MWC: Diary entry from Eli Mahal of Flash Networks

I’ve asked quite a few people to take a bit of time out and send me their thoughts on a key theme (or series of themes) relating to Mobile World Congress.

Here’s the first diary entry — from Eli Mahal of Flash Networks:

I was delighted to see that the GSMA announced an initiative for mobile phone operators, to block access to child pornography websites – this coming on the very first day of the show. As a mobile industry executive and as a parent, I applaud the GSMA for tackling this issue head-on.

An increasing number of youngsters have the latest handsets and can easily browse the open Internet faster and unsupervised. Most parents, quite rightly, are concerned that new services like User Generated Content leave children open to indecent material and sexual solicitation.

To prevent undesired content from reaching children or for that matter a company’s workforce during office hours, mobile operators need to implement effective content control solutions. US mobile operators are already turning to personalized content control to fit different user segments – it is time for Europe to follow suit.

At the end of the day, protecting users from offensive material not only creates parental peace of mind, it also enables the operator to be perceived as socially responsible. In today’s litigious society, operators can ill afford a high profile lawsuit.

– Eli Mahal is the Vice President of Marketing at Flash Networks and joined the company in 2006 from Comverse

– Flash Networks is a leading provider of quality-of-experience (QoE) solutions that unleash the mobile Internet by empowering a fast, adaptive, safe and personalized user experience.

(If you’ve got an opinion or some observations from the floor of Mobile World Congress, email me over a diary entry like Eli’s and we’ll get it up).