Today is Safer Internet Day 2009

Today, 10^th February 2009, is Safer Internet Day, a day when organisations across Europe and the world focus on promoting safe, responsible Internet use among children and young people.

eModeration is supporting Safer Internet Day, and has the following advice for parents whose children are online.

1. Tell children to inform you of anything that makes them feel uncomfortable; and teach them to trust their instincts and report right away any behaviour that makes them feel nervous
2. Make sure they know that they do not have to respond to any messages that make them uncomfortable
3. Explain to your children that online friends may not be who they say they are. Don’t frighten them, but make them aware that they should never make plans to meet with someone they have spoken with online
4. Make children aware that the difference between right and wrong is the same on the internet as it is in real life.  Children can sometimes feel distanced from their ‘real’ life when online
5. Set clear guidelines about when and where children may use the internet; and encourage them to share their internet experiences with you
6. The email address used to activate a child’s account should belong to a parent, not the child. Tell children to pick a special online nickname to use, not their real name; and never to give away any personal information about themselves or their family, such as address, telephone numbers, photographs, or school name
7. Read the parental advice guidelines on the site or game your child is using. These will give helpful advice on how to make sure your child is safe online

eModeration works with major brands to provide user-generated content moderation services, including children’s virtual worlds and games.  It uses a combination of automated moderation filters, provided by its moderation software partners, Crisp Thinking and Keibi Systems; and human moderation techniques to guide users so they can enjoy playing online in a healthy, safe environment, and intercept any inappropriate behaviour or age inappropriate content.  More information on creating a safer environment for children can be found in eModeration’s white paper here.

Safer Internet Day is an annual event. This year’s UK activities are being co-ordinated by The Child Exploitation and Online Protection (CEOP) Centre, with its ThinkUKnow website acting as the main portal.  For resources, quizzes, videos and teaching aids on internet safety, visit the ThinkUKnow website .  For more information on Safer Internet Day 2009 across Europe, visit Insafe .  A new video showing children what to do about cyberbullying is now available on YouTube here , as is ‘Where’s Klaus’, which alerts parents and children to the dangers of sharing personal information over the web.

Child safety online is a clear government focus, with the creation last year of the UK Council for Internet Safety. It is this body that Lord Carter’s Interim Digital Britain report states will lead the development of a Child Internet Safety Strategy, the details of which will be released later this year.