The report, entitled "PointSmart.ClickSafe.: Task Force Recommendations for Best Practices for Online Safety and Literacy," was produced by a working group assembled through a joint partnership of the National Cable & Telecommunications Association (NCTA), iKeepSafe, and Common Sense Media.
Senior Fellow at The Progress & Freedom Foundation, Adam Thierer, a member of the task force, expressed satisfaction over working with so many respected child safety experts and advocates to develop the report.
"The working group has produced a stellar report, finding that there is no single 'silver-bullet' solution to child safety concerns," Thierer said. "Instead, we need a holistic approach based on education, empowerment, and sensible industry self-regulation."
"The best practices outlined in this report will set a new benchmark for online operators going forward to ensure that they have policies in place to keep kids and parents educated and informed about how to stay safe online," Thierer added.
The full report is available on the Point Smart.Click Safe. Website; as is Thierer's paper, "Five Online Safety Task Forces Agree: Education, Empowerment & Self-Regulation Are the Answer," a summary of the findings of five groups convened over the past decade to study child safety, in which Thierer identifies the common recommendations of all five groups, including advice to policymakers to "avoid technical mandates, provide additional resources for education, and ensure law enforcement agencies have adequate resources to police and punish crimes against children."
According to Association of Sites Advocating Child Protection (ASACP) CEO Joan Irvine, all such reports have come to the same conclusion.
"There is no silver bullet and education is the key; [and with] so many government agencies working on the same issue and coming up with the same answer, the money should go directly to education," Irvine said. "If 'Shared Responsibility' is the key according to the pointsmartreport.org report, the industry is doing its part."
According to the association, the Point Smart.Click Safe. report calls for the Internet industry to formulate best practices and self-regulatory systems to empower users with more information and tools so they can make appropriate decisions for themselves and their families. And those best practices, which often take the form of an industry code of conduct or default control settings, should constantly be refined to take into account new social concerns, cultural norms, and technological developments.
"Obviously this is something ASACP does for the adult industry with best practices," Irvine said. "We are also currently updating our best practices to include recommendations for Twitter users."
"And of course from an economic standpoint, it is vital for any company to utilize these free best practices and the free Restricted To Adults (RTA) website label or face possible legal and financial hardship in the future," Irvine concluded. "Of course we cannot guarantee that by following the best practices that you will never face a legal problem, however they are not only a good guideline they also demonstrate good faith."