ACTIVITIES :: Safer Internet Programme :: Projects :: Filtering & Content labelling :: SIP-BENCH II

SIP-BENCH 2: Benchmarking of parental control tools for the online protection of children

The objective of this study is to help parents to choose the most appropriate parental control tool that best fits their needs.

This will be done by means of an expert assessment of products, tools and services that allow users to control children's access to inappropriate content online. As a result of each benchmarking cycle, a ranking list will be produced to help end users (notably parents) in the decision making process. The project will review parental control tools in 6-monthly cycles until the end of 2012 and results will be public.

2nd cycle results

Results from the second benchmarking cycle released on 14 November show that parental control tools have become more effective at blocking adult content and other harmful content since the first tests conducted last year (see IP/11/32). However the tools are less efficient at filtering content related to racism and self-harm (sites promoting anorexia, suicide or self-mutilation). In general, the tools cannot filter all the different kinds of user generated content on the internet – while they can block access to things like social networks and streaming services, only very few tools are able to filter contacts in applications such as Skype and MSN.

See which are the best tools for PC. You can search for the best tool meeting your needs

Read the executive summary of the report

Read the full report on the results of the second cycle of the benchmarking

Funding

€ 443.960

Project start - end date (duration)

09/12/2009 - 08/12/2012 (36 months)

Partners

INNOVA Europe is the front company of the INNOVA Group, currently one of the leading private European consultancy groups in innovation	Cybion is a Company founded in 1996 with branches in Italy and France. Cybion performs business and competitive intelligence on the Internet.	Since 2002 the Digital Opportunities Foundation together with its partner organisations is working on bridging the digital divide

Press Contact

Stiftung Digitale Chancen
Jutta Croll, Managing Director
Fasanenstraße 3
10623 Berlin
Tel.: 030/437277-30
Fax: 030/437277-39
E-Mail: jcroll@digitale-chancen.de

Project Manager Contact

Natalia Mielech
INNOVA Europe
Avenue des Arts 24
B-1000 Bruxelles
email: n.mielech@innova-europe.eu

See results from previous benchmark study