AdaptiveMobile, which provides mobile subscriber protection for enterprises and individuals, has urged mobile operators worldwide to follow the example led by the United States, where this week three of the largest Internet Services Providers (ISPs) – Verizon, Sprint and Time Warner Cable – committed $1 million (500,000) to help block access to explicit child sites and bulletin boards, marking a first move of ISPs giving into government pressures of policing the Internet.
This is a real step in the right direction to combat the growing presence of illegal and exploitative child content online, says AdaptiveMobile CEO, Lorcan Burke. However, it is crucial that these efforts are extended into the mobile environment, which has seen major growth in illegal content globally over the last year, as the number of mobile subscribers accessing the internet via their phones continues to rise rapidly.
The US has taken a critical first step to block access to exploitative child content on the Internet, and we call for service providers worldwide to take a similar approach to eliminate this content on mobile devices as well as PCs. There has been an ongoing discussion about responsibilities between governments and ISPs in recent years in many countries, with ISPs resisting the need to police the Internet with the argument of freedom of expression. However, the story with illegal images of children is black and white: it is immoral, illegal and needs to be stopped.
Protecting children and stopping the proliferation of this material needs to be a global effort, with service providers at the helm. By not taking mobile into account, however, the industry risks seeing a platform jump in which these sites move onto mobile. We encourage mobile service providers to extend these blocks and to involve groups that have an in-depth knowledge of these threats to children, such as the Internet Watch Foundation (IWF). Many adult sites are already being accessed using mobile technology – I can only hope that this doesnt accelerate the trend to include illegal content by forcing if off of the PC.   
AdaptiveMobiles parental controls are already being deployed by a number of mobile phone operators worldwide. This enables them to safeguard their infrastructure and deliver appropriate controls, ensuring a safe mobile experience for teenagers and children. Its Policy Control Framework sits on the network and protects subscribers against illegal or inappropriate content, unsolicited or unauthorised communications. It works across all mobile services, including WAP, SMS, MMS and email; all forms of access (mobile, wi-fi, WiMax); and media, including mobile iInternet, text, images, music, voice and video.