PAS 74:2008 Internet safety. Access control systems for the protection of children online. Specification

Overview

The Home Secretary’s Task Force for Child Protection on the Internet was created in 2001. Its aim is to make the UK the safest place in the world for children to use the Internet and to help protect children across the world from abuse fuelled by criminal misuse of new technologies.

Recognizing the role of parents and carers in developing a safe Internet environment, a subgroup of the Task Force was created in 2003 to specifically consider rating, filtering and monitoring products (access control systems) for use in the home. The subgroup decided to develop a thirdparty conformity certification scheme against which access control systems could be tested, providing impartial advice to parents on product features, capabilities, ease of use and confidence in their quality.

This Publicly Available Specification has been developed primarily for use by software developers working with access control systems. It sets out the minimum performance requirements for the access control systems to obtain a third-party conformity certification.

This Publicly Available Specification specifies requirements for products, services, tools and other systems that allow UK adult Internet users to easily control children’s access to inappropriate Internet-based content and services.

It specifies requirements on:

a) ease of installation, configuration and use;
b) effectiveness;
c) minimum features;
d) ease of updating;
e) quality of instructions;
f) consumer communications and support.

By using a certified product or service, parents/carers will have confidence in the ability of the access control system to:

a) block inappropriate content
b) block communications via Internet-based services that are inappropriate
c) prevent unauthorized users from changing or disabling the access control settings
d) provide an appropriate level of protection (as specified by this PAS) upon implementation/installation either through the use of default settings or configuration in accordance with user documentation
e) configure the product or service where such a capability is offered
f) remain up to date (within the terms of any licensing or subscription requirements)

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