As part of the national security awareness campaign, makeITsecure, the government has launched a number of booklets to help parents understand the risks their children face when on the Internet.  The booklets were developed by the Internet Advisory Board and will be made available in hard copy by many of the phone operators.  The Department of Justice has also made the booklets available online;

• Get with IT – a Parents Guide to New Media (PDF – 1.31MB)
• Get with IT – A Parents Guide to Filtering Technologies (PDF – 1.06MB) 
• Get with IT – A Parents Guide to Social-Networking Websites (PDF – 2.73MB) 

I recommend that you encourage friends and colleagues who are parents to get copies of these booklets so they can better understand the environment their children interact in and therefore better protect their children from the potential dangers posed by others on the Internet.  Indeed, even if you think you know everything there is to know about online security and safety, it would be worth your own while to review these booklets to ensure you have covered all the bases.

Also a part of this year’s makeITsecure campaign, a seminar for parents on social networking takes place in the Conrad Hotel on Friday.  The seminar is free and will run from 8:30am until 10am.  It will feature John Carr, an expert on social networking and advisor to the UK government, Dr Rachel O’Connell, Chief Safety Officer, Bebo and Cormac Callanan, ex General Secretary of Inhope and online child safety expert.