Get Safe Online Urges School Children to Pledge to Online Safety Responsibilities
The not-for-profit organisation Get Safe Online is urging school children to pledge to online safety responsibilities through the launch of its ‘Cyber Pro-Prefect challenge’, following a successful Safer Internet Day.
Sponsored by Trend Micro and in association with Serious Organised Crime Agency (SOCA), the ‘Cyber Pro-Prefect challenge’ aims to encourage safer and more responsible use of the internet and social networking at a time when 56 per cent of the population have been targeted by online criminals.
Piloting in four schools, the challenge will kick-off at a special online safety assembly run by Get Safe Online. During this time five pupils per year group will be allocated to be ‘Cyber Pro-Prefects’ and take online safety responsibility for their year group.
Tony Neate, CEO of Get Safe Online, said: “In today’s world the internet is consumed across a range of devices and locations - it’s a real challenge for parents to be able to be there all the time to supervise their children’s online activity.
“We launched ‘Cyber Pro-Prefect challenge’ to help educate young people about internet safety and empower them to take responsibility for their own safety. In the future we hope that all schools have a ‘Cyber Pro-Prefect’ so the next generation can be as savvy as possible when it comes to beating cyber criminals.”
The ‘Cyber Pro-Prefects’ challenge will be to pass on internet safety advice from the assembly to their peers, who will in turn pledge to these internet safety guidelines. Those who take the pledge will receive a multi-colour ‘Connect with Respect’ bracelet to show they will adhere to responsible internet use.
Rik Ferguson, VP of security research at Trend Micro, said: "It’s great to see kids being directly involved in taking responsibility for online safety.
“In most cases, they are more internet savvy than their parents, but this is the generation we often refer to redefining the notion of privacy. I hope that initiatives like this will make sure that redefinition is a change for the better."
For more information go to www.GetSafeOnline.org/ or check out Simple Guidelines for Parents and Children to Keep Young People Safe Online.
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