Kingdom of Bahrain State of the Nation Review of Internet Safety July 2010 Prof. Julia Davidson, Kingston University and Dr Elena Martellozzo, Middlesex University on behalf of The Telecommunications Regulatory Authority, Kingdom of Bahrain 1 1. Acknowledgements We would like to thank the Telecommunications Regulatory Authority (TRA) staff who contributed to the planning and organization of the research. We are particularly grateful to the chairman Dr. Mohamed Al Amer for his support. We are grateful to Nick Truman, Internet Security Advisor for his assistance and invaluable support throughout this project; to Robert Middlehurst, Deputy General Director, for his support and constant encouragement; to Mohammed Mahmood, director of technical and operations, and Basil Al Arrayed, Director of Communications and Consumer Affairs for their help. We are also grateful to Ghada Ebrahim Alqassab, Reem Al Alawi, Rana Majed Sultan, Abdulelah Abdulla and Adel Darwish. We would like to thank Dr Khalid Al-Mutawah for managing and conducting the qualitative focus groups in the public schools and his colleagues Doctor Athraa Al Mosawi, Doctor Mohamed Baqer and Ghazwa B. Sulaibeekh from Bahrain University for their invaluable help with the data collection. We would also like to thank Mazen Khamis, Samuel, VK and Sundeep Mathias from Nielsen for their help and assistance with the survey data. The authors would also like to acknowledge the contribution of Internet Service Providers (Lightspeed, Zain, Mena and Batelco), Ministry Representatives (Education, Health and Social Development), The Sura Council, Bahrain Internet Society, Bahraini Society for Child Development NGOs, Child Protection Centre, all the schools that participated in the research and the invaluable support of the British Embassy in Bahrain. We would also like to thank Karen Moffat from the British School of Bahrain for her help. ‘Bahrain - which means "two seas" - was once viewed by the ancient Sumerians as an island paradise to which the wise and the brave were taken to enjoy eternal life’. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/middle_east/country_profiles/790690.stm 2 2. Glossary of Terms: ACLU American Civil Liberties Union BIS Bahrain Internet Society BSCD Bahrani Society for Child Development BSB British School of Bahrain CEOP Child Exploitation and Online Protection Centre CHIS Childrens Charities’ Coalition on Internet Safety CSP Communication Service Provider COPINE Combatting Paedophile Informatin Networks in Europe CPC Child Protection Committee CRDS Centre de Recherche en Défense sociale (Belgium) CRIOC Centre de Recherche et d’Information des Organisations de Consommation (Belgium) EFC European Financial Coalition EC SIP European Commission Safer Internet Programme HTU Human Trafficking Unit ICAC Internet Crime Against Children Task Force (USA) ICANN The International Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers ITU International Telecommunications Union IM Instant Messaging INTECO National Institute of Communications Technology IWF Internet Watch Foundation INHOPE International Association of Internet Hotlines MARC Multi-Agency Risk Conference structure MOE Ministry of Education MOH Ministry of Health MOSD Ministry of Social Development MOU Memorandum of Understanding NCMEC National Centre for Missing and Exploited Children NGO Non Governmental Organisation PC Personal Computer SCS Specialized Correctional Services SIP EC’s Safer Internet Action Plan and SMC Salmaniya Medical Complex SNS Social Networking Sites TRA Telecommunication Regulatory Autonomy TUK ThinkuKnow (CEOP intervention) UOB University of Bahrain 3 UKCCIS UK Council for Child Internet Safety VGT Virtual Global Taskforce 4 3. Executive Summary The project was lead by Professor Julia Davidson, from Kingston University, London and Doctor Elena Martellozzo from Middlesex University. Qualitative focus groups in public sector schools were undertaken by the University of Bahrain and were managed by Dr Khalid Al-Mutawah. To date there has been no comprehensive review conducted in the Kingdom of Bahrain to identify the risks to adult internet users and children of using the internet. The first State of the Nation Review provides a comprehensive analysis of Internet safety issues amongst adults and children, and sets out recommendations to ensure the safety of young people and adults navigating the information highway. The research aimed to explore adults and young people’s (aged 7-18) experience and awareness of Internet use and Internet /other digital media safety. The research included an online survey with a representative sample of 2600 children stratified by age, gender, religion and school sector, an online survey of over 800 adults, focus groups with young people (n=130), interviews