New guidance has been issued to broadband providers in a bid to ensure parents and children receive consistent messages about how to stay safe while browsing the web.
Published by the UK Council for Child Internet Safety (UKCCIS), the guidelines are designed to counter concerns that conflicting advice is being issued to parents by rival internet service providers (ISPs), which are in turn not doing enough to place their messages in sufficiently prominent locations.
Among the key internet safety risks covered by the UKCCIS are harmful content, fraud, cyberbullying, grooming, privacy and sexual images.
The advice was released yesterday (February 7th 2012) to coincide with Safer Internet Day, an annual event organised by Insafe to raise awareness of the need for safer and more responsible use of the web and online technology such as mobile phones.
It was also launched on the same day that TalkTalk announced it is set to become the first UK ISP to offer new broadband customers an "active choice" on whether or not they have parental control settings applied to their account.
TalkTalk's HomeSafe network-level security suite, which has so far been activated by 270,000 broadband subscribers, can be used by accountholders to block access to a variety of content and control the times at which children visit distracting websites.
It is hoped that by offering an active choice, TalkTalk will make it easier to protect youngsters from the online dangers presented by PCs, laptops, games consoles and other devices.
Prime Minister David Cameron acknowledged that it can be difficult for mums and dads to keep up with technology that many children are able to grasp straight away.
"As a parent it can be ... worrying to know that alongside the fun, games and educational sites there are dangers they need to be protected from," he said.
"Safer Internet Day aims to address these concerns by empowering parents, helping them to understand the problems then arming them with the right tools to keep their children safe online."