Prompt's TechBlog

A new ID card for children costing £10 per year has been launched that claims to make it safer for children to chat online. When children meet each other online, they can exchange virtual ID cards, and go to the Netidme website to confirm each other's age, sex and approximate location before they begin chatting. Both children must be a member for the system to work and identities are only confirmed when both children agree they want to confirm their identities to each other. There's a write-up at the BBC.

Application forms must be signed by a professional who knows the child, such as a teacher or doctor. It's not clear from the site whether these individuals are then chased up to make sure their endorsement is valid on the form, but we would hope that they are because the idea is that the site should be able to provide a verified place to confirm a child's identity.

The risk with the system is that it creates a gated community within which communications are assumed to be safe. It's assumed to work because it's much harder for adults to register false identities. But identity theft is a rising crime and criminals crack much more sophisticated security. If somebody with evil intentions did infiltrate this community, that person would be assumed to be the child whose identity they have taken on. The whole system only works as long as it is completely secure, and it's highly unlikely any identity system could be said to be complete secure.

An ID card cannot replace parental responsibility, or the need for young people to be cautious when handling themselves online. Even when using systems like Netidme, it's important that children are taught that there is a risk that people on the internet might not be who they claim to be and that they are taught how to protect themselves. Systems like identity cards can reduce the risk that children might be exposed to, but can never eliminate it.