Gaming – resources for parents and careers

From privacy to parental controls - resources for parents and carers who want to know more about gaming.

Online gaming- an introduction for parents and carers

Our free leaflet Online gaming - an introduction for parents and carers provides information and advice to help support young people to enjoy online games positively and safely.

This leaflet explores what online gaming is and provides a wealth of safety advice.

The leaflet includes:

• How and where to play online games
• The risks of online games
• Online gaming top tips
• The SMART rules
• FAQs about online gaming
• Links to support and further information

Gaming Hot Topic

Childnet’s ‘gaming hot topic’ looks at some FAQs that parents and carers may have about online gaming, the newest features in modern gaming (including virtual reality and augmented reality), as well as some top tips for safer online gaming. 

Parents’ Guide to Technology

The Parents’ Guide to Technology on the UK Safer Internet Centre website provides information and advice on features, settings and safety tools (such as parental controls) for some of the most commonly used games devices. these includes:

• Nintendo devices (including 2DS, 3DS, Wii and Wii U)
• PlayStation 4, PS Vita, PlayStation 3 and PSP (including PSN)
• Xbox 360 and Xbox One (including Xbox Live)

This also includes a Shoppers’ Checklist for Parents considering a new gaming device for their family.

Ask About Games

AskAboutGames is a joint venture between the VSC Rating Board and games trade body Ukie, run with input and advice from across the games industry. If you have a question about age ratings, or want to discover the best games to play yourself or with your family, AskAboutGames is here to help. Their two minute Video Game Guides also provide information about the content in some of the most popular games.

Useful articles

• All I want for Christmas is an Xbox - Tips for parents this Christmas 
• The real cost of online gaming
• What is gaming? (part one)
• What is gaming (part two) 
• How are age ratings for apps and games rated? 

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Sign up for our SID 2018 regional stakeholder events

Safer Internet Day (SID) sees hundreds of organisations unite to raise awareness of online safety issues and run events and activities right across the UK.

As we prepare for Safer Internet Day 2018 on 6 February 2018, we are hosting a number of regional events for organisations wishing to take part in supporting the day.

The events will be taking place in:

Cardiff on 8th November - more information and register

Edinburgh on 8th December - more information and register

Northern Ireland on 11th December – details to follow soon

Our regional stakeholder events bring together people from a variety of organisations to collaborate and discuss their plans for Safer Internet Day.

They are an opportunity to hear from us at the UK Safer Internet Centre about what the SID 2018 campaign will involve, as well as share ideas with other organisations about how to get involved.

The event is open to any organisation that wants to take part, including:

• Education
• Local Authorities and regional education consortia
• Social Services
• Police
• Third sector organisations
• Members of the children’s workforce
• Corporate organisations

Last year 1,645 organisations in the UK got involved in the day, which reached 42% of UK children aged 8-17 and 7.7 million people on social media.

Please join us at one of our regional planning events and help to make this year’s events bigger than ever.

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The Safer Internet Day 2018 Supporters List is Live

Every Safer Internet Day hundreds of organisations across the UK join the supporters list to share what they are doing to support the day. 

The Safer Internet Day 2018 supporters list is now live, showcasing what organisations are doing to celebrate Safer Internet Day.

The supporters list

Over 1,600 organisations were involved in Safer Internet Day 2017, the number of supporters growing each year from 2011 when there were 70 supporters. 

The supporters list allows organisations to show their support of Safer Internet Day by showcasing the activities that they have planned for the day.

Joining the supporters list

Any UK based organisation can register for a place on the list, this includes:

• Schools / colleges
• Charities
• Companies
• Government
• Local authorities
• Sports teams
• Police
• And many others

Join the supporters list by completing the registration form and your logo will be published on the supporter’s page along with 200 characters of text explaining how your organisation is supporting the day.

For the latest updates

Twitter @UK_SIC

Facebook @saferinternetUK

Follow the hashtag #SID2018

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Sign up for our SID 2018 regional stakeholder events

Safer Internet Day (SID) sees hundreds of organisations unite to raise awareness of online safety issues and run events and activities right across the UK.

As we prepare for Safer Internet Day 2018 on 6 February 2018, we are hosting a number of regional events for organisations wishing to take part in supporting the day.

The events will be taking place in:

Cardiff on 8th November - more information and register

Edinburgh on 8th December - more information and register

Norther Ireland on 11th December – details to follow soon

Our regional stakeholder events bring together people from a variety of organisations to collaborate and discuss their plans for Safer Internet Day.

