Chatshield News Archive
February 2008
The European Commission is to spend £42m on a programme to enhance children's safety online. It said the programme will fight illegal content and harmful behaviour such as bullying and grooming that use Web 2.0 tools, such as social networking. The £42m programme, which builds further on the successful Safer Internet programme started in 2005, will run from 2009 to 2013.
February 2008
Social networking websites are being used by "cyberbullies" and do not remove offensive material fast enough, an MP has claimed. Labour's Swansea East MP Sian James said while such sites could be positive they had a "darker side". She said websites must do more to stop bullying and so-called "happy slapping" videos being published. Read the full story
Beverley Hughes, Minister for Children, said cyber-bulling was in danger of becoming the “scourge” of 21st century schools. Estimates suggested between 11% and 34% of children had been affected, she told MPs. “It’s a particularly insidious form of bullying because new technology is available 24/7. That means bullying can continue 24/7 without respite or refuge, invisible to all but the victim and the perpetrator.”
Guidance for teachers can be found here.
February 2008
A legally enforceable cinema-style classification system is to be introduced for video games in an effort to keep children from playing damaging games unsuitable for their age. Ministers are also expected to recommend blocking mechanisms to protect children from seeing unsuitable games, emails or internet sites. Read the full story.
February 2008
Safer Internet Day
In support of European Safer Internet Day, NetIDme has produced a short video containing Internet Safety Advice for Parents. Watch the video here.
Safer Internet Day is a yearly event, organised by Insafe, the European internet safety network. There are a number of activities planned for the day with the aim of celebrating safer internet use and raising awareness of the online risks that the web can pose to children.
February 2008
Parentline Plus has launched a new awareness drive to help prevent children from being bullied or bullying, via mobile phones and the internet.
The charity, which runs an anti-bullying campaign called ‘Be Someone to Tell’ has published a cyber bullying booklet called ‘Bullying by internet and mobile phone' to help parents deal with this increasing problem. The leaflet is packed with helpful tips, such as signs to look out for; steps to take if your child is being cyberbullied; what parents can do if their children are the bullies and contact details of other organisations that can help.
Parentline Plus launched the campaign following an increase in the number of calls from parents about cyberbullying on the charity’s 24-hour free Parentline: 0808 800 22 22. Visit the Charity's website for more information.
January 2008
Dr Tanya Byron has warned of the dangers of a "moral panic" around violent games and the internet.
Byron voiced concerns that children would grow up in a risk-averse culture that "does not necessarily empower them". Last year, Gordon Brown asked Byron to examine the potential risks to children and teenagers from new technology, as well as looking at the benefits.
Giving a flavour of the evidence received, Byron said one common theme was that children were more worried about bullying than online predators.
"When children talk about bullying they don't really differentiate between online and offline. It starts in the classroom, they get home and it's all over someone's MySpace page," she said. Read the full story
January 2008
Fake internet sites set up by cyber bullies are causing misery for many young people. One mother has described the distress caused by a fake Bebo page created about her child which made fun of them. It contained photographs and references which mocked them. She said it affected their personality and school work; they became grumpy and found it hard to concentrate. Bebo said it will remove anything that is inappropriate which is reported to them and the police work with internet service providers to trace offenders. Full Story on BBC Website
January 2008
MySpace has announced a range of measures, endorsed by 49 states, designed to help protect young people who use the popular social networking site.
NetIDme CEO Alex Hewitt commented:
"We are pleased that MySpace has taken the first steps towards protecting their users from predators. We hope to see all other social networking sites quickly following this example. Some sites have already implemented, or are working towards implementing age verification systems that help protect children. I would urge parents to ensure that the sites their children use have adequate protection in place." Read the full story
January 2008
To Catch a Predator: ITV's Tonight programme (ITV1, 8.00pm, Monday 7 Jan 2008, STV, 10.00pm, Thursday 10 Jan 2008) Child protection expert Mark Williams-Thomas reveals a shocking sting operation on a man who believes he is targeting a 12-year-old British schoolgirl.
One Click From Danger: The BBC's Panorama programme (8.30pm, BBC1, Monday 7 Jan 2008) returns with an investigation into how paedophiles are using the internet as a tool to make contact with unsuspecting teenagers. To conduct the investigation, Panorama's reporters set up a typical profile of a 14 year old girl 'Jane', on 3 social networking sites and went online between 4pm - 6.30pm each day for a period of 3 weeks. 'Jane' quickly received a number of inappropriate comments, images and requests from men, asking if she would continue to chat privately via instant messenger. Panorama have passed the logs on to the Police for a full investigation.
December 2007
EIS, Scotland's teaching union, is concerned about the growth in offensive material available to pupils and teachers online. They say a rise in social networking sites has led to a huge increase in online bullying. The organisation is calling on website operators to impose greater self-regulation of sites. View the full article.
December 2007
Fox News recently reported on a study that found that cyber bullying is more likely to take place via instant messaging & email rather than in social networking sites. Wherever the harassment takes place, there no question of the pain and suffering it causes the victims, and anything that can be done to help address the problem will be welcomed. Check out our online safety tips for parents and teens.
November 2007
In an effort to raise awareness of online bullying, the UK based charity, BeatBullying, has partnered with YouTube to create an excellent anti bullying channel for young people. The campaign has received great support, and celebrities including Leona Lewis, Girls Aloud, Dannii Minogue, and Arsene Wenger have posted personal video messages on the new channel on YouTube.
November 2007
CEOP ( The Child Exploitation & Online Protection Centre) have recently uploaded two excellent videos on YouTube. Please take a few minutes to watch the CEOP video for boys, and the video for girls. Both videos give a chilling account of the dangers teenagers could face when striking up friendships with strangers they meet online.