To mark the 8 February, Safer Internet Day, a British organization dedicated to the protection of children on the Internet – CEOP – produced a ten-minute video about child Internet safety, warning about the possible problems deriving from sending out erotic photos.
Exchanging messages with sex contents, popularly known as sexting, is one of the teenagers’ frequent activities.
“We know that young people increasingly use technology not only to keep in touch with their friends but also to explore their own sexuality”, says Peter Davis from CEOP.
“Today, it is very simple to send a photo via email or text messages and what we observe is an increasing number of boys and girls who send their erotic photos and do not think about the consequences”, says Davis and adds that they often find out that their photo has been forwarded to many other persons.
CEOP warns young people that once the photos are sent the control over what happens to them is irretrievably lost and that it is unknown where they may end up.
An advice they give to teenagers is that they should not send out a photo if they would not otherwise print in many copies, share with their schoolmates and show it to their parents.
Except for this short film that should stimulate young people to think about the dangers of sexting, Child Exploitation and Online Protection Center carried out other important actions in the past.
During the past year they launched the application ClickCeop based on the principle of the so called alarm button which the users can click in case they feel they are in danger on the Internet. It is designed for 13 to 18 years old teenagers.
Actions intended to improve children safety on the Internet in our country mostly relate to opening of digital cabinets and quizzes about safety which are designed for pupils. Minister for Communications, Jasna Matic stated for B92 that the safety of children is at a good level and that severe abuses in our country are rare.
It is recommended that children under age of 12 do not use the Internet without being supervised.
Internet B92, Tuesday 8 February 2011
http://www.b92.net/tehnopolis/internet.php?yyyy=2011&mm=02&nav_id=491360