Plans to make internet safer for children

The IT Ministry will soon launch a series of actions with a number of partners to increase the safety of the internet. The actions shall include legislative, procedural and awareness measures, Jesmond Saliba, spokesman for the ministry, said.

"The holistic legislative framework that effectively addresses any kind on technology-related abuse, including that related to internet safety and the children, is a basic building block in the government's agenda in this field," he said.

He said the government will also be looking at improving the procedures adopted in the purchasing of technology by minors.

In addition, a series of actions will also be coordinated so as to embark on an extensive awareness campaign on the subject.

IT Minister Austin Gatt recently expressed concern about the threat abusers pose for children. "Technology is a crucial tool to acquire knowledge and education, to express one's own cultural identity and strengthen the basis for community integration, to earn a living, to live free of fear from vehicles of oppression from governments unrestrained by the rule of law... but we cannot afford to gloss over the dangers to our children that are vulnerable to the abuse of those who are willing to use any means to harm them," Malta's ambassador in Tunisia Tania Vella said, on behalf Minister Gatt, during the World Summit on the Information Society held in Tunis earlier this month.

A survey published by the National Statistics Office last month, Trends In Internet Browsing Among Students, revealed that one out of every five schoolchildren meet a stranger after having chatted online.

Over half of the girls said they have been asked to meet persons they met online, while more than 61 per cent of students between Form 3 and Form 5 have been asked to meet.

A total of 21 per cent who chat online proceeded to meet their internet acquaintances, the study found. Of these, 35 per cent were between seven and 13 years of age. Of those who have chatted with strangers and met them personally, 23 per cent had met one person alone, while more than one third met two or more persons alone. On the other hand, 22 per cent of students admitted they have opted out of an appointment because they were scared.

The survey also indicated a discrepancy between the parents' perception of their children's computer habits and what really happens.

"We are right to commend the educational and cultural power of the internet and how this opens up new prospects for our children," Dr Vella said during the summit, which was attended by over 19,000 visitors. Protecting children everywhere must become a genuine priority if the knowledge society is not to become a place where children are not safe and are exposed to the sophisticated and harrowing abuse of technology-using perpetrators, she said.

Mr Saliba said: "The Ministry has long recognised the importance of internet safety and a taskforce to advise the government on the issue was set up in 2002".

Following this, a number of the taskforce recommendations where implemented. These included an education and awareness campaign, mainly conducted in schools, targeting the children, parents and teachers. Seminars were organised by the schools in collaboration with the Department of Technology in Education. Training to the trainers delivering the content to the children, parents and teachers was provided as part of the agreement which the IT Ministry had with Childnet International, the leading UK-based non-profit organisation which coordinated various actions to ensure safe internet use by the young, Mr Saliba said.

Another initiative was the submission for EU funding for the extension of Supportline 179 so as to cater for internet-related queries and reports of abuse through the online channel.