GSMA Press Release 2008
GSMA Launches Mobile Alliance Against Child Sexual Abuse
Mobile operators to prevent access to child sexual abuse Web sites
12th February 2008, Barcelona, Spain: The GSM Association, the global trade association for mobile operators, has launched the Mobile Alliance against Child Sexual Abuse Content to obstruct the use of the mobile environment by individuals or organisations wishing to consume or profit from child sexual abuse content. While the vast majority of child sexual abuse content is today accessed through conventional connections to the Internet, there is a danger that the broadband networks now being rolled out by mobile operators could be misused in the same way.
The Alliance has been founded by the GSMA, Hutchison 3G Europe, mobilkom austria, Orange FT Group, Telecom Italia, Telefonica/02, Telenor Group, TeliaSonera, T-Mobile Group, Vodafone Group and dotMobi to create significant barriers to the misuse of mobile networks and services for hosting, accessing, or profiting from child sexual abuse content. These companies have mobile operations across the world, ensuring that the Alliance will have a global impact. The Alliance aims to stem, and ultimately reverse, the growth of online child sexual abuse content, maintaining a safer mobile environment for all of our customers.
Members of the Alliance will, among other measures, implement technical mechanisms to prevent access to Web sites identified by an appropriate agency as hosting child sexual abuse content. Members will also implement Notice and Take Down* processes to enable the removal of any child sexual abuse content posted on their own services, while supporting and promoting ‘hotlines’ or other mechanisms for customers to report child sexual abuse content discovered on the Internet or on mobile content services.
“As our industry rolls out mobile broadband networks that provide quick and easy access to multimedia Web sites, we must put safeguards in place to obstruct criminals looking to use mobile services as a means of accessing or hosting pictures and videos of children being sexually-abused,” said Craig Ehrlich, Chairman of the GSMA. “We call on governments across the world to support this initiative by providing the necessary legal clarity to ensure that mobile operators can act effectively against child sexual abuse content and to step up international enforcement against known sources.”
Governments need to ensure that they have the necessary resources in place to combat the spread of digital child sexual abuse content. Ideally, law enforcement authorities, or delegated international organizations, should have processes in place to be able to confirm that individual items of content are illegal.
The Alliance will achieve its objectives by a combination of technical measures, co-operation and information sharing. It will also encourage all mobile operators, regardless of access technology, and the wider mobile community to participate and will interact with other industry initiatives.
Supporting Quotes:
“I welcome this agreement. It gives a very clear signal that the mobile industry is committed to making the Mobile Internet a safer place for children. The fact that this initiative has grown out of the work carried out by the mobile industry in Europe shows that Europe is, once again, leading in building a trustworthy environment for doing business.”
Viviane Reding, European Commissioner for Information Society and Media.
“3G is about bringing the broadband experience to the handset. To keep up with the pace of consumer demand we constantly reinvent ourselves and we encourage responsible innovation to ensure a safe environment for all our customers. This alliance proves that the industry is proactively taking responsibility. We are very pleased to participate in this initiative.”
Christian Salbaing, Managing Director, Hutchison 3G Europe.
“As the specialized United Nations agency for information and communication technologies (ICT), the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) welcomes the new Mobile Alliance Against Child Sexual Abuse to protect children from the misuse of mobile broadband networks by child predators around the world. The World Summit on the Information Society called for national and international measures against the use of ICT in all forms of child abuse and encouraged the setting up of child helplines. Those measures have been endorsed by the ITU and they are being adopted by our distinctive membership of 191 Member States and some 700 private companies. The Mobile Alliance is a prime example of the proactive action industry can take and, together with government and law enforcement support, we can make significant progress in the global fight against child sexual abuse content online.”
Hamadoun I. Touré, Secretary-General, International Telecommunication Union.
“Mobile communication is an integral part of many people’s lives. Operators therefore have a duty to protect children. The mobilkom austria group is living up to this responsibility and I am very pleased with our pioneering role in this regard. I assume that many operators will join in this initiative.”
Boris Nemsic, Chairman of the GSMA Public Policy Committee, CEO Telekom Austria Group and CEO mobilkom austria.
