Unity crucial to keep kids safe from Internet evils

SHARED responsibility among the public, particularly parents, educators, librarians and other supervisors of children, as well as the high-tech industry and law enforcement, is the answer to securing the Internet to make it safe for children.

Assistant Chief Executive IT (Information Technology) Industry Development Group at the Authority for Info-communications Technology (AiTi), Wallace Koh Hoe Aik said that each of the mentioned group of individuals provide a layer of protection and security for the safety of children online.

"Children are valuable assets and form the basic foundation of every country's future development. It is therefore the responsibility of every adult, parent and the government to ensure that we nurture and protect them while they are growing up so that they are well-educated and groomed in a proper manner, especially when they are facing the innovative technology that has evolved into the mobile Internet in the 21st century information age," he said during the World Telecommunication and Information Society Day (WTISD) Essay Writing Competition award presentation ceremony yesterday at AiTi.

"Computers have brought untold benefits to children around the world with increasing numbers of connected householders each year. But while the perceived goodness of connected computers has been brought to society, we must be aware that it has also brought along new and disturbing issues, especially where children are concerned," said Koh, explaining that such concerns include addiction to online gaming, online fraud, pornography, violence, cyber-bullying, racism and other unhealthy influences.

With this in mind, AiTi organised the essay writing competition with the objective of stimulating, educating and generating different perspectives and opinions on the risks and dangers of ICT (Information Communication Technology) usage among youths.

"We hope to instil the awareness of cyber-safety and security among them as well as parents," said the assistant chief executive.

The competition, which received a total of 94 entries, comprised two categories. The first, titled "Cyberspace is not secure for children", was open to lower secondary students while upper secondary students had to write on the topic "Cyber-chatting is sedentary and not healthy".

Taking the top spot in the first category was Cynthia Wang Cin Yae from Kuala Belait's Chung Hwa Middle School while Mohammad Hadi Raihan Hj Khalid from Kuala Belait's Pg Jaya Negara Pg Hj Abu Bakar Secondary School emerged victorious in the upper secondary category.

Recent surveys conducted by the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) Council state that over 60 per cent of children and teenagers talk in chatrooms on a daily basis.

It was also reported that three in four children online are willing to share personal information about themselves and their family in exchange for goods and sevices and that one in five children will be targeted by a predator or paedophile each year. The Brunei Times