Deutsche Telekom helps parents, teachers, children and young people to use mobile phones and the Internet safely using a wide range of measures.
Whether in the schoolyard, on the bus or with friends after doing their homework – cool cellphones have long been in the hands of children. According to studies, 95 percent of 12 to 19-year olds have a smarthphone with Internet access. 87 percent of them use their devices daily to communicate with friends on social media, for entertainment and for learning. Smartphones and apps have long since replaced traditional media as the primary source of information for children and young people.
Practicing and learning how to behave in road traffic is normal for children. Pedestrian and cycling proficiency certificates are almost universal as a mandatory program for elementary schools. The same thinking must be applied to digital highways. Deutsche Telekom has been advocating this for years and provides corresponding aids for families in a range of forms, including specific products, technical security measures, or also information. Forbidding children and young people from accessing new media is not the answer. So, Deutsche Telekom is also actively involved in a number of initiatives and organizations, where it works with other partners to support universal ideas and approaches to optimize youth protection and enable faster adaptation to the latest developments.
Media literacy
The use of new media is a topic that is not just relevant to young people. Deutsche Telekom works to enable people – whether young or old – to use new technologies competently and safely. You can find more information in our “Media skills” section.
International self-regulation of Deutsche Telekom on the protection of minors
Deutsche Telekom has for many years been committed to protecting young people beyond the requirements of the law.
The Group is a founding member of the “ICT Coalition for Children Online,” which brings together many major companies from the digital economy. As part of this initiative, Deutsche Telekom and its European subsidiaries have undertaken among other things to implement high voluntary standards that are hugely important to the online security of children. All services and products of the European subsidiaries of Deutsche Telekom will comply with these standards. As part of a transparent process, regular reviews will be carried out to determine the extent of compliance with the defined standards and the measures taken to achieve the targets of the ICT Coalition.
The commitment within the CEO “Alliance to better protect minors online” builds on this established high level of voluntary activities. This alliance is an initiative set up in response to a call from the European Commission, which aims to improve the online environment for children and young people. Key figures from all kinds of sectors are working on this. The central themes of the alliance are combating harmful content (e.g., violent or sexually exploitative content), harmful behavior (e.g. cyber bullying) and harmful contact (e.g., coercion or sexual extortion).
Deutsche Telekom is involved in a number of initiatives and associations and works with partners to support active child protection in the digitized world.
Klicksafe
Since 2004, the klicksafe initiative has been fulfilling the mandate of the European Commission to teach Internet users in Germany how to use the Internet and new media competently and critically. Klicksafe helps Internet hotlines and the youth counseling line “Nummer gegen Kummer” to address relevant issues on the subject of Internet safety and to network initiatives in Germany. Deutsche Telekom works actively on the klicksafe Council together with other representatives of public and private institutions for education, media education, science, youth protection, crime prevention and industry. More ...
fragFINN
Deutsche Telekom is a founding member of fragFINN e.V. This non-profit organization is part of the “Ein Netz für Kinder” initiative supported by the federal government and provides an offering of the same name, in which children can only access approved content, i.e., can surf in safety. This is done online via a special search engine for the approved content and there is also a browser app for Android and iOS. In addition, there is a separate website offering information for parents as well as content specially made for children, surf tips, funny videos or exciting games. More ...
FSM e. V.
Freiwillige Selbstkontrolle Multimedia-Diensteanbieter (FSM e.V. – Voluntary Self-Control for Multimedia Service Providers) is a non-profit association that has been involved in youth media protection since 1997. Deutsche Telekom is a founding member and has been actively involved on the board right from the start. Since 2003, FSM has also been a self-regulation body recognized under administrative law as part of the Interstate Treaty on the Protection of Minors in the Media (Jugendmedienschutzstaatsvertrag - JMStV) for the field of telemedia and performs the corresponding activities. Its other activities are primarily reviewing and advising on youth protection-relevant offers, measures to promote media literacy, and membership of Inhope, an international association of hotlines, under which FSM operates a German Internet hotline for users to report any content they think may be illegal. More ...
JusProg – the youth protection program
Young children should only surf in a protected space (e.g., fragFINN, see above). But these offers are not attractive to older children and young people. So, parents need other technical aids to give their kids more freedom without having to watch over their shoulders.
Hence the non-profit organization JusProg. e.V. has developed the filter software JusProg. This software helps parents let their kids surf unsupervised while at the same time protecting them from erotic or violent content. Until 2016, Deutsche Telekom had run its own child protection software. To do better justice to this fast-developing technology with different operating systems in a very heterogeneous market, JusProg and Deutsche Telekom have now pooled their expertise and are working on a powerful, joint protection program.
For this purpose, Deutsche Telekom donated its child protection software to the association and at the same time became a member. In March 2017, the JusProg youth protection program for Windows, which is based on the old Deutsche Telekom child protection software was recognized for the first time as part of the new §11 of the Interstate Treaty on the Protection of Minors in the Media (Jugendmedienschutzstaatsvertrag – JMStV). In addition to the Windows software, there is now also an app for Android and iOS. More ...
Nummer gegen Kummer youth counseling line
Free telephone helpline for children, young people and parents. More ...
Digital safety
Deutsche Telekom’s free safety tips help you to protect yourself and your data in your everyday digital life. More ...
Teachtoday
Media literacy and knowing how to manage risk in the media world are vital for youth protection measures. That is why, in 2014, Deutsche Telekom took over responsibility for running the Teachtoday initiative, conceived by the EU to promote safe use of media and media literacy. The initiative supports children, young people, parents and grandparents as well as teachers by offering hands-on tips and materials. More ...
Youth protection officer
If you have any questions on youth protection, please contact Deutsche Telekom’s Youth Protection Officer:
Gabriele Schmeichel
Youth Protection Officer of Deutsche Telekom AG
Friedrich-Ebert-Allee 140
53113 Bonn, Germany
Write to the Youth Protection Officer using the web form
FSM
You also have the option of contacting the FSM (association – Voluntary Self-Control for Multimedia Service Providers), of which Deutsche Telekom is a member:
Freiwillige Selbstkontrolle Multimedia-Diensteanbieter e.V. (FSM)
Geschäftsstelle Beuthstr. 6
10117 Berlin