iomart Groups stance follows the announcement today (2nd February 2012) by the Science and Technology Select Committee, that the UK Government should consider imposing safety standards on software sold if self-regulation isnt adopted by the IT industry.
iomarts web security software Netintelligence, which provides internet protection for 100,000s of school children and families in the UK, is the first and only such software to carry the BSI Kitemark for Child Online Safety. Netintelligence was awarded the Kitemark by Children and Families Minister Tim Loughton in January 2011. So far, no other UK software company has taken up the accreditation and the government has not supported the Kitemark publicly.
The BSI Kitemark for Child Online Safety is a certification scheme for internet website filtering software produced by software manufacturers. These products can be bought as stand-alone products from computer retailers or come as part of an operating system or ISP package. The softwares ease of use, reliability, and performance must meet the schemes strict criteria.
Angus MacSween, CEO of iomart Group plc, said: Back in 2007, iomart along with the British Standards Institute, OFCOM, the Home Office, several major UK child safety organisations and other private sector companies spent a considerable amount of time working on the specifications required for PAS 74 (Access control systems for the protection of children online), which ultimately became the BSI Kitemark for Online Child Safety.
Rather than yet another clarion call for more action, the UK Government could make a bold stance now. It should insist that all public sector organisations with a duty of care towards protecting children online, for example schools and local authorities, should only purchase products that have been awarded the Kitemark. That way other commercial companies will have to follow the lead of Netintelligence and iomart to provide software that the public can trust.
iomart Group plc is ranked as one of the top web hosting companies in the world by HostReview and is Scottish Digital IT Company of the Year 2011. Bill Strain was recently named IT Leader of the Year 2011 by IT Pro.