I welcome Ms Sharon Kiernan, chief operating officer for Sentry Wireless, who was invited by the joint committee to make a presentation on mobile phone bullying. Before we begin, I draw attention to the fact that while members of the committee have absolute privilege, the same privilege does not apply to witnesses appearing before the committee, which cannot guarantee any level of privilege to witnesses appearing before it. Furthermore, under the salient rulings of the Chair, members should not comment on, criticise or make charges against a person outside the Houses or an official by name or in such a way as to make him or her identifiable.
Mobile Phone Bullying: Discussion with Sentry Wireless.
Ms Sharon Kiernan
I thank the Chairman and members of the joint committee for giving me the opportunity to appear before them to discuss the Kidsafe SIMple application. However, before I do so, I wish to discuss issues facing younger people. From newspaper headlines, they can be broken down loosely into three categories: mobile phone bullying, the more sinister cyber grooming and, not least, unsolicited premium SMSs being delivered to children's phones.
Mobile phone bullying affects children in every constituency and is being heralded as the number one issue facing parents. It has been widely blamed for child suicides in Ireland and worldwide. Cyber grooming is more sinister. With the advent of sites such as Bebo, MySpace and so on, the availability of information on children to predators is more widespread. Somebody pretending to be another child can gather information, photographs and mobile phone numbers and build up a profile of another child who believes he or she is chatting to a friend on Bebo and can target him or her. What is also happening more frequently is that a person goes into an adult chat room, puts up a child's details, including his or her phone number, likes and dislikes, and ask others to contact him or her. While that is very distressing when it happens to an adult, what is it like for a child to be greeted by a torrent of unwanted nasty text messages or voicemails when he or she is alone in his or her bedroom at 10 p.m? That is more difficult to deal with than bullying in the playground.
Last year there were 30,000 complaints to RegTel about unsolicited premium SMSs. Children are most susceptible because when they sign up to receive a picture of their favourite soccer player or the next ring tone, they do not realise that in accepting the terms and conditions which are included in the small print, they are actually signing up to six months' worth of such SMS text messages and will be charged at exorbitant rates. This will run down credit very quickly. Kidsafe SIMple, our application, can counter each of the issues that face us.
Bullying is the number one concern. The Barnardos report of last year indicated 82% of parents considered it to be the main issue — not class sizes or having the money to buy shoes and so on for their children. Some 39% of children said they knew someone who had been affected by bullying. We do not have statistics for Ireland but 13% of British schoolchildren have had to change their mobile phone numbers because of bullying. The statistics are self-explanatory. The advances made to date in Internet security are laudable and have been driven by Viviane Reding and the commissioners. However, the real issue is bullying by mobile phone through unsolicited calls at all hours of day and night.
When I started working in this area, I was surprised by the figures and they may be even higher now. Some 55% of all children between five and nine years of age and 90% of children between ten and 14 years of age have a mobile phone. One need only look around the street to see them texting and phoning each other. In Ireland 410,000 children under 14 years of age have a mobile phone and the numbers are growing every week. This is not being driven by us or the mobile phone operators but by society. When two parents are working, they need to keep in touch with their children. This is not being pushed upon parents; they see the mobile phone as a modern-day parenting tool.
The solutions to date have focused solely on the area of mobile Internet browsing but information on data consumption for children under 16 years of age shows that the level of mobile Internet browsing is very low. Children aged ten and 11 years do not surf the web on their mobile phones — they use them to stay in touch with their parents and friends. The real dangers lie in unsolicited text and voice messages. To date, we have seen a reluctance among operators to address this issue. We have been given various reasons; it is suggested the matter could hurt the reputation of the industry and operators do not want to be seen as pushing mobile phones on children. However, the statistics show that parents, not children, are driving the uptake. There is a real possibility that revenue could be lost from premium SMS text messages. To date, only network-based solutions have been available. Whenever an operator must do something that will affect its network, very large capital expenditure, over €1 million, for hardware, software and the technical resources necessary for implementation comes into question. It takes an operator 12 to 18 months to implement a network-based solution and once the backbone of the network is affected it becomes a risky business.
