Internet safety campaigner Baroness Howe dies aged 90

CARE has paid tribute to Baroness Elspeth Howe of Idlicote who died earlier this week.

The Baroness, wife of the late Sir Geoffrey Howe, was a crossbench Peer in the House of Lords where she spent years campaigning on a wide variety of causes.

CARE worked closely with Lady Howe on measures to protect children from pornography, with her first legislation on this issue being introduced in 2012.

She strongly believed in the priority of protecting children from harmful content on their mobiles, tables, laptops via the internet. She also wanted to make sure parents had all the information they needed to ensure they could use filtering services and other parental controls.

In total, she introduced seven Bills related to online safety and CARE was deeply privileged to support her with each one. Even last year she tabled a private members bill to ensure age checks on commercial phonographic websites were introduced.

Her faithful contention over many years inspired action by companies and the government and helped to keep debate on internet safety alive in parliament.

CARE’s Director of Communications and Engagement, James Mildred, said:

“Lady Howe was deeply affected by the impact of dangerous online material on the most vulnerable in our society. She was a visionary who warned about the harmful impact of pornography on children at a time when few people were taking this seriously.

“Her tireless campaigning to see children better protected from adult material paved the way for many of the protections we see today, and we are indebted to her for this. We pay tribute to her inspiring life and will be praying for her family at this difficult time.”