New British System to Prevent Online Grooming and Cyber Bullying
Leeds, England December 10, 2006 -- A new British system, available in January, will strike a major blow in the battle against online grooming and the cyber-bulling of children. Child protection technology specialist Crisp Thinking has developed the Anti-Grooming Engine (AGE), which protects young people from external threats rather than moderating what they can look at on-line.
AGE, which is due to be installed with UK Internet Service Providers and Instant Messaging networks in the New Year, adds greater peace of mind for parents who may not understand the Internet or have the time to monitor their children's activities.
The need for this technology has been made clear by two independent studies of both parents' and young peoples' views on Internet usage.
According to a new ICM poll, commissioned by Crisp Thinking, the availability of anti-pedophile and anti-bullying technology is the most important factor when buying a computer. The poll also revealed that parents have the greatest responsibility for protecting their children from online grooming or bullying.
A second survey carried out for Crisp Thinking by Dubit Limited discovered that two-thirds of parents make no attempt to monitor their children's online activities. In addition, less than one in three parents check which websites their children visit, check who they chat to on-line or set limits on the time spent on the web.
The study, which questioned 1,000 7 to 16 year olds, revealed that many children are ignoring safety warnings and putting themselves at risk online. Almost three-quarters of those surveyed admitted they had given their email address, a photograph of themselves or their phone number to a stranger they have met online.
Crisp Thinking has developed AGE to provide a much higher standard of protection than any other child protection software on the market. The technology analyses conversations taking place in public and private chat rooms to understand whether a relationship poses a threat to a young person.
Adam Hildreth, CEO of Crisp Thinking and the inventor of the Anti-Grooming Engine, said, "Although child protection technology is seen as an important factor for parents, many of them do not understand how it operates or how best to monitor the Internet usage of their children. In many households children are just left to get on with it as some parents don't have the time to keep an eye on their online activities.
"It is also disturbing to consider that young people are ignoring safety warnings and are openly divulging private information to strangers. I believe that part of the solution is the development of our AGE technology that will provide the peace of mind protection families need to safeguard young people from potential grooming or bullying.
"By monitoring the language of developing conversations online, AGE can flag up any potential attempt to draw young people into an unhealthy relationship."
AGE is installed at the ISP level and provides secure recording of all online interactions. It includes heuristic techniques to spot possible grooming activity, according to pattern matching it has developed. The system allows parents to specify how warnings are handled.
Crisp is a member of the Internet Watch Foundation (IWF) and has incorporated IWF list filtering into its Child Protection Gateway (CPG) -- a first for the industry.
ICM interviewed a random sample of 1,010 adults aged 18 plus by telephone across the UK between 27 - 30 October 2006. ICM is a member of the British Polling Council and abides by its rules. Further information at www.icmresearch.co.uk.
Dubit Limited surveyed 1,000 7 to 16 year olds.
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