Germany

[DE] KJM Recognises Two Youth Protection Programs

IRIS 2012-4:1/19

Anne Yliniva-Hoffmann

Institute of European Media Law (EMR), Saarbrücken/Brussels

On 9 February 2012, the Kommission für Jugendmedienschutz der Landesmedienanstalten (Land Media Authorities’ Commission for the Protection of Minors in the Media - KJM) recognised two World Wide Web youth protection programs, subject to certain conditions.

These are the first youth protection programs for internet services that the KJM has recognised in accordance with the criteria that it published in May 2011 (see IRIS 2011-7/17).

Both programs therefore meet the requirement of user independence; they provide users with age-appropriate access to online services and can be switched on and off, configured and expanded by parents or guardians. They are also compatible with current Windows operating systems.

If they set up a recognised youth protection program, providers of telemedia services that are potentially dangerous to young people or their development can in future distribute their content without taking any additional youth protection measures (e.g., time restrictions or technical age verification mechanisms). These privileges reward content providers who take part in youth protection programs. However, until use of these programs becomes the norm, these privileges will only apply to content up to the “16+” age category.

The conditions attached to recognition include the requirement for the programs to be checked regularly, by means of practical tests, to ensure that they are user-friendly and technically up to date, and to be adapted if necessary. In particular, efforts should be made to ensure they are compatible with smartphones and games consoles.