The activities have been targeted at teachers, parents, schoolchildren and the general public. A dedicated website www.draugiskasinternetas.lt (“friendly internet”) was launched to accommodate information and advice on making the internet a safer place. The website advises children and adults on internet usage, provides links to filtering and anti-spam software. It also hosts a hotline facility with a reporting form, legal information and a summary of procedures used by the hotline. According to an independent survey carried out in May 2006, 28% of Lithuania’s population knows the website.

Educational seminars entitled “The internet: advantages and threats” and “Safer internet – the source of development for children” were designed and have been given to teachers, specialists from educational divisions of county governor administrations and municipalities, and social pedagogues. Attendees were used as multipliers in their respective schools and organisations. Seminars were held in counties, regional centres and school communities with 3,000 teachers taking part.

Another seminar designed for parents and specialists working with children, teenagers and youth is the “Five magical steps program”. This tool has proven useful in building a relationship between parents and children on internet usage. The five steps are:

(1)Parents become aware of possible internet risks and threats
(2)Parents get to better understanding their child’s personality (talents, fears, beliefs, etc.)
(3)Parents become aware of real life contexts in which children use the internet (home, school, library, best friend‘s home, etc.)
(4)Parents negotiate with their child to encourage sense of responsibility and safety
(5)Parents ensure regular contact with their child on the issue, review articles and other information on internet development, know experiences of other families, etc.

To increase country-wide awareness, a major campaign to promote safer internet activities ran for a month in the beginning of 2006. The campaign had a logotype, style, format and content messages. It was implemented on a carefully developed advertising strategy. Target audiences were encouraged to pay attention to problems such as harmful internet content and report illegal content. Messages were communicated through outdoor advertisements, TV channels, radio stations, popular portals, posters at schools and newspapers. Promotional material was created and distributed.

Major efforts were spent on Safer Internet Day (SID) celebration activities in February 2006. The highlight was a public lesson on internet safety broadcast online to Lithuanian schoolchildren. In the same context of SID, 32 schools participated to “Ziniatinklis”, a “Knowledgenet” contest for the creation of live-webs for schools. SID activities got wide national media coverage.

Two “safer internet” surveys have been conducted so far to find out how many children use internet and whether parents are aware of related threats and know how to protect children. The second survey shows that internet threat awareness figures have risen greatly, from 53% to 74%.

Parents are mostly concerned about pornographic and similar content that could have a negative impact on children's perception of intimate life. The second biggest fear concerns children’s physical and psychological development. According to both surveys, two thirds of respondents would report on illegal internet content in the future. 95% of surveyed citizens feel a need to educate children on safer internet use.

These findings confirm the relevance and importance of activities promoting a safer internet. Work will continue emphasising on upgrading and improving already designed tools and methods and on organising activities calling for even greater attention and involvement of Lithuanian society into making the internet a safer place.

Pranas Smaizys, Project Coordinator Safer Digital Lithuania