Internet Code of Conduct: NCC, ATCON, others mull filtering services

Ladesope Ladelokun

Plans are underway by the Nigerian Communications Commission(NCC) in conjunction with the Association of Telecommunications Companies of Nigeria(ATCON) and other industry stakeholders to get Internet Service Providers(ISPs) to include filtering services that will ensure that there are mechanisms in place to control the type of websites that can be accessed, The Daily Times has learnt.

The filtering services, which are expected to be activated when there are reports made to the NCC that certain websites have contents that are not suitable for children, or contain toxic contents like religious information that can jeopardise public peace and bigotry.

Also, it was gathered that once erring websites get reported to the ISPs through the NCC, they will be filtered.

The filtering system, which is already in use in Europe, is part of the systems the NCC plans to introduce to the way Nigeria uses the internet.

Commenting on the matter, ATCON President, Mr Olusola Teniola said the NCC had sought inputs from industry stakeholders on the Internet Code of Conduct it is about to release.

Teniola confirmed that the NCC was, among other things, planning to control the type of websites that can be accessed.

“There is currently Internet Code of Conduct that the NCC is about to release.

The Internet Code of Conduct has been shared with the industry in draft form. And there have been inputs by various stakeholders”, he said.

At the 48th edition of the Consumers Town Hall Meeting in Ile-Ife, Osun State, the Executive Vice Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of the NCC said the Internet Code would be a regulatory intervention that will help to secure the society’s cyberspace against imminent threats from cyber attackers.

The measure, he said, would also address issues such as online child protection, privacy, data protection and sanitise the operation of Internet Service Providers and the Internet Industry as a whole.