What does "think before you
post" mean to you?
CEOP (The Child Exploitation
and Online Protection Centre) are inviting young people to create and post a
video clip to show them what this statement means to you and why it is so
important to be safe on the internet - make your entry as original, exciting or
as edgy as you like. The clip can be anything you like - they want to know what
you think!
This is a competition that
is open for 8-16 year olds to create a short film (1-3 minutes long) under the
banner of Think Before You Post - what does it mean to them, how would they
explain this sentiment to other young people and we are throwing down the
gauntlet to young people to be as creative as they like to get this message
across to their peers - and the opportunity to win some exciting prizes.
Entries can be made by individuals, small groups of up to 5 people or as a
whole class - a great end of term project perhaps!
The entries can be
submitted now and the closing date is 28th
January 2010.
For further details click
here
For more information
on Safer Internet Day 2010 visit http://www.thinkuknow.co.uk/saferinternetdayuk/
Did you know about the New
Facebook Privacy Settings?
Facebook have recently
‘revamped' their Privacy Settings which they say will enable users to have more
control over the information they share and post online.
These changes include:
- A "simpler" Privacy page and
some settings have been consolidated. For security reasons, you will now
be required to enter your password to update your privacy settings.
- A privacy control has been added to the
publisher at the top of your home and profile page. This allows users to
set privacy on individual posts
- Instead of having networks for regions (e.g. London), people's locations are now listed in the
"Current
City" or
"Current Region" field of their profiles. This means if you use
the "Friends and Networks" privacy setting, the networks part
only applies to work and school networks
- A basic set of information is publicly
available, meaning it's visible to anyone that navigates to your profile.
This includes applications you use on Facebook, and websites you connect
with via Facebook. This information includes your name, profile picture,
gender, current city, networks, friend list, and Pages. Any additional
information (e.g. photos or videos) will only be exposed if your privacy
settings allow it.
- There are now three basic levels of privacy: Friends,
Friends of Friends, Everyone.
However these changes have
already come under great criticism from users, digital rights groups and
bloggers as it is felt that these new changes could be encouraging users to
share more information with the wider web and becoming more visible online,
which of course gives great concern to younger and possibly more vulnerable
users and professionals who may be using Facebook.
See the BBC's report on the
new Facebook settings here
It
is strongly recommended that all Facebook users make sure they are aware of how
to protect their profiles online with the new settings
So, what do the new Privacy Settings
mean?
These new Privacy changes
have meant that there is a of publicly available information available as
default to Facebook and the wider web community, such as your Name, Profile
Picture, Current City, Gender, Networks, Friend List and Pages.
Some tips:
- To prevent the basic level of information being
shared online via search results you must restrict your search results
to only being seen by "Friends" or remove/change the
content.
- To hide your friends list online you must click
the pencil icon in the Friends box on your profile. Then, uncheck the
"Show my friends on my profile" box. People who come to your
profile will now not be able to see this information (Please note that applications can be still view and access your friends lists at this point).
- You can restrict your Profile Picture from being
shared through Facebook via the Photo Album Privacy options by selecting
the album called "Profile Pictures" and setting the option to
"friends only"
- You can remove your profile from being displayed
by public search engines in the Privacy settings under the
"Search" option - uncheck the "Allow indexing" option
Facebook recommends that ‘Everyone'
should be able to see information that they say will make it easier for friends
to find and identify you, which includes information like your About Me
description, Family and Relationships, Work and Education Info and Website,
posts that you make, photo albums and status updates. They do remind users that
by using the "Everyone" option then the information will be seen by
others on the internet or others who view your profile, but will this be
recognised by young people?
Facebook do recommend that
personal information such as Birthdays, photos and pictures you've been tagged
in etc can only be seen by "Friends of Friends" (this is the new
default setting) and that information such as phone numbers etc can only be
seen by friends. This however doesn't take into account that we don't always
know who our friends are friends with and sometimes people accept friend's
requests from strangers to access games or to appear to be popular. This
could have potentially disastrous effects for young people and staff (e.g. if
colleagues have accepted young people onto friend's lists etc) as friends
of friends may be able to access more information than under the previous
settings.
For users whose profile
says they are under 18 then the Privacy settings are slightly different. Both
adults and under 18s have publicly available information (name, profile
picture, gender, current city, networks, Friend List, Pages etc) but the
"Everyone" setting works differently for under 18's. When under 18's
set information like photos or status updates to be visible to
"Everyone," that information is only visible to their friends,
friends of friends, and people in any school or networks they have joined.
Under 18's do not have public search listing created for them, so they do
not appear in outside search engines (such as google) until they have turned
18.
