HOW do we protect children from the predators lurking online? What risks do young computer users face when accessing the Net?

Early this year, the European Commission published a Youth Protection Roundtable (YPRT) Toolkit meant to ensure the safe and secure use of the Net especially among children and the youth.

The Toolkit includes in particular the risks to which children and youth are exposed on the Internet, as well as supportive technologies to counter these risks.

According to the YPRT Toolkit, there are two general types of risks that young Internet users might encounter: those related to online content, and those that have to do with online contact.

Risks Related to Online Content

Age inappropriate content. Refers to material that may not be illegal in general, but may be harmful to younger users, such as adult pornography. The risk may result from the user's own deliberate searching or when he/she stumbles upon the site without intending to.

Violent content. The effect of violent content largely depends on the age of the viewer, his/her habits of consuming Internet content and the social environment. Younger children are especially vulnerable and should be protected from stumbling across or deliberately accessing violent content that they are not allowed to see.

Incorrect content. This refers to incorrect information, such as that obtained from unscrupulous sites. This may also come in the form of false advertising or advertisements of fake products. It can also refer to biased content, i.e. content deliberately designed to transport a certain message, and which might be taken for true by inexperienced young users.

Illegal content. While this may depend on prevailing national laws, some types of content are generally outlawed in most countries. Attention should also be paid to children and youth as victims of illegal content, e.g. by publishing child abuse pictures or videos.

Incitement of harm. A number of sites on the Web incite users to harm themselves, e.g. websites promoting suicide, anorexia or sectarianism. The risk of being exposed to content inciting harm is growing, and children and youth in many cases are not able to make a realistic assessment of the risks arising from following the instructions given in such websites.

Infringement of human rights/ defamation. This risk of infringement of rights and being a victim of defamation is more likely to happen online than in reality, and this content is harmful to children and young people whose opinion might be influenced by misleading information.

Inappropriate advertisement and marketing to children. This refers to receiving or being exposed to advertisement for products and/or services that are inappropriate for children, like cosmetic surgery. At greatest risk are children who, unaware of the consequences of typing their names into forms, give away private information that would enable them to receive these inappropriate advertisements directly.

Data persistence. Anything published on the Web can spread rapidly around the world. Children and youths, unaware of short-term and long-term consequences, could publish texts and pictures they may not want to be publicly available later. Since it is impossible to delete this information totally later on, the risk of data persistence is particularly relevant to imprudent younger people.

Risks Related to Online Contact

Harmful advice. The Internet provides a platform for the exchange of advice between users, but could also be a means for children to be reached by inappropriate or even more risky advisors.

Internet addiction. The risk is growing, and young people are at greatest risk of not being able to switch off the computer.

Identity theft. This is a growing risk as the number of virtual identities is increasing with the number of people being online and in particular using personalized services.

Losing money/Phishing. Phishing refers to the process of harvesting bank details with the purpose of raiding other people?s bank accounts. Younger people are more likely not to recognize a fake website and give away their bank details.

Commercial fraud. This happens when sellers pretend to sell goods or services, which after payment either do not show the promised attributes or are not delivered at all. It can also result from identity theft and from phishing.

Grooming. Pedophiles use the Internet as a means to contact children and young people, concealing their adult identity. They often build their strategy on children?s longing for friendship and familiarity. All areas of the Web providing platforms for personal contact and exchange are likely to provide a basis for grooming attacks.

Bullying. Bullying is simplified by the Internet due to the anonymity the medium provides. Children and young people risk both being victim of bullying and being the offender.

Disclosing private information. Profiles on a social community platform disclose a user?s private information. Also in chat rooms and forums, users may disclose private data to others, such as their address or telephone number. Young people may not be able to foresee the consequences of publishing their private data and may not be aware that a chat room is not a private but a public area.

Profiling. This can be accomplished from the website where personal data are displayed publicly, but is more dangerous when profiles of users or parts of these are harvested from the database behind the website and sold out from the platform provider to third parties. ?

For more details, visit the website of the Youth Protection Roundtable, www.yprt.eu.