More than 60 countries on five continents Canada to South Korea, Russia to Kenya, and all 27 EU countries are today celebrating the seventh annual “Safer Internet Day!”
Hundreds of online and offline activities have been organized to celebrate the wonderful opportunities internet offers and to focus the attention of children and teenagers on the means to manage their online identity in a responsible way.
Overall traffic on social networking sites has grown enormously over the past three years. It is therefore a critical responsibility of mature people to make the online world a safe and secure environment that everyone can enjoy. Think before you post [‘Think B4 U Post’] is the theme of this year’s Safer Internet Day.
Once an image is posted online
it is hard if not impossible to take it back.
Anyone can see it.
European online survey1 underscores the need to empower young people to manage wisely their personal information online. Fifty-seven percent of young people in the survey said they realize it is not safe to post personal information on their blog or social networking site; yet 44 percent provide personal details on the net; one in eight give their home address. Forty percent of parents across Europe admit they do not monitor their children’s online movements or internet postings …
“The goal is not to prevent young people from using these sites but to make them aware of the risks of sharing personal information online and to encourage them to control their online identity by thinking carefully about the consequences.”
Descriptions of Safer Internet Day national celebrations are available on the Safer Internet Day fair (www.sidfair.org), a collaborative platform where the public can visit, leave comments in the guest books and share images, ideas, tips and resources of more than 70 profiles created by national Safer Internet Day committees and international organizations.
Safer Internet Day is part of a global drive by awareness-raising partners to promote a safer Internet for all users, especially young people. INSAFE has organized Safer Internet Day within the framework of the European Commission’s Safer Internet Program. National awareness centre with tips on how to protect your privacy online at http://www.saferinternet.org/.
Insafe is the European Safer Internet awareness-raising network co-funded by the European Commission and coordinated by European Schoolnet. It comprises national centers in 25 countries across the European Union and in Iceland and Norway, with partner organizations in Argentina, Australia and the USA. Insafe aims at empowering users to benefit from the positive aspects of internet while avoiding the potential risks. Further information is available at www.saferinternet.org or contact info-insafe@eun.org.
Safer Internet Day 2010 launches the web version of eSafety toolkit (www.esafetykit.net) developed by Insafe in collaboration with Liberty Global Inc. and supported by the European Commission. Localized versions for Ireland, Poland, Hungary, Czech Republic, Austria, Netherlands, Spain, Romania and Belgium are now online. More language versions will become available in the coming months, offering an indispensable resource for parents, teachers and librarians throughout Europe and beyond.
SAFER INTERNET DAY celebrations! Think before you post! February 9, 2010: “Today marks the seventh edition of the event,” Insafe, http://www.saferinternet.org/web/guest/press-releases
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