Tiscali is the first ISP to offer anti-grooming child protection tool

London, 3rd February 2008 - Tiscali, the broadband, telephone and media company, today announces a new partnership with online safety experts, Crisp, to become the first Internet Service Provider in the world to offer its customers unique technology that indentifies dangerous online relationships.

The announcement coincides with the imminent publication of Dr Tanya Byron’s government review into online child safety.

Crisp’s software is the only technology of its kind in the world and surpasses existing child protection programmes that operate website-locking, blocking and word filters. The technology analyses the content of online conversations to indentify inappropriate relationships that are initiated by predators wanting to groom, and potentially abuse, children.

Available from March 2008 as a download from www.tiscali.co.uk/protection, through a subscription of £3.50 a month or £42 a year, the software makes parents aware of inappropriate relationships in their child’s instant messaging conversations.

Independently tested by Cambridge University researchers to be 98.4% effective in identifying inappropriate relationships, the technology detects grooming by recognising the ways abusers behave.

It analyses how they manipulate online relationships, what they say and how they say it. It also looks at sexual content, punctuation, aggression levels and sentence length, typing speed and vocabulary. Crisp compares all these elements with dynamic, minutely-detailed profiles of real-life groomers and genuine children of a variety of ages. The technology is also continually learning becoming more robust the more conversations it analyses. This allows it to continually refresh its live database of online chat vocabulary and language styles.

When Crisp detects a potential grooming conversation, it will alert parents by email or text message. However, only the parts of conversations Crisp identifies as potentially dangerous can be seen by parents, which protect young people’s privacy.

Alex Hole, Online Media Director for Tiscali UK says: "Crisp is part of our commitment to help parents keep their children safe online. Tiscali is the first ISP anywhere in the world to offer this anti-grooming tool. This software will detect a wide range of inappropriate conduct whether it’s clearly of a sexual nature or it’s more devious and deceptive.

"We have worked for a long time with organisations such as the Internet Watch Foundation to ensure that children are able to use the Internet safely and are committed to working with government to protect children from the potential dangers that exist online."

Andrew Lintell, CEO of Crisp, says: "The partnership we have established with Tiscali demonstrates how seriously some Internet Service Providers are taking the dangers of Internet Grooming.

"The Internet allows young people to access immeasurable learning, entertainment and communication opportunities. However, they must be able to surf and experience the web in a safe environment. Parents can be reassured that Crisp’s software provides them with the support and guidance they need to comprehensively protect their children from online grooming without restricting or dictating their Internet access."

As well as targeting grooming, Crisp is further developing the technology to also focus on the growing issue of cyber-bullying. The enhanced software will consequentially update the version

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