They are an opportunity to hear from us at the UK Safer Internet Centre about what the SID 2018 campaign will involve, as well as share ideas with other organisations about how to get involved.

The event is open to any organisation that wants to take part, including:

• Education
• Local Authorities and regional education consortia
• Social Services
• Police
• Third sector organisations
• Members of the children’s workforce
• Corporate organisations

Last year 1,645 organisations in the UK got involved in the day, which reached 42% of UK children aged 8-17 and 7.7million people on social media.

Please join us at one of our regional planning events and help to make this year’s events bigger than ever.

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The Safer Internet Day 2018 Supporters List is Live

Every Safer Internet Day hundreds of organisations across the UK join the supporters list to share what they are doing to support the day. 

The Safer Internet Day 2018 supporters list is now live, showcasing what organisations are doing to celebrate Safer Internet Day.

The supporters list

Over 1,600 organisations were involved in Safer Internet Day 2017, the number of supporters growing each year from 2011 when there were 70 supporters. 

The supporters list allows organisations to show their support of Safer Internet Day by showcasing the activities that they have planned for the day.

Joining the supporters list

Any UK based organisation can register for a place on the list, this includes:

• Schools / colleges
• Charities
• Companies
• Government
• Local authorities
• Sports teams
• Police
• And many others

Join the supporters list by completing the registration form and your logo will be published on the supporter’s page along with 200 characters of text explaining how your organisation is supporting the day.

For the latest updates

Twitter @UK_SIC

Facebook @saferinternetUK

Follow the hashtag #SID2018

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Professionals Online Safety update: July - September 2017

The third quarter of the year usually sees a slight dip in calls to the POSH Helpline due to the summer holidays, however this year we have seen a 40% rise in contacts compared to the same period in 2016.

Reputation Management

At the beginning of a new academic year the main type of queries we receive from schools are about reputation, this is due to the various online discussions that take place over the summer coming to light when staff return.

This year has been no different, in fact we’ve seen a 34% rise in contacts about reputational issues based on the same reporting period in 2016.

The focus of complaints has largely centred on changes to school policy. We have dealt with several complex cases involving harassment of individuals where their images or identifiable information during this quarter. We always encourage staff to investigate any allegations, regardless of the way they are raised.

Where complaints become personal and threats are directed at individuals and their images shared without their consent. It’s worth noting that in general social networking sites do not allow targeted abuse of a named individual and there are reporting routes available for this. Anyone who is directly targeted in this way should report it.

If your organisation is looking for help managing its online reputation, SWGfL’s award winning online safety toolkit, Boost, provides a number of support tools to help deal with these challenges.

Abuse of Privacy

Abuse of privacy continues to be a big problem in this quarter: there has been a 350% rise in contacts about it in comparison in to the same reporting period in 2016.

In this quarter shame and humiliation have been the main cause for concern where young people and professionals are impersonated and/or their private information is shared online.

Some of the most popular social networking sites have reporting routes for impersonation and for personal information being shared without consent. We would recommend that anyone who finds themselves victimised in this way reports the issue, if following the report they continue to be targeted we would recommend that they contact the police.

Vigilante Hunters

Following press coverage around police working with vigilante groups to catch sex offenders, we have received a number of contacts about the issue.

A trend that has been brought to our attention recently is of social media accounts that have been set up to livestream footage of when a hunter confronts a suspected sex offender. We have received a number of calls from police forces across the country asking for assistance in removal of this type of footage as it is detrimental to their ongoing investigations.

This has brought about a number of discussions about the moral issues this poses around entrapment, public shaming, human rights and the wellbeing of the person exposed – who may be innocent - as well as that of their family and friends.

There’s not a straightforward answer to this problem from our perspective as removing the video could be removing evidence detrimental to any ongoing police investigation. Also the added complexities around entrapment/ public humiliation can lead to further investigations which we also wouldn’t want to put at risk. Police can request that the hunter(s) remove the footage, but refusal may then mean court proceedings will have to be followed to get the video removed. By the time this happens the viral nature of such footage will mean the damage to the people exposed and their friends and families is already done.

The Future

In light of the Government publishing its Internet Safety Strategy Green Paper recently highlighting the emphasis of a collaborative approach to online safety, it’s important to once again emphasise the importance of continuing to work together with colleagues and partner organisations in the pursuit of keeping everyone safer online. 

