LOS ANGELES—AgeID, a secure online age verification tool, on Tuesday announced the launch of its Internet Safety Resource Centre to provide a central resource for parents to turn to for advice, ranging from how to set up parental controls on their children’s devices, to broaching the difficult topics on the potential dangers of the internet.
The launch of the Resource Centre, which is free to access, follows the announcement of AgeID earlier this year, which was introduced to fully comply with the regulations soon to be enforced under the Digital Economy Act 2017.
The Digital Economy Act will require every adult content site accessible in the UK to verify their visitors are over the age of 18. The aim of the law is to prevent children under the legal age from stumbling across adult content.
However, AgeID maintains the law is not a silver bullet and remains concerned that parents may become lax in monitoring their children’s browsing habits once the law is enforced. Therefore, AgeID wants to empower and educate parents and put them in the best position possible to speak to their children about the online landscape and monitor their online activity.
The Resource Centre will host a number of practical, educational articles from leading experts in the fields of parental control, child safety and security, including journalists Sally Peck and Liat Joshi, and the CEO of Abacode Cybersecurity, Michael Ferris. Parents can turn to the Resource Centre for advice on topics ranging from navigating the world of sexual development to choosing the right parental controls
James Clark, director of communication at AgeID, said:
”We have always felt that parents are in the best position to monitor their children’s online activity and are concerned that the new law discourages this. The mandated, proportionate approach to regulation will struggle to achieve the child protection aims of the law, as un-monitored children will likely still find non-compliant adult content via a simple search query.
“As a responsible company, as well as supplying a tool allowing adult websites to fully comply with the law, we want to ensure parents feel empowered and informed to navigate the world of their children’s development and monitor their online activity.”
The resource centre will be hosted at ageid.com/internet-safety.
