Safer Internet Day 9th Feb

If I was writing a bill of rights for the internet my main focus would be to make the web a safe and fun place for everyone, but that’s not going to happen so instead I spend some of my spare time trying to help children be safe on line (a sort of digital green cross man).  Because this entails meeting the children I have had to get the relevant criminal records checks done via the Child Exploitation Online Protection (CEOP) centre and receive their excellent training. 

It’s also important to educate parents about the threats the internet can pose. While we have some really good guidance on how to lock down a child’s PC and XBox to make them safer, increasingly they’ll be surfing from a phone and of course there are other connected gaming  platforms like the wii and Playstation, so the focus must be on awareness and process rather than some magic bit of technology. 

So there is Safer Internet Day on 9th Feb were volunteers from O2, Visa and Microsoft will  be descending on schools in the UK to spread the message not only to children but to parents as well. However we can’t be everywhere so there is also an opportunity for the parents education to be streamed to schools throughout the day so if your school want to get in on this please contact me and I’ll set it up.