If you have any online safety concerns, the Professionals Online Safety Helpline, is on hand to provide members of the children’s workforce with free, independent, expert advice. 

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Advice for professionals about the so-called '48 hour missing challenge'

The following information was accurate at the time of writing

A purported social media challenge, labelled the ‘48 hour missing challenge’, has been reported on by some media, however the UK Safer Internet Centre is not currently aware of any evidence to directly link disappearances with an online challenge.

View from Facebook

We have spoken with our partners at Facebook who are investigating the situation and, as it stands, have found nothing to support the validity of these reports.    

When such stories arise it taps into parents’ fears, causing a ripple effect. This can prompt intrigue among young people that may have the adverse effect of leading them into exploring the very harmful behaviours that we are trying to protect them from.

A sensible approach

We recognise that professionals need to stay up to date with matters that concern the safeguarding of young people and have written this blog with that in mind.

While we encourage discussions about online safety and online challenges in general, our advice to professionals is not to circulate information about specific challenges or initiate conversations around them with parents and young people unless approached directly with a concern. Doing so could lead to perpetuating interest in something, which would be counterproductive.

The latest draft UKCCIS guidance for schools dismisses the use of scare tactics as a way to engage children and parents stating:

“Scare tactics or approaches which label specific sites or apps as being “dangerous” could make sites or apps more appealing and so increase the likelihood of risk taking behaviour by children.”

 “When working with parents, identifying specific apps, games or websites as being “bad” or “safe” could lead to a feeling of complacency. Not only will this approach date incredibly quickly, as different apps come in and out of fashion but adults may also incorrectly believe that by banning children from using a particular app, game or website, they will be safe. This approach does not explore the wider underlying behaviour issues which are likely to occur, regardless of which app, game or website is involved.”

In order to safeguard a young person effectively, professionals must consider all aspects of their life and not let the online elements take sole focus.

Our Advice

One of the key issues raised over online challenges is that of peer pressure. Young people can sometimes be drawn into online challenges because it is what all their friends are doing, and saying no can seem like a very hard thing to do.

We would advise parents and carers to have an open and honest conversation with their children. Ask young people about what they’re seeing online and be prepared to talk about some difficult topics around negative influences online.

For more information about our advice around online challenges visit https://www.saferinternet.org.uk/blog/online-challenges-advice-parents  

If you are a professional working with young people and would like advice about online challenges you can contact the Professionals Online Safety Helpline on 0344 381 4772

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Polls and voting in Instagram Stories

Instagram have unveiled the latest update to Stories. Users can now share polls to measure the opinions of their followers as they vote on questions.

What are Instagram Stories?

Stories are a feature on Instagram which enables users to add an image or video to their Story which their followers can then view. Stories are different from normal Instagram posts as they can only be viewed for 24 hours before they disappear.

Creating a poll

Polls can be added once you have taken a photo or video that you want to share on your Story. This is done by selecting the poll sticker from the stickers tab .

You can then position the poll and fill in the details of your questions, including the two answers for your followers to choose from.

Seeing the results

To see your own poll results, swipe up to open the viewers list for that part of your Story.

In this section of the Story you will be able to see how many votes each poll option has received, and you’ll also see who voted and what option they chose.

After you’ve posted your poll, your friends and followers can immediately start voting and see real time results.

Once someone has voted on your poll, they’ll see which choice is in the lead at any given moment. And if they watch your Story again later, they’ll see the latest results. 

Things to remember

While these polls can be used positively there is potential for them to be misused. There have been reports of people using the polls to ask questions that generate upsetting results (for them or someone else), or people giving questionable answers before realising that they were not anonymous. 

Our advice

• Think how you your answer will make someone feel
  Remember that they will be able to see what you post. If your opinion will hurt someone’s feelings it’s better to not vote.
• Keep it positive.
  Remember that when you ask for people opinions they can be both positive and negative. Keep your polls positive and you will generate positive results.
• Report inappropriate polls
  If you see a Story or poll that you think breaks Instagram terms of service you can report it to Instagram.
• Speak to someone trust
  Speak to a parent or teacher if you are upset or concerned about any polls you see. You can also contact Childline​

Read more about Instagram on our blog:

• Privacy settings on Instagram – what do they mean?

