The Kitemark for Child Safety Online has been launched with the Home Office and Ofcom to provide consumers - especially parents - reassurance that their children will not be subjected to undesirable web content.
Since the advent of the web, there has been concern about children visiting inappropriate websites. Filters were developed to block them but parents remain concerned about instant messaging, e-mail and peer-to-peer file sharing. Parental control software can help monitor children's use of the web but to date there has been no independent testing of these products to assess their effectiveness.
Now that the Kitemark for Child Safety Online has been launched, manufacturers can get their products certified against the Kitemark standard and those that pass the tests will be able to display the prestigious Kitemark symbol (see left) on their products. Parents will be able to see clearly and quickly which products will give their children the most effective protection whilst online.
The Kitemark for Child Safety Online has been developed through a collaboration between BSI - the UK's National Standards Body -, the Home Office, Ofcom and representatives from ISPs and application developers. The aim is to raise the standard of filtering, monitoring and blocking applications for the UK market, to give software developers the ability to demonstrate that their products meet the highest available standards and to provide users with confidence that it will offer the best protection for their children.
