Online child protection must keep pace with threat, warns adviser

Action to protect children from pornography and other online threats must be accelerated to keep up with advances in technology, a Government adviser has warned.

Tanya Byron called for "less talk... more action" on issues such as parental controls on mobile phones and warned youngsters could now access adult sites with "extraordinary ease".

The TV child psychologist said the creation of Council for Child Internet Safety (UKCCIS) and a national safety strategy had made the UK a world leader in tackling the issue.

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But, in a progress report two years since she first suggested the body – a coalition of Government, charities and industry – Professor Byron said it must "speed up to stay ahead".

She also criticised a lack of sufficient consultation with young people and parents and urged the Government to push through new rules on video game classification before the election.

Launching her report alongside Prime Minister Gordon Brown at a gathering of UKCCIS members at 10 Downing Street, she said its establishment had been "a huge success".

"Speeding up, we need to see a code of practice for companies and providers, we need to really think about parental controls for mobile phones that can access the internet."

At the launch of the progress report, Mr Brown met 10-year-olds from Anson primary school in Cricklewood, north London, who have developed an internet safety video.

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