Kids poorly protected from illicit content on handheld devices and gaming consoles, says leading children’s charity, parents association and Censorit

Published 16th April 2008

-- The UK’s newest content monitoring service, Censorit, puts protection back in parents’ hands --

London, England - 15 April, 2008 – Censorit, a UK-based company created to protect children’s web browsing on handheld and gaming devices, today launched a brand new service in the UK. Censorit allows parents to prevent gaming devices, web-enabled phones and portable media players from accessing inappropriate content.

Out of the box, the latest versions of popular games consoles, handheld gaming devices and portable media players do not protect children from accidentally or otherwise accessing pornography web sites, viewing extremely violent or other damaging content. WiFi-enabled phones similarly allow completely unfiltered content to appear on the screen.

“Parents are extremely concerned about the ease with which children can access unsuitable content on the internet from a variety of sources. Mumsnet welcomes any product that can make parents' lives easier by helping keep children safe from the dangers of inappropriate internet access,” said Carrie Longton, co-founder of Mumsnet.com, described by The Times as ‘the country’s most popular meeting place for parents.’”

“Ofcom recommended content filtering in response to the Byron Review, which raised the issue of the damaging digital content that kids can access. Censorit’s solution is the first content filter designed to work on all the devices today’s kids have, and it is simple for parents to use,” said Censorit founder Dan Makin. “We are solely focused on safeguarding young people’s internet experience by limiting inappropriate surfing.”

Censorit enables parents to block inappropriate websites and review web-based or emailed reports of the sites that their children have either stumbled across or tried to access. Censorit provides a pre-loaded blacklist, and parents can choose to add to it or create their own blacklist, giving control back to parents. With the addition of Censorit’s content filtering, children have an extra layer of protection. Unlike other forms of filtering, content filtering ensures viewers are prevented from illicit content from websites where the URL address is not representative of the content held within the site, providing parents with additional peace of mind.

“More and more parents understand the importance of keeping their children safe online,” said John Carr, Secretary of the Children’s Charities’ Coalition on Internet Safety. “However, up until now the focus has been largely about computers whereas increasingly, the focus is shifting to games consoles and mobile devices. This is why I’m pleased that Censorit is drawing attention to this broader issue with the launch of an excellent service.”

Pricing and availability details
The Censorit service can be purchased online at www.censorit.com for a subscription fee of £4.00 per month. The service is activated immediately following a simple registration process and does not require a download. For more information please visit www.censorit.com.

Devices protected by Censorit include the following: Nintendo Wii, Sony PSP, Nintendo DS Lite, Apple iPod Touch, and all other WiFi enabled mobile phones and portable media devices, providing that web proxy configuration is available on the device.

Notes to editors
The Byron Review, released on 27 March this year, alerted the nation to the problem of children’s potential access to violent and other inappropriate content via digital devices. The review focused on children’s use of computers, and recommended the use of parental control software. Censorit’s service pinpoints handheld devices which are web-enabled and pose the same, or worse, threat to children by providing a completely unregulated browsing experience.

According to a report released by the Institute for Public Policy Research on Easter Monday this year, 57 per cent of children have come across pornography while surfing online. Ofcom’s 2006 media audit indicated that around half of all parents have some kind of blocking in place to stop their children viewing certain types of websites – but this is only for at-home viewing on computers. The same audit showed that around half of all children in the UK had a games console. Today, all of latest generation of games consoles are sold with unfiltered WiFi browsing and the number of consoles sold in the UK has risen dramatically in the past two years.

About Censorit
Censorit is a UK-based company dedicated to filtering the illicit content that children can access via WiFi-enabled devices. Censorit gives control back to parents and places inappropriate content beyond children’s sight.

Nintendo Wii, Nintendo DS, Sony PSP and the Apple iPod Touch are trademarks of their respective companies.

Press contact:
Emily Farrell
Hatch PR
emily@hatch-pr.com
+44 (0) 7748 6333 55