The advantage of our solution is that it is simple to launch and sits on the SIM card; there is no technical integration whatsoever. There is no need for capital expenditure on technical equipment that must sit on the network. The application runs off the mobile phone and has four functions: it allows parents to decide the numbers that can contact their children, the numbers their children can call, the numbers that can text their children and the numbers their children can text. Anything outside the approved list is a no-go area. If my number is passed on to a person who should not call me, he or she will not be able to get through; our software will stop all of this.
It is all controlled from the mobile phone, which is particularly important with regard to the availability of broadband in Ireland and Internet access in general. All network-based solutions require the parent to use the Internet to enter the telephone numbers they wish to approve. They are then downloaded to the mobile phone. There may be a time constraint as well. I will talk a little more about that in a minute. Our software allows the parent to see if somebody has been trying to get through to their child and has been stopped. The parent then has a record of the number and can find out who has been trying to contact the child.
We would welcome any help from this committee. We recommend that a deadline be given to operators to address the issue. A key aspect is that it can be accessed by all. Network-based solutions are reliant on a parent having access to the Internet, and that is currently an issue in Ireland.
We also urge that, even if something is not done about bullying and cyber grooming, which are obviously extremely important, the industry should be encouraged to examine the issue of unsolicited and unwanted premium SMS. That needs to happen quickly. Each week there are more and more mobile phones out there. Children have them and they are unprotected. The Christmas market is a prime market. There will be 30,000 to 40,000 new phones in the hands of children after Christmas.
Operators must agree to address these issues. They have done much work on mobile Internet filtering. However, this does not address the issue that is relevant to the most vulnerable and that needs to be addressed quickly. There needs to be a leader. In the past the industry has addressed the issue as a whole and so progress has been at the pace of the slowest operator. It is necessary to go outside that mould of doing things in piecemeal fashion when all are ready. I reiterate that there is zero network integration associated with Kidsafe. It can be installed on the SIM card. The SIM card is handed to the child and once the parent approves the numbers the child is immediately protected.
Regarding the purchasing experience for the parents, coming up to Christmas they may have been badgered by their child to get a mobile phone. They have given in because not only do they want to give their child a phone but they also want to be able to stay in touch with their child. They go into a mobile phone shop and buy a phone which will be bundled, the handset and SIM card, in a box. They give the phone to the child. The child is ecstatic and puts in the phone numbers of all his or her friends and family. Until the parent takes the phone back and approves those numbers with a PIN number known only to the parent, those numbers are not accessible. Once that is done — it takes 15 or 20 seconds to do — the child can use the phone. From start to finish the process of getting the phone up and running for the child in a protected manner is very quick.
The benefits are self-explanatory. They include peace of mind for the parents. They know they can get in touch with the child but they are not exposing their child to cyber bullying or cyber grooming. Only people that are known to the parent can get through. The phone can be locked at times when the parents do not want their child to be on the phone, for example, during school hours. That obviously appeals to teachers who like the idea that during certain times the phones are not accessible. It can be locked during homework hours and after midnight. The facility can also be used as a 21st century parenting tool to take away the phone when children have been naughty instead of putting them on the naughty stair or sending them to their bedroom. When the phone is locked only the parents can get through and the child can always contact the parents so there is a sense of security. It avoids the stigma of what we call "kiddie phones". Children are fickle and change their phones regularly. With Kidsafe they are not tied to a specific handset. I am not saying there are not alternatives. We have already mentioned the network-based solutions, the kiddie handsets. One can see from the picture that they look like toys. They are fine for five to seven year olds but no self-respecting nine year old boy would want one. They have a certain place but they are not for the older age group because they look like toys and children do not like them for that reason. In addition, they cannot send text messages from them.
