On 12 October 2010 a sectoral conference “Safe Internet for Russian Children” was held in Moscow. The Conference was co-sponsored by the Foundation for Internet Development, the Foundation Friendly Runet, and the Ministry for Telecom and Mass Communications.
Mr. A.A. Soldatov, Deputy Minster of Telecom and Mass Communications, Mr. E.L. Yuriev, Counselor on social issues to the RF President, and Mr. K.V. Malofeev, member of the Board of Directors of OAO “Sviazinvest” welcomed the conference participants. Mr. E.I. Bespalov moderated the conference agenda. “A year and a half ago when the idea of holding the Year of Safe Internet for Russian Children popped up, we could not even imagine that so much would be done in this respect. We have received support from public and business organizations. People at last realized that telling children about threats in the Internet was not a waste of time,” – noted Mr. Soldatov.
Mr. L.L. Todorov, head of government relations of the CC for ccTLD. RU emphasized that, “The CC’s principal objective lies in securing children’s safety in the Internet by providing any type of support to organizations which directly address these issues. We cooperate with the Foundation for Internet Development and with the Foundation Friendly Runet, among others; moreover, we develop our own projects aimed at fostering the culture of communication in the Internet. The CC’s activity is focused on education of adults. It is critical to raise parents and teachers’ awareness of existing threats in the Net so that they could protect children from them. We call it “education of educators”. In the framework of this initiative we, for instance, assisted with launching several open classes on safer Internet in schools, supported a training course for teachers and librarians “I learn to blog!”, and are going to team up with the Yaroslavl Center for Telecommunications and Information Systems in education to hold a conference “The Internet and School. Generation .РФ”.
Ms. G.V. Soldatova, director of the Foundation for Internet Development, made a presentation with a focus on psychological health of the digital generation. Ms. Soldatova cited a stunning fact: yet back in 2008, that the Internet addiction in China was officially attributed to mental affections, which implies rather radical means, including rehabilitation in paid labor camps. “Russian doctors long wanted to include Internet addiction in the list of affections which, for example, includes alcoholic and drug addiction, - Ms. Soldatova noted. – In all likelihood Internet addiction will be added to the list as early as in 2012.”
Mr. A.Yu. Yarnykh, head of Internet decisions department of “Kaspersky Laboratory”, Mr. A.V. Panov, managing partner of “Hosting Community” and Mr. A.M. Tolstoshein, head of department of the Federal Drug Control Service of the RF, among others, spoke at the conference.
Based on the conference outputs, the participants have passed a resolution on creation of a single body to coordinate public and sectoral initiatives in the sphere of cybersecurity for children and young people with the participation of government representatives.
A charity auction of children’s creative works done within the framework of various contests dedicated to the Year of Safe Internet in Russia was held at the closing stage of the conference.
