Positive solution to the dangers online

AN Oldham man is at the forefront of a technological revolution to protect young people from inappropriate material on the internet.

Paul Milner (38) from Uppermill has more than 200,000 users of his Child Safe — content filtering software — which can be downloaded free.

His company, Positive IT Solutions Ltd in Hathershaw, developed the software while working on a government project to make laptops and the internet available to lower-income households.

“We came up with an idea and worked with a software development business in India to ensure the laptops were protected. It was a much more sensible option than buying an off-the-shelf solution, which would have been hugely expensive,” said Mr Milner.

Mr Milner has been a member of a government advisory body for several years, regularly attending meetings in Westminster. The Child Safe package has been developed and revised extensively, putting it sharply in focus when Prime Minister David Cameron said recently that denying child access to inappropriate material must become a national priority.

Paul’s membership of the Internet Watch Foundation has brought him into contact with an IT business in California, USA, and preliminary talks have taken place about further development of the software.

“They can see a market opportunity for Child Safe being adapted for mobile devices likes phones and tablets on the Android platform and we are pursuing these ideas together,” said Mr Milner.

He has set up a community interest company to look after the Child Safe product, although he is not taking a salary out of this business as the software is available free of charge.