Member Article

Chester, the world's first Friendly WiFi city?

Chester businesses are being asked to get behind a new WiFi safety campaign and help to make Chester the world’s first porn free city. MP’s, children’s charities, and parenting groups are in full support of the drive to introduce ‘Friendly WiFi’ into Chester City Centre this September.

‘Friendly WiFi’, is supported by Government and has been set up to regulate the public WiFi offered in shops, restaurants, cafes and hotels, to make sure children and families are safe from seeing some of the most horrific websites and images on the internet. The scheme has been designed by Chester based business, The Registered Digital Institute, who will soon be contacting businesses in the city to invite them to show their support for keeping children and young people safe online.

Businesses who offer their customers free WiFi can join ‘Friendly WiFi’, and have their public internet service verified to make sure they meet a minimum level of filtering to block out access to dangerous and illegal online material and accredit them with the ‘Friendly WiFi’ trademark symbol.

Chester MP Stephen Mosley is urging Chester businesses to get behind the scheme; “Friendly Wi-Fi is a fantastic innovation to keep our children safe online and I’m proud that RDI, a Chester based company, is leading the way.”

He added; “The Government has introduced a package that empowers parents to keep their children away from explicit material at home. But parents won’t be happy if they block explicit materials at home only for their children to be able to access it when out and about. That’s why I’m delighted to give my support to RDI in their effort to make Chester the first Friendly Wi-Fi city.”

Businesses in Chester city centre already signed up to protect customers online and display the ‘Friendly WiFi’ symbol include Tesco’s, Starbucks, Chester Cathedral, Chester Grosvenor Shopping Centre and Cinderbox Coffee.

Simon Warburton, Chester Cathedral’s Director of Operations said; “The Friendly WiFi logo serves as a signpost to a safe internet service whilst parents are out and about with their children. The logo will remove any concerns about safety and allow families to enjoy a worry-free day out”

He added; “Friendly WiFi is absolutely essential for the safeguarding of children and young people online. The scheme blocks access to unsuitable content that children and young people should not be exposed to such as pornography. We fully support this approach.”

Julie Webb, General Manager of the Grosvenor Shopping Centre said; “As a family-friendly shopping centre it’s very important to us to make sure that our free WiFi service is suitable for public use, particularly for children. We know it can be a worry for parents in this day and age as children have more access than ever to the internet so we welcome the service into Chester. We’re proud to be one of the first in the city to join the scheme and help in the quest to make Chester the first ‘Friendly Wi-Fi’ destination.”

Friendly WiFi Director Mike Davies said; “I am excited to be launching our first porn free campaign in Chester. We hope that people visiting the city centre will soon be able to see the ‘Friendly WiFi’ logo displayed in shops, restaurants, cafes and hotels and know without doubt that the WiFi is safe for children and young people to log into, without fear of them stumbling across illegal and sexual websites and images.”

For more information on the scheme go to www.friendlywifi.co.uk and find out how your business can register to join.

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Lexi Gerry .