tibboh mobile internet with BBFC cinema-style ratings
Educational technology specialist tibboh has announced the launch of the first and only family ISP to offer safe, secure internet access supported by BBFC (British Board of Film Classification) ratings to deliver age-appropriate content for children and teenagers.
Users of the tibboh service will get Internet free of the kind of content that worries children and parents, enabling age-appropriate access via a filtration system accredited by the BBFC, which has itself developed the policies for tibboh in line with the UK’s film and DVD classifications U, PG, 12, 15, 18.
The tibboh service, costing only £19.99 per month, is being launched with high-speed (3G) mobile internet access and is the first and only broadband internet provider to be able to offer the CEOPS button on Facebook. tibboh is fully supportive of the UK Council for Child Internet Safety (UKCCIS)’s “Zip It, Block It, Flag It” campaign.
The system, which has been available for over a year in schools, is now being made available to the general public and can be bought from Amazon or directly from tibboh’s own website (tibboh.co.uk).
Andrew Cooke, of BBFC online says: “We’re delighted to be able to welcome tibboh as the first internet service provider to meet the BBFC online membership standards. We’ve been working very closely with tibboh and have helped them to develop bespoke criteria which match our standards.
“Parents often find themselves in the unenviable position of having to lay down the law in a digital universe they barely understand. Our classifications are understood and trusted by UK parents and they are based on our unique understanding of child development and parental expectations. Our research shows that 91% of parents want to see BBFC film and DVD classification on downloads or streaming films and other digital audiovisual content.”
tibboh exists in the cloud, rather than on the user’s laptop or desktop, which takes the onus of keeping it up-to-date away form the user or parent. With the enormous amount of new sites and content becoming available daily, tibboh’s classifications are available to the user in real time. A number of schools are already using tibboh successfully as a solution for school and home-based internet access.
tibboh is also able to announce a proof of concept scheme with Birmingham City Council, which is currently engaged with the delivery of the national programme, Home Access for Targeted Groups. This programme, delivered by Link2ICT, seeks to provide appropriate ICT facilities and connectivity for 600 young people who may otherwise become disengaged from education.
Mark Mynard, who heads Link2ICT, comments: “The tibboh age related filtering will give these young people what they need; appropriate access to the internet. It is easy to apply safety policies across too wide an age range in too uniform a way – tibboh provides the level of 'granularity' we need."
tibboh is also establishing a tibboh Trust to provide an advisory and oversight role on classifications and moderation. It will include representatives from academia, childrens’ charities, education and the online industry. It will advise on difficult policy issues and sample problematic content in order to ensure that the ‘seal of approval’ remains up-to-date. It will also consult children and young people on aspects of appropriate content that will add to the future development of tibboh.
Martin Large, CEO of tibboh, comments: “tibboh marks the internet’s coming of age as a service. tibboh now offers a cleaned-up version, with classified age-appropriate content, for families and schools. This has been tried before but –the beauty of tibboh is that it’s more subtle in its distinctions than the “black and white” option offered by conventional filtering; after all, what’s suitable for a 17 year-old is not the same as what suitable for an 8-year old. Few parents know how to achieve this and to keep it up-to-date. The BBFC symbols are easily identifiable and understood for parents and teachers, saving them from the time and hassle of setting their own policies.
“If the internet were built today, tibboh’s functionality would be a standard feature. I predict that in a couple of years’ time, no one will dream of giving their children unfettered access to the internet.”
tibboh’s age-appropriate approach means that separate accounts are set up for each individual within the house, all under a single tibboh subscription. As a result, adults can access the internet based on the tibboh 18 classification whilst each of their children can access age classification based on the age classification established by their parent, guardian or school.