Promoting best use and preventing abuse of the Internet
The European Commission is conducting a number of initiatives aimed at preventing illegal and harmful content being distributed on the Internet. In particular, the Commission is intending to increase awareness among parents, teachers, the public sector and the information industry of methods to deal with the issue in practical terms. These awareness actions complement the Commission's recent Green Paper on the protection of minors and human dignity in audiovisual and information services and the communication on illegal and harmful content on the Internet. As part of its initiative to raise awareness of the issues, the Commission has established a service on the World Wide Web which provides links to sites both within Europe and in third countries. These sites provide information on a variety of initiatives and studies on topics such as: - Legal and policy issues; - Industry codes of conduct; - Rating systems; - Advice to parents and teachers; - Software filters; - Hotlines and instructions. In addition there are links to bulletin board services, allowing people to contribute to the debate, and other more general links to relevant sites.