Italy cracks down on youth gambling with SIM card controls
Italy is taking a novel approach to try to curb online gambling among young people and access to other restricted content. It relates to teenagers' mobile phones and devices, rather than placing an obligation on gambling operators to follow age verification procedures.
If Italian minors do not have parental controls activated on their devices, they will no longer be able to freely surf the Internet on their mobile phones. Tuesday marked the first day of a new rule requiring mobile operators to block users under 18 from accessing various content on SIM cards.
There are eight categories of websites that the government considers inappropriate. This includes sites with content related to the sale of weapons, gambling and betting, pornography, religious worship, violence and incitement to suicide, hatred and intolerance, or promotion of anorexia or drug abuse.
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An estimated 85% of young Italians aged 11 to 17 use a smartphone every day, and 72% go online every day. By comparison, 97% of American teens go online every day, according to the Pew Research Center. The Pew Research Center also states that only 30% of parents monitor their children’s online content consumption.
The Communications Assurance Agency (Agcom, by its Italian abbreviation) proposed the proposed changes at the beginning of the year and later chose November 21 as the start date. Its follow-up explained that minors can activate the "safe browsing" option for free on their mobile phones. It added that the blocking would not affect websites that talk about banned categories in an informational or preventive context.
For example, when a teen tries to check out a website that features artistic acts, he or she won't encounter a walled garden. Agcom explains that in most cases, blocking is not activated by a single instance of banned content, but rather at the domain or web subdomain level.
In Italy, the minimum age to own a SIM card is 8 years old, but many phone providers require customers to be at least 15 years old before they can sign a contract in their own name. The rules pushed by Agcom state that these teenagers can cancel the service by contacting their provider when they turn 18.
Not a perfect system
This new system to protect minors has some flaws. On the one hand, it doesn't stop users from continuing to be exposed to inappropriate content through social media, where young people and teenagers are so active. It also has no control over online advertising, where sports betting and iGaming platforms have a strong presence.
A large proportion of people under 18 are also exempt from the ban on having SIM cards registered in a parent’s name. This is common in Italy, where plans for minors often don't have competitive prices and features.
Therefore, most parents choose to buy a second device as if it were for themselves and then give that device to their children. Parental control applications such as Kaspersky Safe Kids, Mobicip, Net Nanny, etc. can be used in these situations. However, it is the parent's responsibility to configure it appropriately.
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Source: www.casino.org
