NetSafe to conduct Blogathon on National Children

Media release
27 February 2007

NetSafe to conduct Blogathon on National Children’s Day

Internet Safety Group NetSafe, is conducting a Kiwi Kids’ Blogathon at www.netsafe.org.nz between 10am and 3pm on National Children’s Day (Sunday 4 March) to share cybersafety stories, tips and tricks.

“The online environment, while it can be empowering and educational, can also pose danger to children and young people. The idea with the blogathon is to get them to help each other find solutions to keeping safe,” says Martin Cocker, Executive Director of NetSafe.

Jamie* (13) says: “I was chatting and there was this guy who said he was 34 and that he knew some people at my school. After a bit he asked if my parents were home and for my address. He said that he wanted to come around and would pay me for sex. I took screen shots of the conversation.”

Alex* (9) says: “Me and my friends were playing games on my friend’s computer, and I entered my home email address in a competition to win an ipod. After that, we got so many spam emails – Dad told me to not give out personal stuff like that on the internet again. ”

“Whenever we put information about ourselves on the internet or communicate with people online, there are risks,” says Martin Cocker. “One key to keeping safe while blogging is to understand what information should be kept offline. As a general guide, it is a good idea to keep things like phone numbers, addresses, school or workplace details, sports teams you play on, and full names private. It is wise to use a nickname and to be careful about the types of photos of you post as part of your blog**.”

NetSafe’s subsidiary Hector’s WorldTM Ltd has developed the ‘Hector Protector®’ Safety Button to help keep young children safer online. Hector Protector is a bottlenose dolphin and is New Zealand’s cybersafety ambassador.

Once downloaded, Hector can swim alongside children (in a corner of their computer screen) as they surf the Internet using Internet Explorer, or communicate with others using Outlook or Outlook Express. If a child is upset or worried about an image that comes up on the screen, they simply click on Hector. He immediately covers the screen with a beautiful underwater scene, and a reassuring message that the child has done the right thing, and now can go and get adult help.

The Hector Safety Button is a perfect way to quickly cover the screen in such situations as accidentally accessing pornography or opening chain letters with horrific photos. At the same time, Hector’s positive message encourages a child to tell an adult that they’ve encountered upsetting or inappropriate material. Any worry they may have about being blamed is eased, and the adult is given the opportunity to commend and support the child. The Hector Safety Button is available free for download from (www.microsoft.com/downloads (search for Hector Protector).

* these are composite cases. Identifying information has been changed to protect individuals’ identity.

** a blog (a combination of the words 'web' and 'log') is similar to an online diary or journal, which may be kept by a single person (a 'blogger') or contributed to by many people who share an interest in the blog's topic.

ENDS

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