The Malta Communications Authority has issued a number of guidelines for the safer use of the Internet, particularly by children.
The recommendations were made to mark Safer Internet Day, which will be marked internationally tomorrow.
The MCA said that it collaborates with a number of other national agencies, including the police, Agenzija Appogg, the Children's Commissioner and the Directorate for Educational Services to promote the safer use of the internet.
As a general rule, it said, parents should adopt the same precautionary measures they do in the physical world. It said that parents should:
- Always keep the computer in a room occupied by the whole family and not in a bedroom;
- Have regular discussions with the child about the material he/she is sending and receiving over the Internet and the problems that could arise;
- Discuss how best to behave online, privacy settings that should be set up, what information is safe to share, the importance of asking friends' permission before uploading photos, who to trust and how to go about this; and
- Install filtering software that blocks content that can be harmful to minors, although this should not be considered as an effective substitute to adult supervision.
"The Internet is an excellent tool that most of us cannot imagine living without. But like everything else, it is important that it is used well. As much as it is engrained in our culture to look left, right and left again when crossing the road, not to talk to strangers or to respect the dignity of our fellow people, we need to create a "culture of security" amongst online users that will result in greater respect to our ‘cyber-buddies' too."