Some of the conclusions put forward by a study released by the European Commission show that while 84% of the software programs tested enable parents to block access to certain websites, they are less efficient at filtering web 2.0 content such as social networking sites or blogs. In addition, only a few products on the market are able to filter web content accessed via mobile phones or game consoles, at a time when one child out of four in Europe goes online in this way.

These are some of the findings revealed by a study carried on in parallel to an EUKIdsOnline survey, and also funded by the EU's Safer Internet Programme. According to that survey only a quarter of EU parents use parental control software to monitor, track or filter what their children can do online.

These conclusions published by the European Commission allow to raise awareness of the importance of protecting children from certain Internet content while giving parents an objective view of which parental control software is the most effective, as one of the objectives laid down in the Digital Agenda for Europe to help parents and their children keep safe online.

Internet parental control tools: helping parents to protect their children

The report on "Benchmarking of parental control tools for the online protection of children" analysed 26 parental control tools for PCs, 3 for games consoles and 2 for mobile phones. The study found that the existing software is good at filtering adult online content, but there is still at least a 20% chance that sites with unsuitable material for children and especially those encouraging youngsters to self harm (sites promoting anorexia, suicide or self-mutilation) could pass through their filters. At the same time, other sites that include content specifically for children are blocked.

Only a few tools are able to filter web 2.0 content (such as social networking sites, forums, and blogs), block instant messaging or chat protocols or filter contact lists. As far as parental controls for smart phones and game consoles are concerned, not all products on the market are able to filter web content although 31% of children in Europe access the Internet via their mobile phones and 26% go online via game consoles.

The EUKidsOnline survey also published shows that roughly a quarter of parents block or filter websites (28%) and/or track the websites visited by the children (24%). However, there is a significant difference between Member States, ranging from 54% in the UK to 9% in Romania.