Internet safety has indeed become a major topic of concern nowadays. The quantity of illegal and harmful content carried on the internet (related, for example, to subjects such as child pornography, human trafficking or racism) has shown a worrisome tendency to increase. A report recently published by the Italian non-governmental organisation Telefono Arcobaleno, indicates that the figure of 9,989 internet sites with child pornography registered in 2002 rose to 17,016 in 2003 - an increase of nearly 70%. The report also ranks Portugal 14th on the list of countries with the most child pornography sites on the internet, with 51 Portuguese sites identified in an overall field of 17,051.
Being aware of this situation and of the undeniable benefit that a participation in the Safer Internet Action Plan would bring to Portugal, ANACOM has thus promoted and organised a working meeting with several key entities, on 15 January 2004, to bring their attention to the need for a national initiative under the Action Plan.
At this meeting, and after the presentation by ANACOM of a short summary of the Safer Internet Action Plan and its implementation in the EU and in Portugal, most participants recognised the extreme current relevance of the subject and stressed the urgent need to undertake a Portuguese project in the areas of setting up hotlines to report illegal internet content and of raising public awareness towards the issue of internet security.
Following on this meeting, and in line with the reflections and conclusions resulting therefrom, a decision was made to hold a second working meeting, this time with an expanded group of public and private entities, to raise their awareness of the subject and of the urgent need to conceive and implement a national project under the Action Plan.
