Dromore NS Web Safety Links Page 1

Links to other resources on Internet Safety

Internet Advisory Board - Ireland
On an Irish Internet Safety site this has to be the first link but, unfortunately, it is disappointing. There is some useful content, notably under the FAQ and Publications sections but other areas suffer greatly from design overpowering content. There are several faults under the general heading of "Links" and it is particularly disappointing to find that the link to DotSafe, one of the most important European projects of this kind in which Ireland is involved, is wrongly coded. Unfortunately, there is significantly worse to be found under the heading of so-called "child-friendly" search engines. As the site approaches its first anniversary, it is well past time that the bugs that have been in it from day one were put right.

Internet Content Rating Association
If you have ever looked at the Content section of Internet Explorer's options and wondered what it was all about you will find all the answers here. These are the people charged with labeling websites according to their content. This, they claim, has the dual benefit of preserving freedom of speech while allowing parents and others to decide what may be displayed on their screen. Predictably, it does not have much to say on the downside of such systems but within its own terms the site is very good. So it should be; the ICRA and its predecessor, the RSAC, have been working on this since 1994 - the Internet equivalent of the Dark Ages.

Children's Online Privacy Protection Act
This act came into effect in the United States in April, 2000. This article summarises a report on its effects one year on. The report comes from the Center for Media Education which is a non-profit organisation dealing with a wide range of aspects of dangers to young people in the Information Age. Like many such interim reports, it indicates some progress but points the way towards the further needs. The full report is available in PDF format from the main CME homepage.

Internet Safety Group (New Zealand)
Just as there are many dangers on the Internet, so there are many sites detailing the dangers. It is in the nature of this exercise that there will be much repetition between sites and this one is no exception. However, this one is unusual in a couple of the resources it offers. It has the results of a very interesting study on girls' use of the Internet. If the indications of casual contact with people they meet in chatrooms are generally true in other countries they would certainly be worrying. There is also good legal advice for school managements on their responsibility regarding students' exposure to unsuitable material on the Internet

SafetyNet
This is part of a website produced by the Dept of Education in Victoria, Australia. The overall site deals very comprehensively with the possibilities of technology for classrooms from email to video-conferences. This particular section of the site is, as the name suggests, concerned with potential dangers. The approach is rather legalistic, even in the disclaimers from the site designers themselves but schools looking for sample AUP's or parental agreement letters will find a wide range of choices here. There is a good article on 'Netiquette' which also deals well with Net ethics. An online memorandum on offensive materials places digital dangers in their proper context.