Every year, on the 17th of May, people celebrate the World Telecommunication and Information Society Day, aiming to raise awareness of the possibilities that the use of the Internet and other information and communication technologies (ICT) can bring to societies and economies.
For the 2009 celebration of this day, the International Telecommunication Union – in which Romania entered in 1866 – has chosen ”Protecting children in cyberspace” as a theme.
This theme has been adopted in view of the rapid growth of the number of Internet users globally – from 182 million 10 years ago to 1.5 billion at the beginning of 2009 – and of recent surveys conducted at the world level, which reveal that 60% of children and teenagers talk in chat rooms on a daily basis. Three in four children online are willing to share personal information about themselves and their family in exchange for goods and services. In the next years, the surveys forecast that one in five children will fall prey to predators in cyberspace.
ANCOM promotes safe access to the Internet, taking action to protect children in cyberspace, by virtue of its competences in the field of preventing and fighting online pornography. This year, the Authority initiated discussions with the civil society with a view to improving the legislation on preventing and fighting pornography, for the purpose of ensuring enhanced protection for children against exposure to potentially harmful content.
Furthermore, ANCOM is part of the Consultative Committee for the project Sigur.info, coordinated by the non-governmental organisation SAVE THE CHILDREN, in partnership with Focus – The Romanian Centre for Missing & Sexually Exploited Children and the company Positive Media. This programme aims at ensuring the safety of children online, by organising awareness-rising and information activities on the risks of the virtual space. The project targets teachers, parents and children, who are provided with the knowledge and tools that could offer them protection in this new technological environment. Since the official launch of the campaign – 10 February 2009 – trainings have been organised for volunteers in Bucharest, Iasi, Oradea and Timisoara, i.e. for 50 young participants. In April and May, these volunteers conducted information activities in 30 schools and high-schools, revealing the dangers of cyberspace to more than 2,000 children.
The advantages of using the Internet are obvious and its use must be encouraged both in the family and in the education institutions. The Internet can offer rapid access to information and enables the users to express themselves, as they can create their own online content. However, the level of risk awareness is still low. The debates with the parents, teachers and children, held in a few schools from Bucharest, Iasi and Timisoara, showed how vulnerable children are in front of the risks, especially those aged between 6 and 13. At European level, one child out of 11 accepts to meet strangers with whom they have communicated online. In the eastern European countries, the situation is even worse: in Poland, the Czech Republic and Romania the proportion is one to five, most children between 10 and 14 posting personal information on the Internet (name, address, age, school where they learn etc.).
Starting 4 May 2009, the site www.sigur.info also makes available the HELPLINE component, where children, teenagers, parents and teachers can ask questions and receive information and advice on how to stay safe online. As well, they can recommend ways of avoiding the illegal and harmful content of certain websites. Currently, the website www.helpline.sigur.info makes available a telephone line, 0744 300 476 – calls being charged at the regular fee on the network of Orange (Monday to Friday, 12 to 16 hours), a chat platform and an e-mail address: helpline@sigur.info.