Some "important measures" of a safer internet deal, signed between the European Commission and 20 social network sites in early 2009 have not yet been implemented and need "rapid action," European Commissioner Vivian Reding said.

Reding presented the results of an assessment of the agreement on February 9 on the occasion of Safer Internet Day 2010.

One year earlier, the EC and 20 social networking sites signed the Safer Social Networking Principles agreement, which aimed to make social networking sites safer for under-18s.

Among those who signed the agreement were Facebook, Myspace Netlog, Piczo, Skyrock, Dailymotion, Tuenti, VZnet Netzwerke, and Microsoft. At the time, Reding said the implementation of the agreement would be subject to an assessment after one year.

"Most of the companies have taken steps to empower minors to deal with potential online risks. This is good news but is it enough?" Reding said.

According to the assessment, 19 out of 23 service providers contained information which was specifically targeted at children and teenagers and most of the information was easy to find and understand. Twelve sites show safety tips when users are about to upload a picture on the site, "the kind of message that will help teenagers to Think before they post!" Reding said, referring to the theme of this year's Safer Internet Day.

All but one of the sites had made it easy for users to block other users and to change their privacy settings.

Not everything had been implemented, however.

Less than half the sites that signed the agreement made the profiles of minors visible only to their friends by default and only half of the sites tested made profiles of minors non-searchable for search engines.

Only nine out of 22 sites responded to complaints submitted by minors, prompting Reding to add that she "expected companies who signed up to the Safer Social Networking Principles to take rapid action to improve this situation".

Looking ahead at her new position, Reding said she would "strongly focus on the protection of personal data and its effective enforcement. One of my top priorities will be to prepare legislation to respond to new technological challenges, building on the European core data protection and privacy principles, empowering individuals and strengthening their rights. And I will specifically consider the needs of children in the online world."