It’s Safer Internet Day 2012 – find out how to get involved

Tuesday 7th February is Safer Internet Day, an international day each year to promote safer and more responsible use of online technology.

Safer Internet Day 2012 is co-ordinated by the UK Safer Internet Centre – a partnership between Childnet International, the South West Grid for Learning, and the Internet Watch Foundation – and this year is an opportunity to encourage users young and old to “discover the digital world together safely”. An inspirational array of activity is taking place nationwide, coordinated by the UK Safer Internet Centre, with all activities focusing attention on empowering all generations to safely benefit from the opportunities that the internet offers.

Everyone should enjoy their time online, but it’s also a good idea to know the risks – so we’ve created a page with safety tips and advice on how to avoid threats like viruses and spyware, how to keep your children safe online and how to avoid online fraud and the latest scams.

Discovering the digital world together…safely

This year, Safer Internet Day is focused on connecting different generations to educate each other about Internet Safety. Whether you are 5, 40 or 75 years old, whether you use the internet once a month or several times a day – everyone can help spread the message and help make sure that every child is safe online.

The online world is a unique place for people of all ages to learn together and from each other, especially about online safety. Tech savvy youngsters can teach their parents and grandparents how to use new technologies, while grandparents can draw on their life experiences to advise younger generations on how to stay safe online, as they discover the digital world together.

Did you know?…

29% of children have had contact with people online they have not met before (EU Kids)

One in six 8-12 year olds have met an online contact face to face

56% of parents whose child has received nasty or hurtful messages online are not aware of this

Only 37% of parents have imposed parental controls or filters (OFCOM’s tracker survey)

One in six 11-16 year olds have received peer to peer sexual messages or images

A third of children aged 8-12 with home internet access have a profile on a site with a supposed 13 year old limit: but only just under half of children keep their profile private

Get involved

Watch the Parents and Carers’ Guide to the Internet
CEOP’s (Child Exploitation & Online Protection Centre) Parents & Carers’ Guide to the Internet is a great way to find out about bringing up children in the online world. It can help you stay up-to-date with the technology your children are using, understand how to keep your children safe online, and know what action to take and where to find help if things should go wrong.

You can also take steps to review the parental controls and privacy settings you have at home, or take an extra step and help someone you know get online through our Get IT Together programme.

• > Review your internet security software, privacy settings and parental controls and take the www.saferinternet.org quiz to find out how internet-savvy you are
• > If you’re a BT Broadband customer, get free parental control software and download our free internet security software if you have BT Broadband Option 2,3 or BT Infinity
• > Help someone get online safely with Get IT Together

Spread the word

Once you’ve made sure you’re doing all you can to protect your kids online, why not help spread the word? You can encourage a family member, friend or colleague to review their internet security software, privacy settings and parental controls – or send them the link to this page to watch the Parents and Carers’ Guide to the Internet.

Stay safe online

We’re working with key child safety organisations to ensure that children are protected from danger on the internet. We have won awards for our online CSR activities and are proud to be involved in Safer Internet Day with our partners.

Internet safety & computer security

Learn how to keep you and your family safe online – from avoiding scams to virus protection, parental controls and more.

Find out more

Our partners

We’re also working with the following partners to bring you get the best information on staying safe online: