Prague, July 13 (CTK) – Czech children often are not told how to behave in a way to avoid risks in communication on the social networking websites and their behaviour on the Internet has recently become even more risky, daily Lidove noviny (LN) writes yesterday, citing a Palacky University survey.
A majority of Czech children would give their full name (63 percent) and their e-mail address (53 percent) to an unknown person with whom they would chat on the Internet, the survey showed.
In 2013, 53 percent and 41 percent, respectively, were ready to do these things.
This figure is alarming, the paper writes, adding that mostly parents and teachers are to blame for the bad situation.
Within the survey that Palacky University conducted for four years, 28,000 students of primary schools filled in a questionary about their behaviour on the Internet. Nearly all Czech students have Internet access.
Kamil Kopecky, from Palacky University, told LN that parents should teach their children the principles of safety on the Internet, same as they teach their children how to cross the street and other traffic rules.
The university tries to improve the situation by sending experts to primary schools, who work with both the children and teachers, and by operating a website for families focusing on safety on the Internet.
There are no simple solutions: parents who ban the access to risky websites for their children cannot avoid the potential risks in this way, the paper writes.
IT expert Vaclav Haken said many children have better computer skills than their parents and they have Internet access in their mobile phones, at school or from a computer of a friend.
The Education Ministry admitted that teachers did not have sufficient knowledge of the Internet and the information and communication technologies (ICT).
The ministry has offered special courses for the teachers, but teachers show little interest in them. This is why experts visit schools, LN writes.
Among those who have been trying to make children more aware of the risks involved in Internet communication is the Google company.
Two years ago, Google started the Web Rangers project, within which students aged from 13 to 15 teach children of the same age how to safely operate on the social websites and the Internet, the paper writes.
According to the Palacky University survey, 35 percent of children had experience with somebody breaking into a personal account, 11 percent had problems due to such violation and 14 percent were ridiculed by the distribution of their pictures from the Internet.
Eight percent of children shared their intimate photos and the same number had experience with Internet blackmail, the paper writes.
Thirty-four percent experienced verbal attacks and 18 percent experienced threats via the Internet.
kva/t/rtj
