GSMA man appointed chairman of ICRA Board & Executive
The GSM Association (GSMA), the global trade association representing more than 630 GSM mobile network operators across 200 countries today announced that it has joined the Internet Content Rating Association (ICRA).
ICRA’s Board of Directors has also appointed Tom Phillips, Chief Government & Regulatory Affairs Officer of the GSMA as Chair of its Board and Executive Committee.
ICRA is an independent, non-profit, organisation working with Internet content providers and other members of the industry to develop a filtering and labelling system that can be used by parents around the world to protect their children from potentially harmful material on the Internet.
The GSM’s commitment to ICRA reflects its growing focus on the challenges and issues surrounding inappropriate content that can be potentially accessed by, or delivered to mobile devices.
“The new generation of mobile devices mean that it is possible to do almost everything on an Internet-enabled phone that can be done from an Internet enabled computer,” said Tom Phillips. “Therefore the sharing of experiences on the lessons learned from the fixed Internet will be invaluable to the GSM’s global operator community as it strives to create a safer mobile Internet environment.”
ICRA’s aim is to make content labelling standard for all internet content, so that the public can reliably expect what kind of content web sites offer. In particular, parents are encouraged to use filtering devices, ultimately making the internet a safer place for children. ICRA makes no value
judgement on internet content – it is up to content providers to rate the type of content they display and help protect vulnerable members of society, like children.
Stephen Balsam, CO, ICRA, said, “The GSM Association’s support for ICRA is a key development and a boost our efforts to encourage responsible Internet content access and labelling, helping parents to protect their children from potentially harmful material in the evolving world of mobile
communications.”