Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2008-10-20-Speech-1-174"
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"en.20081020.17.1-174"2
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"Mr President, ladies and gentlemen, I would like to thank the Commission, the French Presidency and my fellow MEPs, first and foremost the draftsmen of the opinions, for their hard work in drafting a compromise text at first reading that will enable the ‘Safer Internet’ programme to enter into force at the planned time, that is from 1 January 2009.
The new programme for children using the Internet and other communication technologies, as we know, will be based on four main lines of action: reducing illegal or harmful content and combating harmful online behaviour; promoting a safer online environment, including through
technological instruments; information, participation and prevention to raise public awareness of the opportunities and risks associated with the use of online technologies; and, lastly, establishing a knowledge base to encourage cooperation and exchanges of good practice and information at international level.
The statistics speak for themselves, as Commissioner Reding is well aware: the age at which children access the Internet has dropped considerably. From as early as the age of 9 or 10, children are going online several times a week, and 75% of 12- to 15-year-olds in Europe use the Internet for roughly three hours a day, communicating through chat services, messaging and social networking sites.
The aim of the programme is not, of course, to criminalise the Internet in a catastrophic vision of new technologies; quite the contrary. Our objective is to provide suitable tools to better understand and navigate the world of new technologies, to grasp fully their positive potential, the opportunities they offer in terms of information, education and socialisation, while at the same time learning to protect oneself against abuse. For we cannot ignore the latest figures showing that 30% of young people have had at least one distasteful encounter online, at least one unpleasant experience in which the child has come across pornographic content, offensive or violent messages of various kinds or sexual advances or even content inciting violence or self-harm, suicide, anorexia or bulimia.
We cannot ignore the exponential increase in sites with child pornography material. We cannot fail to consider the data supplied by Interpol reporting that at least 500 000 new original child pornography images are put online each year. The Committee has also done well to highlight, among other things, three new trends: ‘grooming’, that is, the online soliciting of children through psychological manipulation aimed at contact in real life. ‘Grooming’ is particularly insidious because the advances appear to be ‘softer’. No explicit sexual demands are made at first. The child is led on by the affectionate and confidential behaviour; not understanding the danger, they enjoy the exclusive relationship that develops, and so do not discuss it with anyone, least of all with their parents. It is therefore a highly dangerous situation because it is not perceived as such, and often ends in a meeting in person and in real abuse.
Another priority is ‘cyberbullying’, a form of bullying using the new technologies, in which the persecution of the victim is extended as they risk being tormented 24 hours a day via the web and mobile phones. And there is yet another problem: the technological gap between the generations. We have a generation of children born in the digital era – children who at five years old are competent users of videogames and can surf the Internet easily – and adults, their parents and teachers, many of whom do not even know how to turn on a computer or send a text message, or who use new technologies warily and with reluctance. It is therefore absolutely essential to narrow this gap.
The programme’s objectives are ambitious, perhaps too ambitious given the available budget of EUR 55 million, but it is nonetheless a good starting point. As usual, Parliament has sought to provide a stimulus, with pioneering proposals that I will not go into now as they are in my report and I am almost out of time. I would like to conclude, Mr President, by emphasising that our obligation, both Parliament’s and – I am convinced of this – the Commission’s obligation, is never to let down our guard on these matters."@en1
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