Today we celebrate Safer Internet Day, an annual event organized by InSafe and ConnectSafely to promote safe and responsible use of the internet and mobile devices geared towards children around the world. While this event has been coordinated across Europe for the past 11 years with the European Commission, it wasn’t until two years ago that the initiative spread to the U.S. In 2012 the event went stateside when former Secretary of Homeland Security Janet Napolitano and European Vice President Neelie Kroes signed a declaration to make it so.
There will be two panels including tech leaders of executives from Google, YouTube, Instagram, Tumblr, Twitter and Xbox Live, along with keynote speaker Senator Charles Schumer discussing how to build a better Internet for the youth.
About 29% of children have public profiles online and, according to an EU Kids Online report surveying 25,000 nine-to-16-year-olds in 25 countries:
Risk must be distinguished from harm. As with riding a bike or crossing the road, everyday activities online carry a risk of harm, but this harm is far from inevitable – indeed, it is fairly rare.
Today’s event is looking to help people identify how kids can have safer internet experiences and avoid malicious activities from spammers, hackers, cyberbullies and other online predators.
Some things you can do include organizing discussions with your family, supervisors at schools, libraries and even having a “family tech night.”
You can see an interactive map of events potentially near you today below:
View Safer Internet Day 2014: Let’s create a better internet together in a larger map
Here are some other great internet safety resources.
“Let’s create a better internet together,” ask the organizers.
