[Chapter-delegates] Safe internet campaign

[Tony Hill]

I agree with Alejandro.  There are many "community discussion" issues 
that can be used to derail or at least distract from positive 
development of the Internet.  We have seen a host of these distraction 
issues in Australia.

Even the early stages of the debate about content fell into this 
category with attempts to filter all Internet content.  This is a very 
important area for ISOC Chapters to ensure that such debate is soundly 
based on technical facts and a realistic understanding of operations of 
the Internet.  I think that the NetAlert site has finally reached a 
position something like this.

Also, you may be able to use some of the information that we put 
together in 1999 on this subject.  See
http://www.isoc-au.org.au/Submissions/Submissions.html

regards, Tony Hill
ISOC-AU
Australia


Alejandro Pisanty wrote:
> Hi Rimon, and all,
>
> "safe Internet campaigns" are a valuable effort but are also fraught with 
> some serious potential complications. A word of care here:
>
> It is very usual, and easy, for people to get fired up about "safe 
> navigation for kids" on the grounds of easy access to pornographic content 
> and of horror stories of harassment, pedophilia, and worse. A lot of it 
> comes from parents who think of the Internet as the Web and are barely 
> aware, if at all, of what actually goes on.
>
> This, combined with technophobia, luddism, etc. can easily feed campaigns, 
> or campaigners, who immediately lean toward content control, filtering, 
> censorship, etc. (we are seeing one example develop right now in Mexico 
> and there have been many others.)
>
> So it is very important to do as you are doing in Israel, that is, to 
> promote the positive aspects of the Internet, and to be frank and open 
> about the risks and their real size. And to emphasize that safe navigation 
> is not something that the Net will solve for you - parents and teachers 
> cannot abdicate from their responsibilities to their children in educating 
> them to navigate the Internet safely, the same way they teach them to 
> navigate through streets, schools, and life in general.
>
> A former ISOC member, Ms. Parry Aftab, has created excellent contents for 
> these campaigns, and is very open to all sorts of collaboration for this 
> purpose - keeping the Internet open at the same time! See 
> http://www.aftab.com for more. She was in Mexico recently, as the ISOC 
> contribution to a conference on Internet security, and really created a 
> splash. She has most recently licensed comics from Marvel Comics to use 
> them for children safety on the Internet, and published a neat, useful 
> guide to fight cyberbullying.
>
> In Mexico we have created (in UNAM, my university) a home-user site with 
> information and tips, and also some comics-like characters which are used 
> in magazines. We'll be glad to share.
>
> Yours,
>
> Alejandro Pisanty
>
>
> .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  . .  .  .  .  .  .
>       Dr. Alejandro Pisanty
> Director General de Servicios de Computo Academico
> UNAM, Universidad Nacional Autonoma de Mexico
> Av. Universidad 3000, 04510 Mexico DF Mexico
> Tel. (+52-55) 5622-8541, 5622-8542 Fax 5622-8540
> http://www.dgsca.unam.mx
> *
> ---->> Unete a ISOC Mexico, www.isoc.org
>   Participa en ICANN, www.icann.org
> .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .
>
>
> On Fri, 27 Jul 2007, Rimon Levy wrote:
>
>   
>> Date: Fri, 27 Jul 2007 09:22:11 +0300
>> From: Rimon Levy <Rimon at sapir.ac.il>
>> Reply-To: rimon at isoc.org.il
>> To: chapter-delegates at elists.isoc.org
>> Subject: [Chapter-delegates] Safe internet campaign
>>
>> At ISOC-IL we are planning to launch a campaign on safe internet for
>> kids. We found that parents are worried about the risks (widely
>> publicized by the media) of kids using the internet , and from the other
>> side are not very acquainted to the internet, or  do not access the
>> Internet at all. So we want to reach them by other channels, diferent
>> from a web site.
>> The idea is to launch a campaign stressing the good things that can be
>> achieved trought the use of the Internet, along with tips to parents and
>> childrens how to minimize the risks.
>> Something like
>> http://www.pta.org/archive_article_details_1153866875015.html
>>
>> If some of you have information about similar campaigns in your country,
>> we will be glad to get a reference to it. This could help us to  can
>> learn about others experience and  use the references to demonstrate
>> what we have in mind to decision makers in Government and private
>> sector, so we can convince them to support the initiative.
>>
>> Rimon Levy, President
>> ISOC-IL
>>
>>     
>
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