with teachers (n=30), and stakeholder interviews with representatives from the Bahraini Internet industry, Government Ministries (Social Development, Education and Health), NGOs, a University and charities (n=20). The research was undertaken between April and July 2010. The research process is summarised in figure 1. Figure 1The research design and the research process Literature review Survey Focus Interviews •Context of Bahrain •Child survey groups •With stakeholders (with •Adult Internet user ISPs, Government •With children in schools representatives) •With teachers in schools Careful consideration was given to all relevant ethical aspects of this research to ensure strict adherence to professional codes of conduct, primarily the British Society of 5 Criminology (BSC) Ethical Guide was used to inform ethical design and conduct throughout. 4. Key Findings and Recommendations: 4.1 Summary of Key Findings: 4.1.1 Adult Survey Findings • Adults are experienced Internet users • However, internet security awareness appears to be generally low. There appears to be a high level of trust which was evident from both the adult and the child data. • Adults are frequently exposed to negative online experiences. • Adults do not have a reliable source of information to consult regarding Internet advice. 4.1.2 Child and Teacher Findings • Young people use the Internet an average of 2.5 – 3.5 hours every day. They use the Interent for a number of different reasons; mainly for homework purposes, to play games or to interact with other people. • Young people connect via instant messaging, chat rooms, games, blogging and Social Networking Sites (SNS). • Young people do not have a great understanding of what is meant by personal information. • It appears that some children do not realise how public and accessible their information really is. A significant number of young people had their profile on SNS set to public and did not know how to set it to private. • Generally older children in the 14-16 and 17-18 age groups took the most risks in terms of online safety; they were more likely to have shared personal information with a stranger and to have opened an email attachment from an unknown source than children in the 11-13 age group. This finding is consistent with data from a recent UK study (Davidson, Lorenz, and Martellozzo 2010) and from research conducted in Europe (Livingstone, 2009). • A high number (43%, 1090) of young people had met with an online contact who they had not met in person before. This data indicates much higher proportions of children meeting with online contacts when compared to recent research undertaken in Europe. 6 • Young Muslims were more likely to meet an online stranger than any other religious group and children attending public schools were more likely to meet contacts than children attending private schools. Girls at public schools took more online risks than girls at private schools. • The majority of the child respondents took positive action in responding to an unpleasant contact either by blocking them or by closing the window. However young people seemed reluctant to seek adult advice. • Children seem to enjoy their online privacy and protect their anonymity. As a result, most do not share their online experience with adults. • Most parents do not participate in online activities with their children. • A large proportion of respondents were allowed unsupervised access to the internet and there was little significant variation by nationality, religion, age or gender. • Cyberbullying was identified as a problem by young people and by teachers, particularly in private schools. • Teachers suggested that cyber bullying or ‘teacher humiliation’ on SNS is becoming problematic particularly in the private school sector. • Teachers often feel deskilled as many young people are more computer literate than they are. • The majority of children had not received internet safety training at school, where they had received training it tended to be provided on an ad-hoc basis. 4.1.3 Stakeholder Findings • There is currently no legislative framework that either seeks to protect children from Internet related or other forms of abuse, or that seeks to protect adults from cybercrime (other than basic e-transaction legislation passed in 2002). • A legislative framework in the child protection area which includes online ‘ luring’ (grooming) and indecent child image production and collection is proposed. • Cybercrime legislation is also proposed. • There is a strong opposition to blanket blocking of the Internet and attempts to further control Internet usage. • Educational awareness training for parents and children was instead strongly advocated. • There is an increasing trend of young female teenagers interacting with male