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Insafe Newsletter
Issue 43: March 2009 |
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Welcome to the Insafe Newsletter!
Safer Internet Day 2009
Safer Internet Day goes from strength to strength if we are to judge by the number of countries involved, the number of events that were held to raise awareness of the safety issues, the number of times the stop cyberbullying video was seen on Youtube or even how many column inches the day could claim in the press.
This year the focus was on cyberbullying and social networking and Safer Internet Day heralds a year of work on these areas. If SID 2009 results in one fewer child being bullied it will have proved its worth but there's the rub. Awareness raisers cannot claim success for what has not happened and so we have to rely on reporting those events that have taken place. This can sometimes seem lame particularly when compared to the more sensational and usually negative news the media relishes.
The day was marked by some major events - an agreement signed with 17 social networks, a video campaign - messages of support from major figures, as well as much more parochial ones - school-based meetings, blog posts...
The blogathon that has marked Safer Internet Day since 2006 and given young people everywhere the opportunity to express their thoughts on online safety was replaced by a virtual fair. This online collaboration platform brings together SID committees in participating countries and leading organisations worldwide, each with its own virtual pavilion featuring the profile of the pavilion owner and the eSafety resources it offers to the public. The SID fair will provide central communication point for eSafety stakeholders all year long.
Ultimately our real success will be when such a day will no longer be needed, then we will be able to sit back and contemplate a virtual world which is totally safe. This, we realise is a vain hope. With the emergence of new threats every day, we can be pretty sure that Safer Internet Day will continue to be celebrated for many more years to come.
This month we look at some of these success stories knowing full well that SID's story doesn't end here. It is gratifying, however, that the work undertaken by the internet safety community has resulted in bringing the challenges we face in the virtual world to us all IRL. We also hope that we have demonstrated that the relationship between these two worlds is much closer than many people may think...
Dowload a list of the different events organised on Safer Internet Day by country
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 Commissioner's statement
Children today dive into the world of internet and mobile technologies very early and often become fully-fledged technology-savvy, web-surfing teenagers. Because these technologies help them study and give them exciting new ways to socialise with others, they are often faster to use them than their parents. We need to make sure that whenever they use online or mobile services, they can recognise potential risks and deal with them. Read more
CoE Deputy Secretary General's contribution
The well-being and best interests of children on the Internet are of paramount importance for the Council of Europe. We believe that every effort should be made to protect and preserve their dignity, physical and moral integrity, security and privacy in online environments. Read more
 Social Networking: Commission brokers agreement among major web companies17 leading web firms have signed for the first time a European agreement to improve the safety of under 18s who use social networking sites. These include Arto, Bebo, Dailymotion, Facebook, Giovani.it, Google/YouTube, Hyves, Microsoft Europe, Myspace, Nasza-klaza.pl, Netlog, One.lt, Skyrock, StudiVZ, Sulake/Habbo Hotel, Yahoo!Europe, and Zap.lu. Read more
 Block bullying online video
Safer Internet Day 2009 was the launch date of an information campaign empowering teenagers to keep control when online. This campaign, supported by the European Commission's Safer Internet Programme, targets young people between 12 and 17 years old and covers all Member States, Iceland and Norway.
At the core of the campaign there is a video which features a young girl who is being bullied online, but takes control by reporting this abuse. “Block bullying online! Keep it fun, keep control” is the final message of the video. Watch the video
 SID Quiz WinnersIn November 2008, Insafe launched a quiz for the 6th celebration of Safer Internet Day on 10 February 2009. The quiz sported questions such as “What is the capital of the Czech Republic?”, “Which flowers were painted by famous Dutch painter Vincent Van Gogh?” and “What kind of personal information may be given online to unknown people or websites without any concerns?”. Read more
Safer Internet Day 2009 in the media
Celebrated all around the world in 50 countries, the sixth Safer Internet Day raised an unprecedented level of interest and of media echo. All sorts of media, from print to electronic, were solicited to promote e-safety messages. Read more
INSAFE Annual Report 2008Over the past four years, the Insafe network has earned itself a leading role in internet safety actions across Europe and worldwide renown as the coordinator of Safer Internet Day. Read more
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Numerous activities and public awareness for Safer Internet Day in Germany
Conferences, press events, online quizzes, expert chats and hotlines, information events, online games – the range of activities on Safer Internet Day in Germany was far-reaching. klicksafe held a big press events in Berlin, among other activities. Read more
PEGI promotional activities and a mystery shopping test in AustriaOn Safer Internet Day the Austrian node Saferinternet.at presented promotional activities for PEGI and the results of a mystery shopping test. Read more
 Main actors in the Videogame sector join forces to best inform parents - PédaGoJeux website
In December, a new website was born in France, to answer parents' and caregivers' needs for information in that domain and to raise public awareness about video gaming practice. The website was officially launched by the minister of digital economy and a representative of the ministry for the family on 15 December. The initiative is a good example of a successful partnership between stakeholders, economic players and organisations, that gathered to create this information website. Read more
Safer Internet Day in RomaniaSafer Internet Day in Romania provided a perfect opportunity to celebrate two key events. Firstly, the launch of A Safer Internet for Children, which is the national internet safety programme (Sigur.Info) and secondly, an awards ceremony for the winners of the My Internaut Family competition. Read more
SID09 a successful collaboration with Spanish industrySafer Internet Day 2009 has provided good examples of how Industry can get involved and pro-actively cooperate to disseminate the main campaign on Cyber-bullying. Read more
Safer Internet Day 2009 in Sweden
The Swedish Media Council celebrated Safer Internet Day 2009 by inviting high school students and representatives of popular youth sites, experts on young people’s online communication, and other professionals in this field to an afternoon of film screenings and seminars at well-known youth centre Fryshuset in Stockholm. Read more
 948 SID initiatives in Poland!Decentralised Safer Internet Day approach
Each year February marks the start of a very active period for Internet safety in Poland. This year traditionally a central Safer Internet Day event in Warsaw - a press conference with the participation of the Minister of Internal Affairs and Administration - launched the SID “general mobilisation” across the country. Read more
Safer Internet Day 2009 in Prague
The Safer Internet Day became the traditional starting point indicating the topic of a Europe-wide campaign and setting the pace of subsequent activities of national projects from the European programme “Safer Internet”, a part of which is the Czech Saferinternet.cz project. Read more
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COST IS0801: networking action on Cyberbullying
22-23 August, 2009, Vilnius, Lithuania
New networking action on Cyberbullying already involves 23 countries. Working Groups taking forward 4-year program of activities. First workshop in Vilnius in August 2009.
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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