Though he welcomes any attempt to stamp out bullying, he warns that confiscating mobile phones may be counter productive. It puts children’s safety at risk, he asks, and transfers responsibility to parents and staff, when policing mobile phone bullying is near impossible.

The best defence against bullying is to install a mobile security guard, says Burke. “It’s clearly an issue and we welcome the steps to counter abuse. [But] responsibilities don’t lie with teachers or parents. It’s the operators that should act.”

Confiscating a child’s mobile will hit the mobile operators anyway. They’ll lose revenue on an age group that texts, calls and surfs the mobile internet. So operators should be installing monitors on traffic, that protect kids from spiteful attacks. Many parents would pay a premium if they knew little Johnny was protected from Beefy Bert, who had been blacklisted, argued Burke.

“I think what he’s trying to say is that mobile operators should buy security from him,” said Ken Young, mobile phone analyst and editor of TheUKMobileReport.

More information is available at www.adaptivemobile.com