Responsible Use of ICTs: Children and Teenagers

Telefónica is committed to promoting an environment in which children and teenagers can use new technologies safely. For this reason, in each of the markets in which it is present, it offers parents and children the tools and recommendations needed to ensure responsible use of its products and services.

New information and communications technologies are excellent tools that have become an essential part of our lives and the essential base of our progress. ICTs have been integrated into our daily activities, for work, study and leisure.

Telefónica, in its role as a global telecommunications provider and one of the leading companies in the market, for years has maintained the objective of contributing through its actions to the well-being of society and the improvement of people's quality of life, with a special focus on the most sensitive and needy groups.

Information and Communication Technologies are fundamental parts of modern educational projects and the intellectual growth of children and adolescents.

Telefónica is aware of the current importance of both the internet and mobile telephony and for this reason is focusing its efforts to ensure that they are accessed with complete safety and is also promoting responsible use and preventing misuse.

Internet 2.0 makes it possible not only to access content that other people have generated, but also gives users the possibility of creating and generating content themselves. And this can even be done with an internet-enabled mobile phone. This makes it possible to generate content from anywhere and at any time. And puts this capability within reach of everyone, regardless of age.

Within the context of the development of the Information Society, industry must respond to certain illicit activities that use new technologies as a vehicle.

Telefónica's Positioning

'Telefónica is committed to encouraging an environment in which children and teenagers can use new technologies safely.'

'For this reason, in each one of our markets, we offer parents and children the tools and recommendations that they need to ensure responsible use of our products and services.'

The goal is to respond to the needs of the largest number of citizens and especially of those groups that are most vulnerable, with children and young people deserving special attention.

Within the scope of our commitment to social responsibility, we are working to encourage responsible use of the new technologies by children, while at the same time encouraging them to take full advantage of their possibilities. For this reason, we make a great effort to provide our customers with products that are suited to their profiles and to launch training actions that show them how to take full advantage of them while at the same time avoiding improper use.

For these reasons, Telefónica has developed a strategy that allows it to offer its customers secure access to ICTs and also promotes safe and responsible use of those technologies by children and teenagers. This strategy is based on four pillars that have been used as the base for the development of different actions aimed at security and protection:

• self-regulation,

• products and services,

• awareness actions and

• alliances.

Each one of these pillars is described in the following chapters with examples of the actions that have been carried out within the scope of each one. Each and every one of them are the declination of Telefónica's positioning in this regard as mentioned at the beginning of this section.