Telefónica Public Policy & Telefónica España Regulatory teams
At the end of May, Telefónica participated as a key partner of the conference held in the Senate of the Czech Republic, the “Online Criminality – Prevention and Legislation“, organized by the National Centre for Safer Internet (“Národní Centrum Bezpečnějšího Internetu”).
The meeting aimed to discuss possible enhancements of Internet safety, in particular of children users, in order to ensure a better use of new technologies. The debate in the Senate premises was attended by leading experts in information technologies and communication, lawyers, social workers and prevention workers. There were more than 150 attendees.
Many speakers agreed with the conclusion that the parents usually are not aware of their kids’ technological skills dealing with the digital world, although they are primary responsible for protecting kids online. Speakers mentioned the high level of kids’ technical knowledge and its main gap with their online social understanding, and particularly the long term effects of their online behavior.
After the conference, Jakub Chytil, member of the Board of Directors of Telefónica Czech Republic, invited speakers to a business lunch where the discussion on the Internet safety issues carried on. In this occasion, Mr. Chytil insisted on the relevance for Telefónica concerning the adequate protection of privacy of users, and more specifically of children when they are online, indicating that the Group is working hard on this issue.
Telefónica Czech Republic, which has been the conference’s partner for the fourth time, sees its participation in the project as an opportunity for finding a consensus on creating safer internet environment and preserving confidence of internet users across all relating fields.
Internally, Telefónica Czech Republic is also very active and already proposes in its service for customers, Strážce Internetu, which gives users effective control over website access and enables them to restrict access to potentially dangerous websites. Other activities include raising awareness about online safety. In many of the projects Telefónica participates with partnering organizations like Národní Centrum Bezpečnějšího Internetu (the National Centre for Safer Internet) and Horká Linka (Hot Line).
Telefónica as a Group, is one of the active member of the European Commission initiative, CEO Coalition, is committed to online safety issues on long-term basis. The essential Internet safety issues include privacy protection of customer identification data, blocking access to websites containing inappropriate contents, or participation in activities of the mobile operators association targeted against dissemination of internet contents oriented on abused children.
Due to the relevance of this issue, Telefónica as a Group will continue to be active in this area in all the markets where the company is present.
Reputation and Corporate Responsibility Manager
