Leeds Digital Festival Online Safety

A Government-backed online safety body launches at Leeds Digital Festival.

11:15 28 April 2020

Online Safety Tech Industry Association has been launched at Leeds Digital Festival Online on 27 April. The Government-backed body was founded with the goal to drive conversation and policy and enact global change in the complex area of online safeguarding technology. The launch follows a report showing an increase in online child sexual abuse during the coronavirus outbreak. 

 

Adam Hildreth, CEO and founder of Crips, one of the 14 tech firms to have joined the association, said: "It's more important than ever that the public has confidence in technology and we're pleased to be playing a major part in building an industry association that will continue to build the UK's world-leading reputation in online security. 

 

"We've been working closely with government bodies for over fifteen years to establish online safety regulations and the founding of OSTIA is a natural step.

 

"Launching OSTIA in our home city of Leeds shows the importance of Yorkshire as a leading tech hub." 

 

Earlier this month, Interpol issued a global threat assessment, showing that recent weeks have seen increased online activity by pedophiles seeking child sexual abuse material. 

 

Ian Stevenson, CEO and co-founder of Cyan Forensics, will chair OSTIA and will work on informing policymakers, technology providers and the general public about online safety technologies. 

 

He said: "The topic of online safety is wide-ranging and hugely complex. Unfortunately, for regulators and providers, it is made up of many individual problems; there is no silver bullet that will solve the whole issue. That's why we wanted to establish this industry association - to create a powerful collective voice to enact change."