MEDIA ALERT

Rob Conway, CEO, GSMA was today, 18 May 2009, presented with the ITU World Telecommunications and Information Society Award at the eminent World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS) awards ceremony in Geneva. The award is presented each year to distinguished laureates for their contribution towards building an inclusive and more equitable Information Society
“On behalf of the GSMA, I would like to thank Secretary General Dr Toure and the ITU for this prestigious nomination,” said Mr Conway, CEO, GSMA. “I am pleased that we are being recognised for the ongoing commitment that the GSMA has to not only enabling children to have a safe mobile experience but to our work combating the making and distribution of child sexual abuse content. Online child sexual abuse content has no place in our society and no place on our mobile networks.”

Mr Conway continued, “As one voice, the mobile ecosystem calls on all those not yet actively working on this issue, whether they be industry, governments or other stakeholders; to stand up and represent and protect a vulnerable sector of society; to implement the necessary legal clarity for us to take action and to allocate the time and resources which will enable us to identify and combat an insidious use of mobile technology.”

In February last year the GSMA announced the launch of The Mobile Alliance Against Child Sexual Abuse Content at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona. The members of the Alliance, which includes the world’s biggest and most influential operators, stood together to stop the spread of digital child sexual abuse content.

The aim of the Alliance is to obstruct the use of the mobile environment for the consumption of, or to profit from, child sexual abuse content and halt any growth of this content.   The Alliance has engaged with many other initiatives and coalitions to combat online child sexual abuse. The ITU’s Child Online Protection initiative is one of these and the GSMA has been working with all stakeholders who share the common goal of protecting children.

The GSMA has been energetically promoting the activity across its membership, providing expert input to operators, sharing best practice and technical guidance to facilitate the implementation of proactive measures against child sexual abuse content. Toolkits, technical documents and expertise are available to all operators and are also promoted through information sessions held at GSMA regional events and GSMA’s Mobile Congresses.