Safer Internet Day 2009

Today, Tuesday 10th February 2009, is Safer Internet Day, part of the effort to promote safer and more responsible use of online technology and mobile phones, especially amongst children and young people across the world.

Safer Internet Day, organised by InSafe since 2004, is a pan-European event co-ordinated by the Child Exploitation and Online Protection Centre in the United Kingdom. There is particular emphasis on information and education for children and their parents, teachers & carers at Think U Know.

Whilst user education is a great thing to do, we should also ensure that web sites and web applications are of a high quality and can't be mis-used to harm users or their computers.

Having a sustainable and safe Internet is becoming higher on governmental agendas as we become more-and-more dependent on its existence. The third meeting of the Internet Governance Forum (see the chairman's summary) in December had "Promoting Cyber-Security and Trust" as one main theme. And, later this morning there will be a feedback session and discussion on all the issues at the UK Internet Governance Forum (UK IGF). Nominet will also be launching its 2009 Best Practice Challenge at the event and I hope there will be a "best security initiative" category again this year.

Update later on 10th February 2009: The report back and ideas for the way forward re-emphasized the UK's desire for internet governance to be a self-regulatory process, rather than to be undertaken via top-down legislative treaties. The meeting encouraged everyone, especially business, to contribute to the process over the next year and to prepare for the next IGF meeting in Sharm El Sheikh, Egypt, in November. Note, there is now a dedicated web site for the UK IGF.