Parents risk a Sh0.3m fine if they mention a child’s SIM card

Economy

Parents risk a Sh0.3m fine if they mention a child’s SIM card

Monday 04 April 2022

Communications Authority of Kenya (CA) Director General Ezra Chiloba. PHOTO | FRANCIS NDERITU | NMG

Parents and telecom companies face a Sh300,000 fine for registering children using smartphones in the latest effort to limit minors’ exposure to online misconduct such as pornography, hate speech and cybercrime.

Parents are expected to provide the identities of children using smartphones when registering SIM cards used by minors, according to proposed internet safety guidelines released to public debate last week.

This will be an upgrade from the current model where parents use their credentials to register SIM cards their children use.

The list provides regulators for the first time with a registry of children using smartphones to mitigate the online risks to minors and their participation in virtual crimes such as pornography, cyberbullying and identity theft.

While being online can bring benefits to children and young people, such as access to educational content, there are also drawbacks and dangers.

These can include cyberbullying, exposure to disturbing content, and inappropriate, unwanted adult contact.

The online child protection and safety guidelines will require telcos, internet service providers and app developers to verify the ages of their users.

The measure could lead to people being asked to prove their age through an external service, which aims to better protect children from explicit material such as pornography.

As more children use cell phones and surf the Internet at an increasingly younger age, sexting and internet safety are becoming increasingly serious health problems in children, eliminating long-term concerns such as smoking and teenage pregnancies.

“Mobile service providers in the process of developing an age verification mechanism will ensure that all SIM cards used by children/minors are registered,” according to guidelines released by the Communications Authority of Kenya (CA).

“Mobile phone subscribers are being informed about the need to properly register their SIM cards and indicate the intended subscribers of the SIM cards.”

The guidelines say that the registration of SIM cards will be done under the Kenya Information and Communications (Registration of SIM cards) Regulations, 2015.

This suggests that this part of the guidelines could be enforced under the regulations, which provide for a fine of Sh300,000 or six months’ imprisonment or both.

Normally guidelines are not legally enforceable and are put in place for good practice.

Children’s use of smartphones and tablets has increased over the past decade as the cost of the devices falls.

The Vatican has cited studies showing that the average age at which digital pornography is first used is 11 years old, prompting a global call for tech companies to restrict easy access to pornography on the Internet.

Child safety groups have long called for age verification on porn sites for fear that it would be too easy for minors to view publicly available material online.

The guidelines put an additional burden on vendors selling smartphones and tablets in the race to control children’s access to harmful content.

They are expected to include steps in their guides on how parents can use built-in apps such as parental controls to influence the content that minors access via smartphones.

This may include controls in web browsers and app stores that allow parents to monitor and control their children’s browsing habits.

Parents can view the browsing history of the monitored users, block specific sites and approve access requests.

Others include SafeSearch, which is automatically activated for supervised users, preventing most adult content from showing up in Google search results.

The regulator’s guidelines require vendors or retail outlets selling smartphones to install built-in security before selling the gadgets.

“Manufacturers and sellers of communications equipment, including customer site equipment, must activate enhanced security by default before they are sold or made accessible to customers, especially devices that would be used by children,” read part of the new guidelines.

This is the state’s latest effort to protect children from bullies, predators, pornography and other inappropriate material.

The state introduced a bill last year that aims to slap anyone who uses online platforms to lure children into crimes such as prostitution and drug abuse with a Sh2 million fine or 10 years in prison or both.

Majority leader Amos Kimunya introduced the Children Bill 2021, which aims to increase protections by targeting online predators that lure children into online crimes.

Non-governmental organizations also support the government’s efforts to protect children from online exploitation.

In 2020, the UK-based Internet Watch Foundation (IWF) commissioned Kenya’s first-ever online portal targeting pedophiles who upload or share child-related sexual content.

The agency partnered with the Criminal Investigations Directorate to launch the platform that enables law enforcement officers to receive information about online child sexual exploitation and abuse immediately so that prompt action can be taken.

The IWF said its experts removed 32,700 web pages showing child sexual abuse in 2019, highlighting the precarious state of child safety.

[email protected]