ora-schriften-s-2013

Protection of children and young people in the face of the challenges of Web 2.0
step in order to deal expertly with the
consequences of sexual or other
victimisation. Certification similar to a
certificate from the Chamber of Trade and
Industry could be set up. To prevent people
with criminal motives being used as
moderators, the presentation of an
extended police record of good conduct
should be mandatory.
As already outlined in the previous section,
the discrepancy between the law and
classification criteria needs to be
reconsidered. The age categories for
games, telemedia content and services
should be simplified – not only because it is
difficult for many providers to classify their
own content correctly. Further, the law
makes a distinction between children,
young people and adults. In the eyes of the
law you are a child until the age of 14, and
a young person from 14 to 18. A
classification, or at least a consideration, of
this important age group is important for the
protection of children and young people.
The scope of protection from sexual abuse
and cybergrooming under section176 (4)
(3) StGB covers people under 14, i.e. to
children. This necessarily results in a
discrepancy in terms of the current age
groups of the labels “approved for 12 and
over” or “16 and over”. On the one hand the
law penalises sexual communication with
children under 14, but on the other gives
parents a false sense of security through
the age approval from 12 years and above.
This suggests that playing online games
and the associated unsupervised
communication is risk-free. For that reason
the age limit of 14 years as provided for in
the StGB should also be taken into account
in the USK’s age rating.
5.3 Include media competence in the
syllabus
In closing we shall look at a key component
regarding child protection in the media that
is also often ignored by the political sphere:
the issue of media competence. The issue
here is to familiarise young people with the
digital world at as early an age as possible,
as well as instilling competence in parents
and teachers, who are often unaware of
what the Internet means to children.
Further, parents and teachers are also to
an extent overwhelmed by the topic or are
not interested in it. In many cases they lack
fundamental knowledge about social
networks, opportunities and mechanisms
on the Internet as well as communication
and interaction opportunities in online
games and chat forums. The current
training landscape, in particular the schools,
has not yet arrived in the 21st century in
this regard. Even if the issue of Internet
security is a proposed subject on the
syllabus of 23 countries across Europe, the
subject is the preserve of committed
teachers, individual initiatives on the ground
or NGOs. This topic, which is crucial not
only for the future of children, but also
society itself, is not accorded the
significance it deserves in syllabuses nor in
teacher training.
General compulsory education has ensured
that all children living in Germany have the
opportunity to learn to read and write. This
includes children of all classes and
nationalities and is one of the guarantors of
equality of opportunity and social justice. In
the field of media competence it is primarily
the children of parents who read
newspapers who are reached by net and
flyer campaigns, but not those who are
already disadvantaged and whose media
consumption is way below average. These
issues require mandatory inclusion in
teacher training. Media driving licenses
should not be optional, but a fixed
component of the syllabus. It is important
that the standard lessons in kindergarten
and school also access parents in order to
integrate them, too. This cannot be made
solely the school’s responsibility – without
parents the protection of young people will
not and cannot work as a general task of
the education system. In order to embed
comprehensive media competence in the
syllabus, to include parents as well as to
make teachers and educators net-savvy,
The issue here is
to familiarise
young people
with the digital
world at as early
an age as
possible, as well
as instilling
competence in
parents and
teachers, who
are often
unaware of what
the Internet
means to
children. Further,
parents and
teachers are also
to an extent
overwhelmed by
the topic or are
not interested in
it.
Special Edition 2013
65