In the main, children send text messages from their phones. This can lead to an additional form of bullying. The positive of network-based solutions is that it works on all handsets which is a definite plus, but one needs Internet access to set them up. Imagine the scenario where a child is at the football pitch and makes a new friend and wants to contact him that evening. The child must scribble the phone number on a piece of paper and give it to his mum. The mum must go home and log on to the Internet, put in the phone number and send it to the operator which then sends it to the child's handset. That can take a long time. From the operators' perspective it is a long and costly process to implement, whereas our SIM-based solution is invisible to other children — and perception is a major consideration. A child does not want to give others a reason to be bullied. If the child's handset looks the same as the handset that mum and dad have, it is cool. It is quick and easy for the parents to set up the application and no Internet access is required. It is simple and easy to launch for the operator, with no capital expenditure required. It is just a matter of loading the software onto the SIM and selling that SIM in the shops. It is quick and easy for children to use it. The negative of our solution is that it does not work on all handsets. We have a list of specific handsets that it works on but they are in the range that are suitable for children. They are not the high end PDA Blackberry type phones.
In Sentry Wireless we are continuing to raise awareness of the issue and we are working with the media and teachers, who have a vested interest, for the pre-Christmas buying market. We want to continue to encourage the operators to start to address this issue. We will schedule a meeting with the Minister for Communications, Energy and Natural Resources, Deputy Eamon Ryan, as arranged. We ask the joint committee to ask the operators to address this issue. It is low on their current priorities but that can change. The iPhone was a significant distraction for operators but they will be able to address this issue in the short term and gain a quick win. We are looking for an operator to step up to the mark and show leadership in this area.
I thank Ms Kiernan for that very comprehensive report. Members will now ask questions to which Ms Kiernan will reply at the end. I have formed the impression that the operators could be more co-operative.
I welcome Ms Kiernan and thank her for her presentation. It is coming at a very opportune time. I agree that mobile phone bullying is a major problem which must be addressed urgently. One of the aspects of mobile phone bullying as distinct from other forms of bullying is that an individual becomes isolated. Other forms of bullying in school can be dealt with in various ways, but there is no hiding place from the mobile phone bully. If one goes on holiday and leaves the country one comes home to the message.
Ms Kiernan mentioned that her organisation has been in discussions with the Minister and with the operators. What is the regulator's role in this? Has Ms Kiernan had contact with the regulator on this issue? The system being put forward by Sentry Wireless appears to be based on sound technology and can do what it is designed to do, but has it been launched or is it in operation anywhere else? We are talking about bullying but perhaps something like this could be invented for politicians to regulate our calls, especially on nights like last night and days like this.
Regarding a public relations campaign, it has been mentioned that teachers have been spoken to but greater awareness is needed in schools. Have the Irish National Teachers Organisation, INTO, and the secondary school teacher unions been consulted? We were addressed on the matter when we visited the Digital Hub, following which I discovered that many people, including parents, were not aware that this was happening. Students and young people must be encouraged to seek help. There may be a role in this for the HSE and those in a position to give guidance.
Ms Kiernan will find broad agreement with her presentation and support for it on this side of the House. This is an urgent issue that should be dealt with sooner rather than later.
I thank Ms Kiernan for her presentation and apologise for being late — she may have answered my questions before I arrived. When she speaks of co-operation from operators, what does she need? What form should the co-operation take?
Ms Kiernan has said Kidsafe SIMple can control which telephone numbers can call a child's mobile phone. I presume it can also control the numbers from which children can receive texts. Many mobile phones used by children operate on the basis of call credit and I presume this technology can work on pay as you go phones.
A matter often raised with me is the popularity among children of games on mobile phones. Sometimes, without realising it, children open text messages that offer new games and tunes — even by receiving the message, without responding to it, a considerable amount of call credit can be used up. This has become an issue for parents, particularly when children cannot contact them because they have run out of credit. I know there is a formula to stop such texts but some find it difficult. I presume that the system proposed by Ms Kiernan would block such texts, if they were not from the permitted numbers list.
