Friday, January 12, 2007

Children are buying knives, alcohol, tobacco, and pornographic films on the
internet, a report has warned. They are using debit cards issued by banks to
children as young as 11 to buy items they would be denied on the high
street. Some even use the cards for internet gambling. Children's charities
raised the alarm about this illegal trade in a report to a parliamentary
inquiry into personal internet security. They said many parents were
ignorant of how their children were using the internet, putting the
youngsters at greater risk from online dangers including paedophiles. The
Children's Charities Coalition on Internet Safety said debit cards such as
NatWest's Solo were being issued to children as young as 11. "These can be
used to make online payments," the group's chairman John Carr told the Lords
Select Committee on Science and Technology. He said a "reliable visual check
of a person's age" was practically impossible on the internet, meaning
children could access agerestricted goods or services. "They have been able
to gamble, buy knives, alcohol or tobacco, or adult videos," he added. "
Children and other young people have also been victims of online fraud." Mr
Carr, new technology adviser to NCH (National Children's Homes), said it had
received calls from parents with children as young as 12 who had been
gambling online. Cases of internet under age sales of knives, alcohol,
tobacco, and pornography had been reported to the Trading Standards
Institute, he added.