Children aged four are now able to log on to the Internet from home computers. This means changing the way children behave online is the key to keeping them safe from abuse, believes Jim Gamble, head of the UK’s Child Exploitation and Online Protection (CEOP) Centre – the UK's national centre for protecting children online.
That is the theme of CEOP's role in spearheading the UK's response to European Safer Internet Day 2010 and is central to a number of initiatives being launched by the organisation:
- New resources aimed at reaching children as young as five, at the heart of which is a new interactive cartoon introducing them to the adventures of Lee and Kim.
- The launch in partnership with Microsoft of the UK's first ever "ClickCEOP" browser that will sit on Internet Explorer 8 and provide users of all ages with direct, access to CEOP's internet safety advice and guidance.
- a "Protect" programme that sees volunteers from O2, Visa Europe and Microsoft joining forces with CEOP to deliver online safety into hundreds of schools.
- 39,000 volunteers spread across the UK have all been trained to help deliver CEOP's advice-giving programme and will play their part in reaching children and parents in schools, workshops and clubs.
Lee And Kim's Adventures
With one in five parents of 5- to 7-year-olds highlighting concern about who their child (or children) is in contact with online (10% very concerned, 8% fairly concerned), CEOP has developed a new animated film, Lee and Kim’s Adventures, designed to introduce very young children to the concepts of personal information and trust.This resource is being delivered to schoolchildren across the UK.
The film introduces young children to a number of important concepts which will enable them to explore online environments safely. Understanding what constitutes "private" information – and recognising that people can pretend to be different online – is critical to developing safe behaviour online. This greatly reduces their vulnerability to abuse. Children will identify with the Lee and Kim characters as they and their superhero tackle these issues in an engaging and age-appropriate way.
Microsoft Explorer 8
The new, customised "Click CEOP" browser developed by Microsoft on Internet Explorer 8, provides users with the opportunity to customise their browser so that they can get direct access to CEOP's advice pages.
There they will see all issues covered from cyberbullying and viruses through to sexual abuse and inappropriate content – advice that is kept contemporary by signposting to and input from organisations such as Childline, the Internet Watch Foundation, Get Safe Online and Beatbullying as well as being updated by the trends, themes and patterns that CEOP's own teams see every day through the thousands of reports it receives.
Gamble, who as well as being Chief Executive of the CEOP Centre, he leads for the Association of Chief Police Officers (ACPO) on protecting children on the internet, told the media: “Each month we see an average of 500 reports into CEOP, of which – on average – four a day indicate that a child may be at immediate risk. That is the harsh reality of child protection. But so often we leave our young people vulnerable because we fear the technology.
“That is like saying we can’t teach children how to be safe when crossing the road because we don’t understand how a car engine works or the risk if that car is driven in a dangerous way.
Sexting
“This is about behaviour, not technology. But it is also about delivering contemporary, dynamic advice that is sympathetic to the needs of the children and young people we reach and helps the parent or carer to play their role in a way that is positive, supportive and understanding. CEOP’s materials do that. We have updated them to cover new issues such as ‘sexting’ and new forms of bullying and we have listened to teachers to deliver new cartoons for very young children.”
He welcomed Microsoft’s involvement by giving parents and children the opportunity to customise their browser to access safety advice in a quick simple way. He went on to applaud Microsoft, O2 and Visa Europe for their critical contribution of online safety training in schools under the Protect programme.
James Graham - I have been a professional journalist since the 1980s. I started on weekly newspapers in the English Midlands - working intially on one of ...
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