Keeping personal information private
Childnet works in 3 main areas of Access, Awareness, Protection & Policy.
- Access and promoting quality content
Helping children and young people to use the net constructively, showcase quality content and enable others to use our resources and develop new projects.
- Awareness and advice
Helping children and young people acquire new "net literacy" skills and giving advice to industry, organisations, parents, teachers and carers about Internet and mobile safety.
- Protection and policy
Working with others to help protect children from being exploited in the online environments provided by new technologies as well as seeking to initiate and respond to policy changes.
It is all too easy to divulge personal information online; this applies to adults and children alike. Equally, in the course of a mobile phone conversation, the informal discussion may all too easily cause the user to reveal too much about themselves.
Becta highlights the issue "Initial concern for children was largely centred on their use of chat rooms and the possibility that young people could be 'groomed' by those with a malicious intent. This is made possible by the amount of personal information that children can disclose online allowing predators to manipulate children by becoming their online friend, often hiding their true age and identity and developing close friendships by pretending to share common interests in music, personalities, sport or other activities for which children have expressed a specific liking."
"Anyone who uses a chat room or instant messaging service should be careful about the amount of personal information they reveal to the people they are chatting to. This is particularly important for young people to remember - they may feel they know the person they are chatting to very well, especially if talking about intimate or sensitive subjects.
'Personal information' extends beyond the obvious details such as name, age and location, to information such as extra-curricular activities, names of friends, or details that may be particular to your location - all these details can be pieced together to form a very detailed profile of an individual. This could potentially lead to an individual being identified or even contacted in person.
If registration is necessary to use chat or instant messaging services, pupils should ensure that they give as little personal information as possible, and should look for clear privacy statements stating that the information they provide will not be made publicly available. It is always best to decline to appear in member directories or similar, where your details will be made available for all to see."
Check out Ofcom's advice on online privacy
Young-people-want-advice-about-online-privacy
For more information on keeping information private and good practice when on line check out:
Kidsmart social networking guide
Childnet blog safety guide
Cybercafe
Digizen social networking guide
thinkuknow social networking guide for parents
Last Modified:
19/01/2012 09:39:01
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