Safer Internet Day kicks off

British parents have been found to do the most to protect their children when online

The sixth annual Safer Internet Day kicks off across Europe today, with the aim of promoting safer use of online technologies and mobile phones, and fighting illegal or harmful content on the web.

The initiative, which is promoted by the INSAFE network of European Safer Internet Centres and co-funded by the EU, will see the launch of an anti cyber-bullying campaign by the European Commission.

And at a flagship event in Luxembourg the major social networking sites will sign an agreement promising to better manage the potential risks of the internet to children.

In new research from the London School of Economics released to coincide with the event, British parents were found to do the most to protect their children online, with 77 per cent saying they use web filtering technology.

“These findings are good news for British parents - it seems that the safety message is getting through," said Sonia Livingstone of the LSE's EU Kids Online initiative.

"One reason for this is that the UK has had a sustained and successful series of campaigns to make children and parents more aware of the possible dangers, while some other European countries have a long way to go."

In related news, new research from security vendor SmoothWall found 85 per cent of school IT staff report internet abuse as their number one problem.

Seventy per cent of respondents said that Shadow Surfing, or anonymous proxy abuse, is the single biggest threat to pupil safety online.

“Schools need to understand that students are becoming increasingly sophisticated in their browsing attempts and most are now able to bypass basic content filtering products in order to access materials or information they require," said SmoothWall product manager Tom Newton.

Other vendors used the occasion to drive home the message that consumers need to secure their PCs before surfing the web.

“This is particularly critical given the continued growth we’ve observed in the volume of online threats," said Paul Lipman, senior vice president and general manager of Webroot’s Desktop Business Unit.

"For example, in 2008, Webroot Threat Research tracked a 44.5 per cent increase in the number of internet threats compared with the volume we saw in 2007.”