The press release
New British system to prevent
online grooming and cyber bullying
11 December 2006 - Leeds, England - A new British system, available in January, will strike a major blow in the battle against online grooming and the cyber-bulling of children. Child protection technology specialist, Crisp Thinking, has developed the Anti-Grooming Engine (AGE), which protects young people from external threats rather than moderating what they can look at on-line.
AGE, which is due to be installed with UK Internet Service Providers and Instant Messaging networks in the New Year, adds greater peace of mind for parents who may not understand the internet or have the time to monitor their children's activities.
The need for this technology has been made clear by two independent studies of both parents' and young peoples' views on Internet usage.
According to a new ICM poll, commissioned by Crisp Thinking 1 the availability of anti-paedophile and anti-bullying technology is the most important factor when buying a computer. The poll also revealed that parents have the greatest responsibility for protecting their children from online grooming or bullying.
A second survey carried out for Crisp Thinking by Dubit Limited 2 discovered that two thirds of parents make no attempt to monitor their children's online activities. In addition, less than one in three parents check which websites their children visit, check who they chat to on-line or set limits on the time spent on the web.
The study, which questioned 1,000 seven to 16 year olds, revealed that many children are ignoring safety warnings and putting themselves at risk online. Almost three quarters of those surveyed admitted they had given their email address, a photograph of themselves or their phone number to a stranger they have met online.
Crisp Thinking has developed AGE to provide a much higher standard of protection than any other child protection software on the market. The technology analyses conversations taking place in public and private chat rooms to understand whether a relationship poses a threat to a young person.
Adam Hildreth, CEO of Crisp Thinking and the inventor of the Anti-Grooming Engine, said, "Although child protection technology is seen as an important factor for parents, many of them do not understand how it operates or how best to monitor the Internet usage of their children. In many households children are just left to get on with it as some parents don't have the time to keep an eye on their online activities."
"It is also disturbing to consider that young people are ignoring safety warnings and are openly divulging private information to strangers. I believe that part of the solution is the development of our AGE technology that will provide the peace of mind protection families need to safeguard young people from potential grooming or bullying."
"By monitoring the language of developing conversations online, AGE can flag up any potential attempt to draw young people into an unhealthy relationship.”
AGE is installed at the ISP level and provides secure recording of all online interactions. It includes heuristic techniques to spot possible grooming activity, according to pattern matching it has developed. The system allows parents to specify how warnings are handled.
Notes
11 December 2006 - Leeds, England - A new British system, available in January, will strike a major blow in the battle against online grooming and the cyber-bulling of children. Child protection technology specialist, Crisp Thinking, has developed the Anti-Grooming Engine (AGE), which protects young people from external threats rather than moderating what they can look at on-line.
AGE, which is due to be installed with UK Internet Service Providers and Instant Messaging networks in the New Year, adds greater peace of mind for parents who may not understand the internet or have the time to monitor their children's activities.
The need for this technology has been made clear by two independent studies of both parents' and young peoples' views on Internet usage.
According to a new ICM poll, commissioned by Crisp Thinking 1 the availability of anti-paedophile and anti-bullying technology is the most important factor when buying a computer. The poll also revealed that parents have the greatest responsibility for protecting their children from online grooming or bullying.
A second survey carried out for Crisp Thinking by Dubit Limited 2 discovered that two thirds of parents make no attempt to monitor their children's online activities. In addition, less than one in three parents check which websites their children visit, check who they chat to on-line or set limits on the time spent on the web.
The study, which questioned 1,000 seven to 16 year olds, revealed that many children are ignoring safety warnings and putting themselves at risk online. Almost three quarters of those surveyed admitted they had given their email address, a photograph of themselves or their phone number to a stranger they have met online.
Crisp Thinking has developed AGE to provide a much higher standard of protection than any other child protection software on the market. The technology analyses conversations taking place in public and private chat rooms to understand whether a relationship poses a threat to a young person.
Adam Hildreth, CEO of Crisp Thinking and the inventor of the Anti-Grooming Engine, said, "Although child protection technology is seen as an important factor for parents, many of them do not understand how it operates or how best to monitor the Internet usage of their children. In many households children are just left to get on with it as some parents don't have the time to keep an eye on their online activities."
"It is also disturbing to consider that young people are ignoring safety warnings and are openly divulging private information to strangers. I believe that part of the solution is the development of our AGE technology that will provide the peace of mind protection families need to safeguard young people from potential grooming or bullying."
"By monitoring the language of developing conversations online, AGE can flag up any potential attempt to draw young people into an unhealthy relationship.”
AGE is installed at the ISP level and provides secure recording of all online interactions. It includes heuristic techniques to spot possible grooming activity, according to pattern matching it has developed. The system allows parents to specify how warnings are handled.
Notes
1. ICM
interviewed a random sample of 1,010 adults aged 18 plus by
telephone across the UK between 27 – 30 October 2006. ICM is
a member
of the British Polling Council and abides by its rules. Further
information at http://www.icmresearch.co.uk.
2. Dubit Limited surveyed 1,000 seven to 16 year olds
Crisp is a member of the Internet Watch Foundation (IWF) and has incorporated IWF list filtering into its Child Protection Gateway (CPG) – a first for the industry.
2. Dubit Limited surveyed 1,000 seven to 16 year olds
Crisp is a member of the Internet Watch Foundation (IWF) and has incorporated IWF list filtering into its Child Protection Gateway (CPG) – a first for the industry.
About Crisp
Crisp Thinking Limited was established by industry entrepreneur Adam Hildreth to fill the gap which currently exists in the online market place surrounding protecting children and teenagers using the internet. After years of research into the market, Crisp’s goal is to develop solutions for the ISP market place that meet the needs of children, teenagers and parents.
Over the last 5 years the threat to children and teenagers changed significantly. No longer is it about young people being able to access explicit or sexual content but the threat of ‘predators’ accessing them. Both Chat and Instant Messaging have become the biggest communication tools for kids; unfortunately this has also lead to adult ‘predators’ befriending them in chat rooms, pretending to be the same age and share similar interests. This is referred to in the media as ‘online-grooming’.
Crisp is considered the centre of expertise when it comes to online protection for children and have devised one of the first answers to dealing with the problem. The first solution developed by Crisp is the world’s first ‘anti-grooming’ engine that protects both children and teenagers on the internet from online predators. It acts like a ‘virtual bubble’ protecting kids on their travels through the net. Crisp takes a completely different approach to the traditional Parental Controls market in that it focuses on protecting children from external threats, rather than on moderating what children can and cannot do on the net.
