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Digital Economy Bill [HL]

My Lords, in moving Amendment 251A, I shall also speak to Amendment 255A. I do so on behalf of CARE, which has a particular interest in the safety of children, particularly as far as online material is concerned. Amendment 251A would require those who sell internet access—internet service providers and mobile phone operators—to provide customers with prominent, easily accessible and clear information about the availability of parental control software at the point of purchase and throughout the contract. The key words ““prominent”” and ““accessible”” have been taken from the recommendations on social networking websites by the Home Office Task Force on Child Protection on the Internet. To date, the Government’s energies have focused on trying to protect children with respect to the internet via best practice guidance, but this has been problematic, as Professor Byron explained. She says: "““crucially, performance against these standards is not monitored, so the public has no way of knowing which companies are adopting good practice””." Moreover, although the Home Office task force has produced guidelines on various issues, it has not provided ISPs and mobile phone operators with guidance on filtering. Neither has the industry produced self-regulatory mechanisms in its code of conduct. The Internet Service Providers’ Association makes no specific mention in its members’ code of practice relating to informing customers of filtering software. It does have a section on ISP’s requirements in relation to the Internet Watch Foundation. However, much more needs to be done to deal with material that, although not illegal, should not be accessible by children. The Mobile Broadband Group’s code of conduct is better, but still lacks the vital protection proposed by this amendment, which makes information about child protection filtering mechanisms prominent and easily accessible at the point of purchase and for the duration of the contract. I am aware that many companies make filtering options available, but surely it is time to move things forward by requiring the industry to make the option of accessing filtering software prominent and accessible at the point of purchase and throughout the duration of the contract. This amendment is simple and modest and will increase the chances that parents or guardians who buy internet access will acquire it with appropriate safeguards for their children. Amendment 255A requires online retailers who sell or allow access to age-restricted goods or services to have, "““in place a clearly-identifiable and robust age-verification scheme””," that prevents minors from purchasing or accessing the goods or services in question. I bring this issue to your Lordships’ attention because I believe that we must do more than we have so far to prevent children and underage teenagers from purchasing or accessing inappropriate online goods and services. The incongruity between what happens online and what happens offline makes a mockery of our law and creates a dangerous division between the real and the virtual world which we really should not continue to tolerate. Quite apart from the problems relating to children accessing inappropriate film content online, an issue which I have already covered, there is the issue of playing games online. One example of particular concern is ““Quake Live””, which is based on the offline first-person shooter game and has received an 18 rating. It is very disturbing that any boy or girl can access ““Quake Live”” online when they would not be able to purchase a comparable game from a shop. Online retailers who sell age-restricted goods such as alcohol, tobacco, or access to gambling services are already required to make suitable arrangements not to sell goods to underage individuals. In practice, however, these often amount only to self-certification. My amendment would not only require a more robust framework to be put into place; it would also apply to all goods and services that are age-restricted. I am assured that gambling websites, which operate under the licensing regime of the Gambling Commission, function in a responsible way and could be a model for some, if not all, forms of online sales. They offer a number of ways in which age can be verified. Before I end, I must say a word in anticipation of those who may be about to suggest that these amendments will place too great a burden on business. I very much hope that the Minister will agree that it is crucial that the well-being of children is indeed well protected. If it is not inappropriate to expect the state to develop and enforce complex laws to protect adults from unscrupulous businesses in order to protect both employees and customers, it cannot be inappropriate to expect the state and businesses to go the extra mile in protecting children and the vulnerable. Amendments 251A and 255A are amendments whose time has come. I point out to your Lordships that tomorrow is Safer Internet Day, and it is clearly rather appropriate that we should bear it in mind. I was also interested to see in The Times last month some interesting research that had been carried out by the Australian Research Centre in Sex, Health and Society. On these issues—particularly pornography and near-pornography—the centre says that there is compelling evidence from around the world that pornography has negative effects on individuals and communities. This is something which we all know but which we need to bear in mind when framing new legislation. I beg to move.