Reading the Daily Mail in the UK on Tuesday, everyone would have been intrigued by the headline story “New Curbs on Internet Sleaze”. It raised a debate amongst the my fellow commuters on the tube; was this the introduction of a big brother society on our doorsteps, where the government tells us what we can and cant do?
I think it is important to read behind the headline and understand the implications of what was being announced, and importantly the voluntary steps being made by BT, Sky, Virgin and Talk Talk. The reality is that this is not about a big brother society, but instead about empowering and enabling families to actively manage their personal choice. In a world where information is available at eveyones fingertips, the crackdown will ultimately allow children of all ages to safely explore the online world and use its capabilities as a learning, entertainment and social tool.
In a multicultural society we do not fit in to a ‘one size fits all’ model. By providing choice to parents and guardians to select what they want their children to have access to online, is a technology that reflects the reality of our everyday live's.
Power to Mummy and Daddy, not big brother!
Graeme Coffey, Director of Technology Strategy, AdaptiveMobile