• How to spot advertising on Instagram

• New Instagram tool helps users to look out for their friends

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Childnet Digital Leaders mark the launch of Facebook partnership at 'House of Us' event

The ’House of Us’ event in London is a two-day immersive online safety exhibition showcasing youth voice online as well as the impact of cyberbullying on young people’s lives.

The event marks the start of a new partnership with Facebook, which will enable Childnet to grow the reach and impact of its Childnet Digital Leaders Programme, delivered as part of its work in the UK Safer Internet Centre. 

The ‘House of Us’ event

 

Our Digital Leaders are participating in 'House of Us’, an immersive online safety experience organised by @facebook https://t.co/8rwGXehiKi pic.twitter.com/f1RvDyubT3

— Childnet (@childnet) October 16, 2017

Eight Digital Leader schools will attend the 2 day event, as well as a number of Diana Award Anti-bullying Ambassadors, members of industry, government and other youth organisations.

The event includes a range of interactive activities; you can see what the Digital Leaders from Wath Academy got up to in this livestream.

 

Posted by Childnet International on Monday, 16 October 2017

What happened on day 1 at the House of Us

During the ‘House of Us’ event Karen Bradley, Secretary of State for Department of Culture, Media and Sport, met with the young people to discuss their experiences of being Digital Leaders.

The Digital Leaders also met Antigone Davis, Facebook’s Head of Global Safety. During a Facebook Live video hosted by Mumsnet the Digital Leaders were able to ask her their questions, including what happened when you make a report on Facebook.

The House of Us event showcased the impact that the Digital Leaders have had in their schools.

Poppy, 15, explains how she makes a difference to her school & community by supporting her peers as a digital leader https://t.co/dhzV6oqAvj pic.twitter.com/tQrZCKNM7A

— DCMS (@DCMS) October 16, 2017

Throughout the day the Digital Leaders spoke to journalists, including from BBC and ITV news, and also took part in a live discussion hosted by Mumsnet.

 

All of the Digital Leaders who attended the event showed passion, strong leadership qualities and really helped to create a buzz at the event for everyone who attended. They demonstrated that peer-led education is a fantastic way to get young people and their wider communities involved in online safety issues.

The Digital Leaders on Twitter

Digital Leaders from Tuxford Academy shared their experience of the day on Twitter:

Our students were stupendous ambassadors. Talking to MPs and Facebook representatives.@TuxfordAcademy @childnet #proudteacher pic.twitter.com/QVL1ynyrYr

— Kira (@khagan060692) October 16, 2017

The Digital Leaders from Bangor Academy have said that following their day at the event they are ready to take their training back to their school.

Great day at @facebook training us on staying safe online! Staying in London overnight thanks #Ophelia Well looked after by the @childnet pic.twitter.com/PBx4qnFePs

— Esafe_BASFC (@Esafe_BASFC) October 16, 2017

 

Today even more Digital Leaders will come to the event for day two of ‘House of Us’; their activities throughout the day will be showcased on the Childnet Twitter account.

We’d also love to hear from other Digital Leaders across the country about their activities, why not ask your Digital Leaders to fill in this picture, telling us what they like about being a Digital Leader, and Tweet us to let us know what they say. 

digital leaders

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Facebook announces new partnership with the Childnet Digital Leaders Programme

Childnet is teaming up with Facebook and the Diana Award to deliver a project that will see thousands of young people across the UK trained as peer educators. 

This support from Facebook will enable us to grow the reach and impact of our Childnet Digital Leaders Programme, which we deliver as part of our work in the UK Safer Internet Centre – a partnership of three leading charities, Childnet, the Internet Watch Foundation (IWF) and South West Grid for Learning (SWGfL) – with a shared mission to make the internet a better place for children and young people.

Putting young people at the heart of online safety

Our pupil-powered online safety programme empowers young people to be Digital Leaders so they can educate their peers, parents and teachers about staying safe online.

With interactive training and an exciting online community, the Childnet Digital Leaders Programme helps schools put young people at the heart of their whole-school approach and ensures internet safety learning is fun and effective.

Poppy, a Childnet Digital Leader from Wath Comprehensive School in Rotherham, said:

“I have really enjoyed being a Digital Leader. It has given me confidence in what I can achieve for both the school and myself.  The most enjoyable part of the programme is planning events or creating posters, as you know that you’re making a difference within the school and wider community.  Over the two years that I have had this role, I have noticed positive changes around the school.  It feels like we have made the school a better place, and I know we will continue to do so in the future.”

