Welcome
Welcome to this month's internet safety update brought to you by the Child Exploitation and Online Protection (CEOP) Centre.
Has your child met Lee and Kim yet?
As a parent you'll probably be aware that children are using the internet at a younger and younger age these days and whilst many will be under the supervision of their parents using the home computer, many have access to laptops, games consoles or mobiles which can connect to the internet. In fact, in a recent OfCom survey, 1 in 5* parents of 5 - 7 year olds highlighted concern about who their child (or children) is in contact with online (10% very concerned, 8% fairly concerned).
On the 9 February, coinciding with the annual European wide event of Safer Internet Day, CEOP launched a brand new cartoon called 'Lee and Kim's Adventures - Animal Magic' that introduces young children to a number of important concepts which enable them to explore online environments safely. There was a lot of media coverage - you might have seen it on the news?
The eight-minute cartoon includes messages about giving out personal information, stranger danger and what to do if you get the feeling that something online isn't right.
Lee and Kim's Adventures is available free for all primary schools and comes with lesson plans and fun games to help children remember the messages in the cartoon. You can view a clip of the film at www.thinkuknow.co.uk/teachers/
lee_kim.aspx and teachers can download the film and accompanying resources from the same link.
If your child is between 5 and 7 years old, you can ask their school to have a look at Lee and Kim's Adventures and consider running the lessons in the classroom.
*Research from OFCOM, UK children's media literacy: interim report Oct 2009.
New 'Click CEOP' browser launched
A brand new, customised 'Click CEOP' browser developed by Microsoft on Internet Explorer 8 in conjunction with the CEOP Centre, was launched on Safer Internet Day, to provide internet users the opportunity to customise their browser, allowing them to get direct access to CEOP's advice pages.
If you use Internet Explorer 8 already or would like to download the browser with the new ClickCEOP add in, you can do so by visiting www.ceop.police.uk/ie8.
By clicking on the 'Click CEOP' add in, the user can access 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 through the thousands of reports it receives.
The CEOP Centre has approached the makers of other web browsers to explore ways in which we can provide similar functions on their respective platforms.
In the meantime, we encourage all young users and their parents to visit us at www.clickceop.net where they can get advice and guidance on a whole range of issues, as well as being able to report directly to our teams any instances of sexual abuse.
Click Clever Click Safe
During February, a new campaign has been launched by the Government and supported by CEOP that aims to give parents and young people an easy code to remember online safety tips.
'Zip it, Block it, Flag it' adverts have been appearing in the national press, online and in outdoor spaces near schools as part of the UK wide campaign called 'Click Clever Click Safe'. The campaign signposts the CEOP online environment where parents can access a one stop shop of advice and information.
The campaign and code was developed by the UK Council for Child Internet Safety (UKCCIS) and was one of the recommendations by Professor Tanya Bryon who led a review into internet safety in 2008. The Review also highlighted that 53% of adults wanted better information about the internet. Government, charities and the computer industry have come together within UKCCIS to create the campaign which encourages parents to keep their children's online passwords private, to teach their children to block people who bully or frighten them and to regularly ask if they have seen anything online that has upset them.
New CEOP resources for 11 - 16 year olds
As well as creating a new age specific resource for the younger children, the CEOP Centre has also updated the www.thinkuknow.co.uk website and in particular the area for 11 - 16's. There is a whole host of new advice and guidance available - for both young people and parents including:
- Grooming
- Cyberbullying
- Child trafficking
- Hacking
- Inappropriate web content
- What is sexual abuse?
- Sexting
- Privacy and privacy settings
- Pro anorexia and bulimia sites
- Information on the law
- Different organisations to go to for help.
Encourage your child/ children to visit the site and save it to their favourites, so if they are ever in need of advice and guidance, or need to make a report direct to officers at CEOP they can do so with one click of the mouse.
CEOP Parental email update Evaluation
We are currently in the process of looking at how we can improve this email update for you, to ensure that we are providing you with all the necessary and relevant information you need to help keep your children safe online.
To help us, we would like to encourage you to click on the below link and complete a short survey. It should take no more than three minutes and we would be really grateful for your feedback. The survey is now live and will be until the 31 March 2010.
Please click here to begin the CEOP Parental email update Evaluation:
www.surveymonkey.com/
s/XYMB776.
