not have direct experience with the way the risks evolve in the context of the Internet and interactive technologies. Addressing risks online therefore carries different challenges and requires broader collaboration to find innovative solutions.
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