Ms Kiernan included some figures in her presentation and the handout. The original figures on bullying came from Barnardos but what was the source for the figures on mobile phone usage and ownership? She suggests Kidsafe SIMple is a way to effectively tackle cyber bullying and cyber grooming but many new phones have Internet access. The figures Ms Kiernan presents suggest mobile phone Internet usage is not high among young children but I think this is changing; children are aware of and want access to certain sites. Some of these are game sites with access to cheats for the games they play. Other sites that interest children include Bebo and Facebook.
There is increased Internet usage among young children. Does the system that Ms Kiernan proposes limit access to the Internet and control access to sites? I can clearly see how the system would prevent bullying via prohibited numbers. Some of the text messages received by children are of a bullying nature. However, numbers which are known to the child and approved by the parent would not be covered by the system described. Bullying and unintentional cruelty can occur in calls from a child's friend and from an approved number. That will still happen because friends' numbers will be on the approved list.
I join members in complimenting Ms Kiernan on her comprehensive presentation. This is an extremely serious issue. Bullying by mobile phone can be traumatic for a young person and has led to suicide in some instances. I am aware of a couple of very serious cases. It is difficult for us to remember how sensitive young people are at a particular age and how they can react to this behaviour. I understand the problem is more prevalent among girls than boys and has more serious implications for them. I would like to hear Ms Kiernan's response to that opinion. I agree with her proposition that we should put pressure on mobile phone operators and commend that suggestion to the Chairman and the committee secretariat. We should do all we can in this regard, relate back to the Minister and raise the issue in the Houses. This is a very serious matter.
Would the proposed safety application involve a cost to parents? Can it be reversed by a child? If not, can it be kept secret from friends in order that a child will not seem "uncool" among his or her peer group? I agree with Deputy Coonan that all the partners in education and those involved in the training of young people should be involved in this process. To what degree has the system been implemented and with what results?
This is one of the most serious matters to come before the joint committee in many a day because of its impact on individuals. I have circumstantial and anecdotal evidence that mobile phone bullying was an element in causing the suicide of a child known to me. Bullying, in general, is of extraordinary seriousness. It seems to pervade society. We need to implement a range of anti-bullying strategies. Today we are addressing bullying by mobile phone.
I would appreciate hearing Ms Kiernan's response to these points and suggestions on what might be done.
I welcome Ms Kiernan and thank her for ploughing a lonely furrow in this massive mobile telephone industry. She talked about usage, ownership and future ownership of which issues, with Christmas coming and as a parent of young children, I am keenly aware. I am also keenly aware of the number of text messages which are sent and of the amount of time spent on them. When youngsters get a telephone it becomes like their right hand and they become addicted to them. I am concerned at the reluctance of mobile operators to engage with the issue — they are taking us all for a good hike. We all use them to a large extent but they should be compelled to engage with the issue and this committee, as well as other institutions, should force them to do so by introducing these systems.
What is the role of the regulator in this matter? Is the system available in other countries? Can the system be purchased as of now? Yesterday's budget was a missed opportunity to put at least 3 cent on every text message. It would have been a huge money spinner though the cost would probably fall on parents, who have to pay for the credits. The networks, however, are conducting a huge scam and should be attacked and penalised. Some of their huge profits should be brought back into our economy.
I also welcome Ms Kiernan and thank her for her presentation. It is good that there is a constructive approach to mobile telephones in general, and to this area in particular. We must be honest and acknowledge a bullying issue in respect of customers of mobile telephone operators. For example, even at the lowest charge of between €300 and €400 per month, I have incurred costs of some €36,000 over ten years. Including inflation, I could have bought a house with what I have paid to mobile telephone operators over that period, though that is matter for a wider debate on another occasion.
