The Internet is the greatest invention of mankind. The World Wide Web has changed people's perceptions of time, distance, methods of communication, assistance, earning opportunities and leisure activities. Thanks to the Internet, a modern person receives tens of times more information than his parents, grandparents, and more distant ancestors. Unfortunately, not everything that is found on the network is significant, reliable, logically justified and safe.
Most victims of the Internet are children and adolescents. The content of some sites is shocking even for an adult, to say nothing of those whose psyche is still being formed. In addition, the Internet is a good field of activity for scammers, which are much easier to get caught in the virtual space than offline.
Specialists all over the world are concerned about the safety of the younger generation and adults on the network, so in 2004 the International Day of Safe Internet was established.
About the founder
The initiative was launched by the European Commission, and Insafe (European Safer Internet Network) became the project coordinator. Insafe consists of national centers, the employees of which develop and implement educational programs on various aspects of Internet security, communicate with children and youth via a helpline.
You can share experiences and coordinate actions on saferinternetday.org. On this platform, experts and simply indifferent people from all over the world leave their ideas and developments. Everyone can take a special test to determine how careful they are on the Internet.
Topical issues addressed by Insafe:
- posting photos and creating avatars on the Internet: what image of oneself can be presented to the whole world, and which image is impossible, and why;
- clicking on dubious banners and links: it is impossible to predict exactly where such a "journey" will lead;
- malicious actions: how not to become a victim of fraud.
Russia is also part of the Insafe. Domestic authors wrote the book “The ABC of Internet Security”, on the pages of which it tells about the impact of the Internet on people's daily lives, about possible threats and methods of action in a dangerous situation.
As International Safe Internet Day is celebrated
The founders and all those who support the initiative consider it important to promote responsible and safe use of the network. In order to attract public attention to the problem in Safer internet day, various events are held.
So, a year ago in Washington hosted the conference "Safe Internet Day 2014". The organizers did not focus the audience on the negative aspects, but sought to demonstrate constructive ways to use the network. Young people, students and politicians who shared the experience of being safely on the World Wide Web were involved. The opinions of young users regarding the further development of the Internet were also taken into account.
In other countries, Safer internet day is also the day of conferences, forums, lectures on the rights and obligations of users. For stakeholders, discussions are organized, meetings with IT specialists, government officials, law enforcement officials.
Safe Internet Day in Russia
In Russia, the holiday has been celebrated since 2005. At the initiative of the Safe Internet Center in Russia, a week before the important date, Runet Security Week is being held. During the holiday, one or another problem of using the World Wide Web is considered. So, in 2013, issues of ethics of communication on the network were brought up for discussion, and a year later, the organizers began to look for ways to improve the Internet. Discussion of this problem continued in 2015. According to the organizers, the network should have positive developing sites with content that contributes to the harmonious development of the child’s personality.
The annual forums discuss the problems of creating a safe Internet environment, improving the digital literacy of the population, including children and adolescents, and ensuring information security. The organizer of the events is the Internet Security League, on the initiative of which a Unified Register of sites containing information prohibited for distribution was created. As part of the forums, advertising contests "My Security on the Web" and "Interneshka" are held.
Since 2009, Safe Runet Week has been one of the official events of the holiday. International Safe Internet Day is celebrated on the first Tuesday of February.
What worries Russian users
Based on the results of the Children Online hotline (2013), they most often turn to specialists about trolling (aggressive behavior of some users in relation to others) and cyberbullying. In second place is the activity of scammers. More often, users call after they get into an unpleasant situation and want to find a way out.
Kaspersky Lab conducted a study (2014), which revealed that more than half of Russians fear the troubles associated with the use of webcams. Using this gadget, criminals can easily find out logins, account passwords, trade secrets, and gain access to personal photos and financial resources. Closing the camera lens does not interfere with tracking. You can protect yourself from uninvited guests using the Kaspersky Internet Security system developed in the laboratory for all devices.
The population is also worried about the availability of freely accessible sites “for adults”, with child pornography, pages promoting drugs, violence, racial and other discrimination, illegal actions.
Prospects for the development of Runet
The Ministry of Communications and Mass Communications is taking responsibility for solving the following tasks of the development of the Internet. It is planned to provide access to safe Internet resources to more users. For this, new fiber-optic communication channels are intensively growing. It is also planned to develop email and online trading. Due attention will be paid to advertising, online transactions, videos, social and other equally important projects. There is reason to believe that World Safe Internet Day in 2016 will begin with a debriefing and discussion of fundamentally new problems of network development.
How to protect children
Modern parents care about the safety of their children in the vast network. The program “Safe Internet” will help protect the younger generation from the negative effects of online. Children and adolescents will learn the rules of using the World Wide Web, gain knowledge on online safety, and on the prevention of Internet addiction.
In order for the child to receive only the necessary and useful information, special computer programs have been developed. One of them is the Gogul children's browser, which is a catalog of sites verified by educators and child psychologists. The program allows you to keep track of visits to web pages and limit the child’s stay on the Internet.
It is worth paying attention to the Internet filter "Censor". If you install it on a computer, you can be sure that the child will only view pages from the “white list”.
International Safe Internet Day has become an official holiday not only in Russia and the USA, but also in many other countries. In 2015, it was celebrated by more than a hundred states.