“We are proud to support this initiative being launched today by the GSMA. At Orange, we believe in taking care of our customers and that goes way beyond the services that we provide. As network technologies rapidly improve, the telecoms industry has to join together, share key learnings and draw on established methods to proactively address this critically important global issue.”
Olaf Swantee, EVP, Orange.
“Telecom Italia strongly believes in supporting the Mobile Alliance to promote the correct use of mobile Internet. TIM underlines the centrality of the customer to its strategy and in this case to the protection of children.”
Luca Luciani, General Manager of Telecom Italia Domestic Mobile Services.
“Protecting children continues to be a top priority for us. We are deeply committed to this new initiative. Alongside our work with government and the rest of the industry to actively oppose child sexual abuse content, O2 has already launched dedicated child protection websites across all of our European businesses. In Latin America, Telefonica is driving a huge research study with students with the aim to learn more about the way new technologies are changing their lives and Fundación Telefonica through Educared is providing education to more than 25 million people.”
Matthew Key, CEO and Chairman of Telefónica O2 Europe, speaking on behalf of Telefonica S.A.
“The communications industry has a significant impact on societies everywhere, providing new technology and opportunities to a rapidly growing, global customer base. As key players in this industry, Telenor share a responsibility for making our products and services safe. I am pleased that the GSMA is now taking decisive action to protect the most vulnerable in our society.”
Jon Fredrik Baksaas, President and CEO of Telenor.
"TeliaSonera has since long taken an active part in the fight against child sexual abuse content, and we are committed to remain at the forefront of this important work. By joining the Alliance, we take another step to protect children and to make the Internet a safer place."
Kenneth Karlberg, President Business Area Mobility Services, TeliaSonera.
“European mobile operators have already taken important steps to improve child safety within the EU Mobile Child Safety Framework launched just one year ago. The new Mobile Alliance Against Child Sexual Abuse Content adds to these activities and extends it to a global scale. T-Mobile will continue to be at the industry's forefront to maintain a high level of child safety.”
Joachim Horn, CTO of T-Mobile International.
“Protecting young people wherever they are is of paramount importance to Vodafone. This initiative is one of a number of measures we are implementing to reduce the possibility of misuse of our network.”
Arun Sarin, CEO of Vodafone Group.
“As the company representing the space where the Internet and mobility converge, dotMobi is proud to support the Mobile Alliance against Child Sexual Abuse Content. The mobile web is an exciting step forward in global communications, but not at the expense of children’s welfare. Because dotMobi works with both on-portal and off-portal content providers around the world, we hope to cast the widest possible net in preventing the availability and distribution of child sexual abuse content.”
Trey Harvin, CEO, dotMobi (mTLD Top Level Domain Ltd.)
Notes to Editors:
* ‘Notice and Take Down’ (NTD) - Operators and service providers are sometimes notified of suspect content online by customers, members of the public or by law enforcement or hotline organisations. If the report comes from a member of the public, the information is passed on to law enforcement or national hotline, as appropriate, for confirmation of whether the content is illegal or to take any further legal action. When issued with a NTD notice, operators and service provider takes steps to have the illegal content removed.
Terminology: The GSMA uses the term ‘child sexual abuse content’ or ‘images of child sexual abuse’ to refer to recorded images of children subjected to sexual abuse and exploitation. While the term "child pornography" is used commonly in legislation and international conventions, the GSMA prefers not to use this term, as “pornography” is commonly understood to be associated with depictions of sexual activity between consenting individuals. For this reason, use of the term "child pornography" mischaracterizes sexual representations where children are involved, and its use can cause misunderstanding.
About the GSMA:
The GSM Association (GSMA) is the global trade association representing more than 700 GSM mobile phone operators across 218 countries and territories of the world. In addition, more than 200 manufacturers and suppliers support the Association's initiatives as key partners.
The primary goals of the GSMA are to ensure mobile phones and wireless services work globally and are easily accessible, enhancing their value to individual customers and national economies, while creating new business opportunities for operators and their suppliers. The Association's members serve more than 2.5 billion customers - 85% of the world's mobile phone users.
For more information please contact:
Mark Smith or David Pringle
GSM Association
Email: press@gsm.org
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