The final part of Ms Kiernan's presentation was very important. Mobile telephone operators must show leadership because, at present, schools spend a lot of time dealing with hurt on the part of teachers and students. If a mobile telephone ban is imposed, however, would teachers have to confiscate 1,000 telephones per day? The practicalities of the issue are significant. Principals have a fight on their hands because, for example, www.o2online.ie facilitates free access to Bebo sites and that is proving to be a problem. Some under 13s have their own Bebo sites, which is illegal, so there needs to be monitoring and surveillance of the problem.
What is Ms Kiernan's opinion on introducing something into the school curriculum in this area of communications technology? We who are involved in making policies must drive and design a change of curriculum to meet the needs of society. People go to bed with their mobile telephone and use it to wake themselves up in the morning. They text somebody last thing at night to say goodnight and it is very much a way of life. It is very important we look at the overall design of the education curriculum. There is an opportunity for a communications element to be included in the curriculum to look at the moral aspects of mobile telephones, computers and sites such as Bebo.
I apologise for being late. I read the presentation and agree that this is an extremely important issue. Like Deputy McGrath, I am curious about the role of ComReg. It seems that, where there is an issue such as this which needs to be addressed and where the technology has advanced to make it addressable at least in part, ComReg's policy should be to deal with it as part of its job. Rather than it being a question of political pressure it should be a given. I understand there was an agreement based on the self-regulatory model between operators in Brussels and at European level. Perhaps Ms Kiernan would give us her views on whether that is effective or is just a certain amount of window dressing and whether we need to be much stronger in terms of an EU-wide approach that can protect children.
I welcome Ms Kiernan and thank her for her excellent presentation. Where can the Kidsafe application be purchased? Is it available in all mobile phone retail shops?
Ms Sharon Kiernan
I hope I can answer all the questions asked and that the committee will forgive me if I miss any. The first question was whether the system had been launched anywhere and what the reaction of operators in Ireland had been. I would characterise the system as being excellent outside Ireland. The experience has been mixed in Ireland. I cannot go into specifics because we have signed non-disclosure agreements with some operators. The system will be launched in the next month in Singapore and it will be by one of the two top operators, whichever goes first. We are talking to the two top players, one of which will be launching at the beginning of November. That will be our first deployment. We are engaged with operators in Malaysia, Australia, Poland, the United Kingdom and France. They are testing it to see how it works on their networks. We are also working very closely with the SIM card manufacturers. We have tested it on all SIM cards.
On the technology and its availability and readiness for market, it is ready to go. The reaction within Ireland has been lukewarm at best. Some have said they believe some parents do not want the service. Points were made by many in the room about the importance and relevance of this issue. It is very relevant. Some parents do not know there is this form of bullying because it is very much under the parents' radar. It is happening at night. Children bring their mobile phones to bed. They receive text messages in the middle of the night and read them. A text message stating "I'm going to get you in the morning" coming through at 10 p.m. is much more sinister than the traditional forms of bullying where somebody in the playground gives a child a punch in the stomach. It is a facilitator for the cowards and much more available to them. It is a very new form of bullying.
Some operators here have said they are afraid it will be seen by the market as pushing mobile phones on children. As I said, it is happening. It is not new. It is not that operators are encouraging people to buy mobile phones for their five year olds. Parents are buying them for their five year olds. The statistics I have come from reports published on an annual basis which show the breakdown of mobile phone usage or sales. It becomes a little tricky in the prepay market because the statistics do not capture information as to who is holding the phone. I might have four mobile phones in my name. However, it is my four children who have them. Barnardos has done a great deal of work on this issue. As part of its annual report it asks people in that age group questions on mobile phone usage.
It is not only bullying but premium SMSs that are of concern as well. Senator Corrigan mentioned that this issue had been raised with her. What happens is that a child subscribes to a site for a ring tone, game cheats or a picture of a favourite pop star and ticks a little box to get it. This costs €2 from the child's phone credit. What they do not necessarily realise is that they are signing up to a contract under which they will get a weekly message, photograph or new ring tone, which costs between €2 to €4 to receive and runs down their credit. A parent may buy his or her child €10 worth of credit but up to €4 may be lost each week in receiving text messages. That is a significant factor in the affordability of the mobile phone.