Growing the reach and impact of the Childnet Digital Leaders Programme

Since launching in 2016 the programme has reached primary and secondary schools across the UK, demonstrating how trained peer educators can achieve a real impact within their school communities. This new partnership will enable us to train thousands more young people as Digital Leaders and offer exciting new opportunities to schools involved.

Will Gardner, CEO of Childnet and Director of the UK Safer Internet Centre, said:

“We’re excited about the beginning of this new partnership with Facebook and The Diana Award to reach even more schools across the UK. We launched the Childnet Digital Leaders Programme two years ago as part of our work in the UK Safer Internet Centre, with support from Facebook and the European Commission. Since then we have trained thousands of peer educators in schools across the UK using our innovative digital platform and we are constantly inspired by the amazing activities they deliver to make a really positive difference in their school communities. This new partnership will enable us to grow the reach and impact of the programme – offering exciting new opportunities for schools involved in the programme and empowering many more young people to become Digital Leaders and inspire their peers to use technology safely and positively.”

The announcement comes as the Government’s Internet Safety Strategy highlights the ‘vital’ role that peer education can play in making the UK the safest place to be online.

To celebrate the launch, Childnet Digital Leaders from across the UK are participating in ‘House of Us’ an immersive online safety experience in London organised by Facebook.

Antigone Davis, Head of Global Safety Policy at Facebook said:

“This partnership is the next step in our ongoing effort to help young people build safe and supportive communities. Over the last decade, we have developed a wealth of innovative resources on Facebook that enable young people to look after themselves and their peers, from our updated Safety Centre, to our online reporting tools. By offering trained digital safety ambassadors to every UK secondary school we are now taking this commitment offline too.

She continued:

“Our immersive House of Us experience to launch the new partnership has been created with young people for young people. It aims to bring UK school children together to explore online safety issues in the real world in a safe, supportive environment. We look forward to getting feedback and input from young participants that can add even more peer-led ideas to the programmes in the months to come.”
 

Find out more at www.childnet.com/digital-leaders

For press enquiries please contact :

FacebookSafety@teneobluerubicon.com

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Government publishes Internet Safety Strategy Green Paper

Today the Government has published a consultation that will help shape the UK’s strategies around online safety.

The Internet Safety Strategy Green Paper looks at how we can ensure Britain is the safest place in the world to be online. The Strategy considers the responsibilities of companies to their users, the use of technical solutions to prevent online harms and government’s role in supporting users.

The consultation covers various aspects of online safety including:

• the introduction of a social media code of practice, transparency reporting and a social media levy
• technological solutions to online harms
• developing children’s digital literacy
• support for parents and carers

A welcome step

The UK Safer Internet Centre welcomes this strategy and we look forward to engaging in the consultation to help shape these initiatives to protect and empower children and young people and those who support them.

Statement from the UK Safer Internet Centre:

“As the national centre dedicated to making the UK the safest place in the world to be online, the UK Safer Internet Centre, a partnership of three charities - Childnet, the Internet Watch Foundation and South West Grid for Learning – welcomes the Government’s Internet Safety Strategy, which reflects our own work and priorities.  

“Technology plays a fundamental role in everyone’s lives presenting both opportunities and threats. Our aim, like this strategy, is to promote national collaboration around these issues to deliver positive change among children and young people right across the UK - as well as those who support them - through education and increased awareness of the safe and responsible use of technology.”

Have your say

The Government is inviting responses from organisations and individuals until 7 December.

Find out more and respond to the consultation. 

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Top Tips for encouraging mental wellbeing in the workplace

To recognise World World Mental Health Day, Ben Bolton, Digital Resilience Research Lead at SWGfL, reflects on Mental Health in the Workplace. In this blog he offers his top tips on how education settings can make sure staff are getting the support they need to thrive as they face increased pressures and targets.

Stress in the workplace is having a huge impact on mental health and it is not something we can afford to ignore. This is unlikely to go away of its own accord. We will need to take positive action to reverse this trend. Whilst there might be a cost associated with this action, the cost of not doing so will be far more severe.

Prevention

As with anything, prevention is always better than cure so be proactive, and set the standards for others to follow:

• Develop a Mental Health Policy – having a concrete policy reassures employees that their organisation cares about their wellbeing. Maybe involve staff in developing the policy.
   
• Engage other key stakeholders in the conversation e.g. parents and pupils. The more widely this is understood, the better.
   
