The Minister for Broadband, Communications and the Digital Economy, Senator Stephen Conroy, addressed the inaugural meeting of the Government’s Consultative Working Group on Cyber Safety this week.

The Minister said the working group was a key initiative of the Rudd Government’s planning on consumer protection and cyber safety.

AMTA CEO Chris Althaus outlined the mobile industry’s work regarding information for children, parents and school teachers on preventative and management strategies for countering cyber bullying.

“While the more concerning aspects of the cyber safety issue are 'top of mind', the forum members also highlighted the need to focus on the dominant 'upside' of on-line activities that enhance and extend learning opportunities,” he said. ”Central to much of the discussion was the impact of Web 2.0 and the rise of social networking sites and User Generated Content (UGC)

“For example, AMTA is aware of usage analysis that suggests the average viewing time for UGC sites is around three times longer than non- UGC. Similarly, UK research has found 45% of 18-24 year olds said if they had a spare 15 minutes they would use it to access their preferred social networking site.”

According to MySpace, around half of Australians have a social networking profile and by the end of 2008 half of those who currently don’t have a profile will have established one.

On a related subject, AMTA met this week with the CEO of the Australian Council of State School Organisations, Terry Aulich, to finalise a strategic partnership on a joint program targeting key mobile issues in the school environment. AMTA’s education work will complement and draw from the Government’s new forum on cyber safety and extend AMTA’s program mix into the education environment at a critical time when the Australian Government is investing heavily in computer and broadband programs.