The operators have told us they do not want to commit to launching it at this time because lots of things are happening. Quite cynically, if the implementation of our application hits their revenue lines they will be reluctant to put this in place. We must bring more pressure to bear.
Parents have been contacting us directly, having found our product through Google with a view to buying it from us. Unfortunately they cannot buy the products from us as we are dependant on an operator loading it up on to the SIM card. I was asked how our application is made available. It is loaded onto SIM cards and people buy a SIM card with our software on it.
What do you need from the operators?
Ms Sharon Kiernan
We need the operators to load our software onto SIM cards so that it is available to parents when they purchase the phone. The product is available on the pre-pay system. It is not tied to any particular plan. If I am buying a mobile phone, I sign up for Kidsafe SIMple and then buy €20 credit. To the child, the phone looks no different whether it has our software on it or not. It is preloaded onto the SIM card.
What must they buy? Is it the SIM card or the phone?
Ms Sharon Kiernan
They just buy the SIM card.
How much would it cost the parent to get this extra application on the SIM card?
Ms Sharon Kiernan
It is entirely up to the operator. One of the operators that is launching it in Singapore is not charging for the software. It is launching it as a gesture of corporate social responsibility. It is saying it will offer this service, for which there will be no charge.
So Sentry Wireless wants to sell this service to the operators who in turn will make it available to others?
Ms Sharon Kiernan
Yes, Sentry Wireless's customers are the operators. We are not selling directly to the consumer.
Does Ms Kiernan believe that an operator will take on Sentry Wireless's product in November?
Ms Sharon Kiernan
One large operator will launch the product in Singapore in November.
When will it be launched in this country?
Ms Sharon Kiernan
Our issue is that there is a reluctance among the operators to launch the software in Ireland.
Ms Kiernan has made a very comprehensive presentation. This was one of the issues set out in our work programme. I am very conscious that we are now coming towards the end of October and heading towards Christmas. It is very clear that mobile phone safety is an issue. It is ironic that one of the reasons parents purchase mobile phones for their children is to enhance the child's safety. From what has been said and from the experiences of members, we can see that mobile phones can represent a very real danger to children. Since Christmas is approaching, could we invite the operators to come before the committee as soon as possible?
I will make arrangements in that regard.
The Senator has been consistent on this and I commend her on that. ComReg has an important role in this and I feel its representatives should also be invited before the committee. I think ComReg has quite a proactive role in making policy, rather than just waiting for politicians to deliver policy. It is important to include ComReg because it is in a position to do something and if it decides to do so then, in a sense, the problem is solved.
I think Senator Corrigan's point is that we do not need ComReg to bounce the operators into taking this on board — they could do so voluntarily.
This is my difficulty; one route is to have self-regulation and wait for operators that can find many reasons not to do things. Another route is to say that this is a perfectly natural, straightforward provision that should be in place. This can be done through the regulator because it is a regulated market. I would prefer the latter route and I feel ComReg should be included in the debate.
Perhaps we could do both. ComReg could come in but, in advance of a decision by ComReg, the operators could voluntarily come before us.
I will discuss it with the clerk and we will try to arrange for them to attend sooner rather than later.
I apologise for being late this morning. The morning after the budget is always difficult in terms of radio interviews and so on. I was very anxious to attend this meeting and I congratulate Senator Corrigan on pushing this issue on which she has spoken often.