• Create a culture of openness and awareness by encouraging people to talk about mental health. Make sure you model this behaviour and show that vulnerability, asking for help is OK… better than that, it is expected.
   
• Invest in training or awareness raising. If staff feel line managers are knowledgeable about mental health issues, they are far more likely to talk. Also, you will no doubt find issues are identified earlier as triggers will be known.
   
• Get to know staff. The better we know our teams the more chance we have of identifying when things are getting tough. We will notice behaviour changes and patterns.
   
• Communicate openly. Use staff briefings to assert the message. Find out what the reality is and how it can be improved. As a leader, your role is to make sure you allow your staff to be well and be their best. Not because of the bottom line benefits, but because it is a worthy end in itself… rest assured, performance will follow.
   
• Introduce regular staff discussion or even clinical supervision for staff to ensure they have an outlet and a means of discussing issues.
   
• Your goal is to make it OK to talk openly, to ensue this issue does not go underground and fester. The ways in which to achieve this are endless.

Intervention

Despite best efforts, there will be occasions when staff feel overwhelmed by the pressures upon them. If this happens it is important to:

• Identify a go-to person. We spend a lot of time making sure young people know who to turn to in a crisis, staff need the same support. Every member of staff should have someone else looking out for them and vice versa. The ultimate aim is that this won’t be needed because everyone will be looking out for each other.
• Check that you have an Employee Assistance Programme in place to provide additional support for staff if they’re having difficulties inside or outside the workplace – these can offer a range of services from counselling through to legal advice.
• Seek the advice of your health partners. Your Employee Assistance Programme will have plenty of resources available to help your managers become more comfortable with the issues relating to mental health.

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Privacy settings on Instagram – what do they mean?

From default settings to private profiles, we look at privacy on Instagram.

Public by default – but you can choose to be private

On Instagram your profile is set to public by default, this means that anyone can see the photos on your Instagram profile. Public posts can appear in searches, whether someone is exploring a certain hashtag or location you have used. Public posts can also appear in the ‘Explore’ tab.

You can change these settings by making your account private, this means that only followers who you approve can see your profile and posts. This also means your posts won’t appear in in the Photos tab of Search and Explore, or on a hashtag or location pages.

Making your account private

You can only make your account private on the Instagram app on mobile, and not from a desktop computer. To set your posts to private from the Instagram app:

1. Go to your profile by tapping 
2. Tap 
3. Turn on the Private Account setting

Things to keep in mind about private profiles:                                              

The Instagram Help Centre includes a list of things users need to remember once they make their profile private:

• Private posts you share to other social networks may be visible to the public depending on your privacy settings for those networks. For example, a post you share to Twitter that was set to private on Instagram may be visible to the people who can see your Twitter posts.
• Once you make your posts private, people will have to send you a follow request to see your posts, your followers list or your following list.
• Follow requests appear in  Activity, where you can approve or ignore them.
• If someone was already following before you set your posts to private and you don’t want them to see your posts, you can block them.
• People can send a photo or video directly to you even if they’re not following you.
• Anyone can still see your profile picture and biography, even if they don’t follow you.

Who can like or comment on my photos and videos?

If your account is public, anyone can like or comment on your photos and videos. If you want to prevent a specific person from liking or commenting on your posts, you can block them.

If your account is private, only the people you’ve approved as followers will be able to like or comment on your photos and videos.

For more information visit the Instagram safety centre.

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Register as a Safer Internet Day 2018 supporter

Get involved in Safer Internet Day 2018 with new campaign toolkit and supporter registration!

Schools and organisations are now able to register as a Safer Internet Day supporter to share what they are doing for the day, and get more information and resources in the SID2018 campaign toolkit!

Last year 1,645 organisations joined the Safer Internet Day 2017 supporters list, making it the biggest UK Safer Internet Day yet!

And now we need your help to make Safer Internet Day 2018 even bigger and better!

Join the supporters list

You can join organisations from across the UK by signing up to the Safer Internet Day Supporters list and share what you are doing for #SID2018.

Once registered you will receive a certificate to show your support for the day.

Register now! 

Need inspiration?

Take a look at last year’s supporters list to see what organisations across the UK did to celebrate Safer Internet Day.

You could also:

• Use your networks or run activities to reach out to children, young people, parents, carers, teachers, professionals and wider!
• Join the social media campaign and keep an eye on the hashtag #SID2018 (more information coming soon!)

