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Insafe Newsletter
Issue 43: April 2009 |
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Welcome to the Insafe Newsletter!
Privacy in the digital age
"Big Brother
is Watching You" has become one of the most commonly used references to
totalitarianism since the publication of Orwell's dystopic novel
"1984". How might Big Brother be watching? It may be from a black
hatchback car with a fairly discreet Google sticker and a big camera
fixed to its roof (see this article for pictures). The furore over the
recently available service Google Maps Street View in the United
Kingdom has become a rallying point for privacy campaigners who
complain that the service erodes freedom.
A number of complaints
have been lodged with the UK government but the response has been, so
far, to accept that Google is working to remove the offending
instances, whilst campaigners have called for the service to be halted
until it can be improved and privacy safeguards to be put in place.
Much
of the "sport" surrounding Street View has been to spot anomalies and
these have been preserved and circulated in blogs since they first came
online. On the one hand we have examples of the over zealous use of
blurring tools which have obliterated the features of people on posters
and, conversely, the publication of pictures of people in embarrassing
situations: drunk in the street or in sex-shop doorways.
But even the most anodyne of pictures,once made public, can turn out to
have an importance to those photographed. The BBC
reports,
for example, that "a woman who had moved house to escape a violent
partner was recognisable outside her new home on Street View."
Also
in the United Kingdom, we hear of government plans to monitor traffic
in social networking sites like Facebook under an extension of
anti-terrorism legislation.
The European
Directive 2006/24/EC
by the same token sets out a responsibility for member states to store
data which can identify who was in communication with whom.
Indeed, coming back to Facebook, a
plan
to sell data to marketeers and to change standard conditions of service
were overturned at the last minute by the concerted efforts of users.
Also it has been revealed that in the name of research a "phenomenal"
amount of data had been gathered from EverQuest II game servers.
We
may be naive in thinking that our data concerns only us - the fact is
that it is arguably owned by the corporations that provide the services
we use and, as a commodity can be taken by governments or sold to
enterprise or science.
These issues cannot bedealt with by internet safety awareness
raisers alone. Fundamentally, these issues have to do with how our
governments feel they can best maintain order and security. It is true,
however, that as we have often said, individuals shouldn't put anything
on the web thinking that it will remain private.
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 Dutch
Public libraries embrace e-Safety package for parents and children
Amsterdam,
April 1, 2009 – Digivaardig & Digibewust and Cable &
Media
Company UPC Nederland today made a special information package
available to all public libraries, intended to support safe internet
access. The package, called Gezinspakket eSafety [eSafety family
package] is full of useful information and instructive games for
parents and children. Anybody interested is able to obtain a copy. The
package may also be downloaded or ordered at
www.upc.nl/gezinspakket.
Read
more
Landmark summit agrees collaboration between agencies in the fight
against online child exploitation
INHOPE
and INSAFE’s North Regional Meeting of the EC Safer Internet networks
met on 1st & 2nd April to bring together a coalition of
stakeholders from the participating countries to discuss the
opportunities and challenges facing Hotlines*, Awareness Nodes and
Helplines in the future, whilst adapting to the changing environment of
the digital world. Read
more
 klicksafe Guideline and Brochure for
Parents’ Meetings
New material offered by
klicksafe: presenters of parents’ evenings receive thematic and
organisational support with the guideline “Parents’ evenings Internet
and Mobile Phones”. The collection of material offers comprehensive
information for planning and delivering information to parents via
schools and educational institutions. Read
more
 Stop
violence against children
The
Czech National Safer Internet Centre has become a partner of the
governmental campaign Stop violence against children, which starts in
April 2009. The main objective of the campaign is to reduce
chastisement and other forms of physical punishment of children in
families and schools. The awareness raising campaign will address the
general public and invite well known popular figures to speak about
their personal experiences and share good practices. The campaign will
run till the end of 2009. Watch the video
 Digital Youth Life 2009
The survey investigated
children and young people’s behavior, preferences and experiences when
it comes to the exchange of personal information online. The
participants, agd between 9 and 16 were asked whether they published
private pictures or videos of others and whether they normally asked
for permission before publishing online.The survey also investigated
what measures the children would take if they felt exposed online, and
whether they themselves had received any negative reactions to comments
or materials they have published online. Read
more
 Alliance
for audio-visual classification established
In
the beginning of March the Association for audio-visual classification
(APAK) was established in Prague. The aim of the APAK is to contribute
to the process of preparation of the new Czech Media Act and related
Audio- visual guidelines, which are being prepared by the Ministry of
Culture of the Czech Republic and are expected to be adopted by the
Czech Parliament at the End of 2009 in line with a request from the
European Commission (Audiovisual Media Services Directive 2007/65/EC).
Read
more
Mobile operators raise visibility of the Hotline in Bulgaria
SID 2009 was marked by an
unusual event – the three mobile operators Mobiltel, GLOBUL and Vivatel
sent text messages to their customers who use the mobile Internet to
inform them about Safer Internet Day. Read
more
 Commissioner
sets out privacy rights priorities
There
is a clear need to reassert users’ trust by being more transparent
about data collection activities. We need to generate awareness amongst
consumers that their data is being traded, and establish certain
possibilities for user control. More than 4 out of 5 young internet
users believe that their personal information is somehow used without
their knowledge and shared with third parties without their agreement.
They are right. Read
more
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The Norwegian Media Authority wins website award
The
Norwegian Media Authority won 2nd runner up in the nationally acclaimed
Farmand-award for public websites 2009. "A pleasant and encouraging
award, that confirms our commitment to the new website," says webmaster
Eva Johnson. Read
more
Youth Panel at the
Norwegian Amandus Film Festival for children
The Norwegian Media
Authority and its Youth Panel will be hosting a seminar on Media
literacy concerning film and gaming. The subject will be on how
children understand age rating in films and games - and if this aligns
with their own understanding of the protection of minors. Read
more
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Friend Request – an exhibition about virtual friendship
21 March-3 May, 2009, Stockholm, Sweden
The
exhibition “Friend Request” at the well-known culture centre
Kulturhuset in Stockholm takes the virtual
realities of
social sites and applications such as Facebook, MSN and Twitter and
places them in the physical world.
Read more
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Insafe is a
European network of 26 nodes in 26 countries that are dedicated to
raising awareness of internet safety. It is coordinated by the European
Schoolnet and supported by the European Commission through the Safer
Internet Programme.
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