Ireland

[IE] Mobile and Internet Safety

IRIS 2009-3:1/33

Marie McGonagle & Tracy Murphy

Faculty of Law, National University of Ireland, Galway

In December 2008, the Minister for Children and Youth Affairs launched a booklet, “Mobile Phones - A Parent’s Guide to Safe and Sensible Use”. The easy reference guide was published by the Irish Cellular Industry Association (ICIA), in association with the mobile operators Meteor, O2, Vodafone and 3 Ireland. The booklet helps parents gain a better understanding of mobile phones, from the basics, such as talk, text and email, to more complex facilities, such as playing music and videos or surfing the web. The primary aim is to inform parents, so as to encourage responsible and secure use of mobile phones by their children. Issues addressed include bullying and malicious communications, spam, theft, illegal/malicious images and video clips.

Also in December 2008, the Minister for Justice, Equality & Law Reform launched a further booklet in the “GET WITH IT!” series entitled “A Guide to Cyberbullying”. The booklet was produced as a joint initiative between the Office for Internet Safety, the National Centre for Technology in Education, O2 and Barnardos. Cyberbullying refers to bullying which is carried out using the Internet, mobile phone or other technological devices. The booklet is intended to increase awareness of all aspects of cyberbullying, including how to identify it, how to prevent it and how to respond before things escalate. A previous booklet in the series, published in February 2008, dealt with social networking websites.

The Office of Internet Safety was established in March 2008, as an executive office of the Department of Justice, Equality and Law Reform. Its primary responsibility is for the development of strategic actions to promote the highest possible levels of Internet safety, particularly in relation to combating child pornography. It plays a key role in ensuring that a cohesive approach is being taken across Government Departments, State agencies and other stakeholders in addressing illegal content on the Internet.