I have some experience of dealing with mobile operators and when I was in the European Parliament I co-authored the report on roaming charges that the Parliament conducted along with the Commission. In my experience, when the industry does not want to do something it is very difficult to force it to do it voluntarily, without regulation or legislation. It would be beneficial to invite the operators to appear here to discuss this matter and I know they are already looking at the issue. However, we should make it absolutely clear that without a significant response from the industry, in terms of voluntarily introducing new codes, we will deal with this through regulation or legislation. If that stick is not held over the industry very little will happen; there will be discussions and a 12 to 18 month consultation process.
Our role could be very positive if we set a timescale for the industry. We should say to the industry, "We want to work with you on this but we recognise this might not be beneficial, from a financial perspective, for the industry. Therefore, we are telling you now that if we do not make progress we will force progress through regulation." I think this is the approach we should take because otherwise we will be strung along with concern and discussion and so on. Ultimately, we want safe mobile phones for children. Parents want a level of control over who their children call and, more importantly, who calls their children. They want control over who can gain access to their children's phones. I have flicked through the presentation, without hearing it first-hand, and this level of control seems to have been achieved very well through SIM and network solutions. I am sceptical about network solutions because it is very difficult to get filters to work properly, even for spam and unwanted commercial texts. This is true of Internet and mobile phone filters. To be fair to the industry, it is almost impossible to block unwanted calls without also blocking messages one wishes to receive. The SIM solution is a far more sensible one.
Ms Sharon Kiernan
Network solutions are difficult to implement and it takes considerable time to do so. That is why the SIM-based solution is much more sensible.
Members mentioned the importance of the school curriculum and parents' interaction with their children. Even with this solution in place, parents should still check their children's mobile phones. They still need to teach their children responsible mobile phone usage. This could be tied in with a communications curriculum but parental involvement is also required. When children are young, they need to be protected. When they get a little older, they must be taught how to use mobile phones responsibly. With our solution, as children get older and become more responsible, they can be given the PIN number and allowed to decide which numbers can or cannot be approved. When they reach the age when parents are happy for them to have unprotected numbers, the system can be switched off. The system is an invisible layer of security for a child and provides different levels of security, as required. However, parents should still check their children's mobile phones. As Senator Corrigan said, someone who was a friend yesterday can be a bully tomorrow. Parents must maintain an adequate level of communication with their children. If another child goes from being friend to foe, their number can be removed from the mobile phone. A good way of dealing with a bully is not to react to his or her treatment. If a bully realises the victim is not seeing the bullying text, he or she will give up.
Are we empowering children to block numbers from ringing their mobile phones?
Ms Sharon Kiernan
The system empowers the parent. A child puts all of his or her friends' phone numbers into the mobile phone and hands it to the parent who approves the numbers. Only those approved numbers can call or text the child's mobile phone. These are also the only numbers which the child can dial or text. Only numbers known to and approved by the parent are accessible.
Confusion may have arisen because Ms Kiernan referred to an older child deciding which numbers to approve.
Ms Sharon Kiernan
I was speaking about parents teaching responsible mobile phone usage. When a child is aged between 5 and 9 years, the parent has absolute control over the mobile phone numbers. As the child gets older, following a discussion about responsibility, the parent may give the PIN number to the child who can decide which numbers can and cannot get through to the mobile phone. That decision would be taken by the parent.
Is it possible to control the sending and forwarding of photographs and videos?
Ms Sharon Kiernan
Multimedia Messaging Service, MMS, is dealt with very well by what the operators have done to date, which is filtering of MMS on the network. They have also done well on Internet filtering, following the work done by Viviane Reding, Commissioner for Information Society and Media. The solutions for dealing with browsing the Internet on mobile phones have been put in place. These are both good and they work. Our system deals directly with the area which has not been covered to date; that is, mobile phone calls and texts. Incoming calls are the most difficult for the network to deal with; that is what we have done on the SIM card.
I thank Ms Kiernan for her comprehensive report. We will make contact with operators and ComReg and invite them to speak to the committee. Ms Kiernan will be welcome to observe those discussions.
The joint committee adjourned at 10.30 a.m. until 9.30 a.m. on Wednesday, 22 October 2008.