Telenor to launch child pornography filter for mobile phones

"3G technology opens new opportunities for mobile phones. With the advent of new technology, new challenges also arise, as well as new demands on mobile operators. 3G is no exception. In principle, users may now connect to any website via their mobile phones. At Telenor we are very pleased to extend the scope of the child pornography filter that we introduced for the Internet in October 2004, to also include mobile phones. In this way we contribute to address a very serious problem, while also setting new international standards," said Berit Kjøll, Head of Telenor's Consumer Market Division.

When Telenor and New Kripos, the Norwegian National Criminal Investigation Service, first launched the child pornography filter for the Internet, Norway received a substantial amount of international attention. As far as Telenor is aware, Telenor Mobil is now the first mobile operator in the world to also introduce such a filter for mobile phones. Extending the child porn filter to also include mobile phones is a natural further step in the right direction. As previously stated at the Norwegian launch of 3G in December 2004, Telenor remains committed to pursue Internet security, also in the mobile world.

"Any attempt at accessing a child pornography website that we are able to prevent means less money to the people responsible for such sites. And money is perhaps the only language that these people understand. The statistics we have compiled show that the filter does have an effect. Since Telenor first introduced the child pornography filter for the Internet in October 2004, the filter has registered more than 5,000 hits - every day. This is proof that our efforts are worthwhile," said Kjøll.

How does the filter work?

Based on investigation conducted by Nye Kripos, the filter contains a blacklist of websites used to distribute child pornography. A currently updated list of such websites is fed into Telenor's servers. If a user tries to access a blacklisted website, he or she will automatically be redirected to another website explaining that the site the user initially tried to access contains child pornography.