BARCELONA, Spain - A program to tackle the problem of child porn on mobile networks has been launched by the GSM Association, in association with the EU and the International Telecommunications Union.
The announcement was made at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona.
Craig Ehrlich, chairman of the GSM Association, said the program would be open to any mobile operator.
"Whether you are a parent or not, you cannot help but be horrified by child pornography," he said. "The vast majority of this kind of content is viewed on computers, but it is a growing problem on mobile networks. Most digital development is good for our lives, but it is important to stop criminals exploiting children."
Mobile World Congress attendees were told that the number of child pornography sites is increasing at an alarming rate and the amount of porn on the Internet grew 74 percent between 2005 and 2006.
"ASACP was pleased to learn about the efforts of GSM Association, the EU and the International Telecommunications Union to stop criminals from exploiting children on mobile networks," said Joan Irvine, CEO of the Association of Sites Advocating Child Protection. "We are interested in learning more about their new technology, so that ASACP can incorporate this new information into best practices for mobile content. We look forward to working closer with these groups in order to help protect children."
"Once this global network is in place to block child pornography, that same network can be used to fight other kinds of crimes," ITU Secretary-General Hamadoun I. Toure said at the congress. "I applaud the initiative."
Viviane Reding, the European commissioner for information society and media, said 96 percent of EU mobile operators have signed up for the program.