Help spread the word

Reach out to the schools and organisations you know to encourage them to get involved in Safer Internet Day 2018 and get them to sign up as supporters.

Campaign Toolkit

The Campaign Toolkit contains all of the things you need to show your support of Safer Internet Day.

Download our Campaign Toolkit to help you spread the word about Safer Internet Day. This toolkit includes:

Template text of our key messages and information

• The Key Safer Internet Day messages 
• Key Safer Internet Day information
• The SID 2018 Logo 
• Banners for Facebook, Twitter and your email footer .

You can also tweet the following messages:

The Safer Internet Day 2018 supporters list is now open! Register your school or organisation now http://bit.ly/SID18Supporter @UK_SIC #SID2018

Get ready to Create, Connect and Share Respect for Safer Internet Day 2018 on the 6th February! @UK_SIC #SID2018 www.saferinternetday.org.uk

Stay updated

Sign up for the Safer Internet Day newsletter and keep up to date with all the latest Safer Internet Day news and announcements!

You can also follow us on social media on Twitter (@uk_sic) and on Facebook

Safer Internet Day

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Children’s Commissioner looks at young people’s rights on social media

The Children’s Commissioner has released a new set of guidelines that hope to ‘jargon bust’ terms and conditions and teach young people about their rights on social media sites.

The guidance

The new guides, published on TES,  are one page documents explaining what the terms and conditions mean for the social media sites Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp, Snapchat and YouTube.

Each of the guides are also broken down into three sections – ‘our rules’, ‘your rights’ and ‘our rights’.

The guides include explanations about the age a user need to be to use the services, the rights you have while using the site (for instance, the right to complain or ask for content to be removed), as well as information about the types of data these websites might collect about you.

Why is it needed?

The guidance is developed from the Children Commissioner’s Growing up Digital Report which tested the terms and conditions of Instagram with a group of young people and found that many struggled to understand these.

According to a BBC article on the subject , Anne Longfield, Children’s Commissioner for England, said:

“Children have absolutely no idea that they are giving away the right to privacy or the ownership of their data or the material they post online”.

Drawbacks of simplifying terms

However, it has been pointed out that simplifying terms may not always be helpful.

In the same BBC News article, Robert Lands, from law firm Howard Kennedy, said:

“There are a number of reasons that terms and conditions are quite long. It’s not to confuse people, it’s the opposite. When you need to explain difficult concepts, sometimes it takes words to do it.”

Instagram has said that there were inaccuracies in the simplified version of its policies, according to the article.

“It is wrong to suggest we share young people’s personal information, contact details or content of direct messages with advertisers without their permission. Nor do we share details of who people are messaging with.”

Read the full guides here

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Helpline founder shortlisted for Hero award

Women in IT are sometimes considered a bit of a rarity - and while there may be some truth in that, there are many women making a real difference in the industry every day, and Laura is one of them.

The Women in IT Excellence Awards recognise and highlight the important role that women play in the IT industry as entrepreneurs, innovators, leaders and pioneers.

Keeping people safe online

Laura has been shortlisted as a result of her tireless work over the last six years keeping people safe online. During that time she has spoken up for those without a voice, fought for funding for services that work, helped shape the terms of the biggest social media companies to keep their users safe, and offered support to the most vulnerable internet users.

In her role Laura oversees all the helpline services and online safety operations at SWGfL and the UK Safer Internet Centre. She has set up two helplines from scratch, the Professionals Online Safety Helpline (POSH) and the Revenge Porn (RP) Helpline.

Advice

POSH supports the entire UK children’s workforce with online safety issues and the children they work with. The RP Helpline supports UK victims of non-consensual image based abuse (so called “Revenge Porn”).

Both helplines offer free non-judgemental advice and support, work with social media companies to remove harmful digital content, and provide advice to police, industry and government about keeping internet users safe.

Last year Angela Clarke dedicated her book, Watch Me to Laura and her team, which reads “Dedicated to Laura Higgins and to all those who work tirelessly to help and advocate change at www.revengepornhelpline.org.uk”.

Laura said:

“I feel incredibly honoured to have been shortlisted for this award. I consider myself lucky to be able to work in an industry which I am passionate about and to fight for causes that I believe in.

“Awards like this play an important role in society as they recognise the hard work of the many women working in the IT industry, as well as demonstrate to young women that they should never see their gender as a barrier to whatever it is they want to achieve.”

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