This setting will however
rely on the fact that a user hasn't lied about their age when they began using
Facebook. (We are already aware of the growing numbers of young people, as
young as 9 ho use Social Networking, 70% of 9-19's according to Ofcom, and a
recent survey by Netmums
with Professor Tanya Byron found that three quarters of children secretly visit
social networking sites without their parents' permission.)
So what next?
We strongly recommend that
all Facebook users, young people, parents/carers and staff go through the new
privacy settings and carefully consider the information posted online to ensure
we aren't sharing any information with the web that we don't want or need to.
Facebook's new guidance on
Privacy can be found here
FAQ's about the new Privacy
Settings can be found here
Facebook have posted some video tutorials here
NB: Please note that this
post may be amended according to any future changes Facebook may make to the
Privacy settings.
Any comments or discussions
will be gladly received!
Today 300 delegates from across government, industry, law enforcement and the third sector will attend the UKCCIS Summit in London for the launch of the first Child Internet Safety Strategy and Digital Code for internet safety.
‘Click Clever Click Safe’ , was drawn up by the UK Council for Child Internet Safety (UKCCIS) and will be launched by the Prime Minister at the first UKCCIS Summit in London today. Young people now have much greater online access than ever before, with research showing that 99 per cent of 8-17 year olds have access to the web. New research published today also shows that 18 per cent of young people said they had come across harmful or inappropriate content online, with 33 per cent of children said their parents don’t really know what they do on the internet. Today’s strategy will outline how government, industry and charities are working together to keep children and young people safe online and implement the recommendations from Professor Tanya Byron’s review ’Safer Children in a Digital World’. The strategy will mean:
- For the first time ever, internet companies, charities and the Government will be independently reviewed against new UKCCIS standards to keep children and young people safe online
- Young people and parents will be targeted by a new Digital Code ‘Zip it, Block it, Flag it’ - the ‘Green Cross Code’ for internet safety. This will be adopted by retailers, social networking sites, schools and charities and displayed where appropriate
- Parents will be able to access a one-stop shop website for internet safety advice hosted by the Child Exploitation and Online Protection centre (CEOP)
- From September 2011 online safety will be a compulsory part of the curriculum from age 5; and
- Professor Tanya Byron will review the Council’s progress, beginning in January 2010
The "Zip it, Block it, Flag it" campaign is backed by government investment, and will encourage children to:
- Zip: not share personal, intimate details with strangers they have met online, while at the same time closing off some parts of the web to children by using security PINs or other parental controls.
- Block: Block emails or any other contact from people or companies they do not know and block children from accessing certain sites.
- Flag: Highlight any suspicious individuals, activities or websites to the relevant authority, including site admins, teachers or even police.
Prime Minister Gordon Brown said: "The internet provides our children with a world of entertainment, opportunity and knowledge - a world literally at their fingertips. But we must ensure that the virtual world is as safe for them as this one. Today we are launching our online version of the 'green cross code'. We hope that ‘zip it, block it, flag it’ will become as familiar to this generation as ‘stop, look, listen’ did to the last." This new strategy builds on the progress already made by the Government to implement the Byron review and provide parents and young people with the information, advice and guidance they need to ensure they can enjoy the internet safely. The Government also announced today that:
- All 270,000 computers to be provided under the Government’s Home Access scheme will incorporate the CEOP Advice, Help, Report button, to help children and their families quickly report inappropriate content or internet approaches from strangers as well as get help and advice on issues such as cyberbullying, viruses and hacking.
- Government will lead the way globally, by exploring how child internet safety can be improved through the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC)
UKCCIS was set up in September 2008 to implement the recommendations from Professor Tanya Byron’s review ‘Safer Children in a Digital World’. It is made up of over 140 organisations, including Google, Microsoft, Bebo and the NSPCC.
To download “Click Clever Click Safe: The First Child Internet Safety Strategy” click here
For more details on the Launch and promotional material click here
To hear Professor Byron speak to BBC news about the new strategy click here
Share your views and ideas of the New "Green Cross Code" for the internet "Zip it, Block it, Flag it"
Orange have launched a new e-Safety education video for parents called "Not knowing's not enough".
The video considers the fears and concerns that parents and carers (indeed many adults) have about the internet and could be a fantastic starting point to create discussion around the topic at parents events or staff meetings. The film depicts children returning home from school, dropping their school bags and going straight to their rooms to go online. The resulting discussions from their parents are seemingly linked by a common concern about what their children may be up to. There are some positive messages about the internet as well as the negative so that the film has some balance.
Orange has also updated their online information for parents at http://www1.orange.co.uk/safety/
The website includes the film and has hints and tips, a handy parent's guide, as well as information about blocking and reporting content to Orange.
Let us know your views on this new resource below.