Latvian Safer Internet Centre

Location

Riga, Latvia

Website

https://www.drossinternets.lv

About the organisation

The work of Latvian Safer Internet Centre (SIC) is coordinated by Latvian Internet Association with partners The State Inspectorate for Protection of Children's Rights and The Local Government Training Centre. The Latvian SIC promotes a safer and better use of the internet and mobile technologies among children and young people. It develops informative and educational activities, organises awareness activities, and ensures the work of the helpline and hotline.

Profile last updated: January 2022

Awareness centre

Description:

The Latvian Awareness Centre informs and educates children, adolescents, teachers and parents on the safety of internet content and the potential threats on the internet (incitement to hate, racism, child pornography and pedophilia, emotional harassment on the internet, identity theft and data abuse, sexting, sextortion, etc.).

The main activities implemented and coordinated by the centre include:

  • Celebration of Safer Internet Day (SID) in Latvia.
  • Development of educational materials on internet safety for all target groups – children, adolescents, parents, teachers and social workers.
  • Organisation of different seminars, training sessions and other activities.
  • Organisation of social campaigns on current topics.
  • Training of specialists, teachers, librarians and trainers.
  • Involvement of kindergartens and universities in activities on internet safety.
  • Development of closer cooperation with mobile operators and internet service providers.
  • Involvement of the youth panel in development of informative materials and in the awareness work of the centre.

Email address: info@drossinternets.lv
Website: https://www.drossinternets.lv
Social media:
https://www.facebook.com/drossinternets
https://twitter.com/drossinternets
https://www.youtube.com/saferinternetlv https://www.instagram.com/drossinternetslv/

Helpline

Description:

The Children's Helpline, 116111, aims to give psychological help to children and teenagers who are in difficult situations. The helpline also provides consultations on internet safety related topics and processes reports concerning illegal internet content.

Email address: pasts@bti.gov.lv
Website: http://www.bti.gov.lv
Social media:
https://www.facebook.com/UT116111
https://twitter.com/116111_ut
https://www.youtube.com/user/vbtai

Hotline

Description:

The hotline offers internet users a way of reporting something they suspect to be illegal on the internet. The hotline investigates these reports to determine if they are illegal and, if so, to trace the origin of the content and forward either to the national Law Enforcement Agency in Latvia, Cyber Crime Enforcement Unit or to the appropriate INHOPE member hotline of the country where content appears to be hosted. Each report received will be processed. It is possible to report anonymously.

Email address: zinojumi@drossinternets.lv
Website: https://www.drossinternets.lv
Social media:
https://www.facebook.com/drossinternets
https://twitter.com/drossinternets
https://www.youtube.com/saferinternetlv https://www.instagram.com/drossinternetslv/

Youth participation

Description:

The Latvian youth panel consists of 15 young people aged 10-18, representing different regions of Latvia. They share their experiences and thoughts with the centre and help coordinators make decisions about internet safety issues that affect children and young people. The youth panel has an important role in the development of educational materials, organising social campaigns and other centre activities oriented towards children and the youth audience. An online meeting is the fastest way for the centre to receive youngster's opinion on topics for video blogs, themes and speakers for SID, and educational materials for children and youngsters. Youth panel representatives frequently participate in activities organised by the centre.

Email address: info@drossinternets.lv
Website: https://drossinternets.lv/lv/info/jauniesu-padome

Key successes

The Latvian Safer Internet Centre (SIC) has been awarded the "Platinum Mouse 2018" for the best cyber security initiative in Latvia. The category was initiated by the Ministry of Defence and the prize was given by the Minister of Defence, Mr. Raimonds Bergmanis.

Over recent years, the Latvian SIC has:

  • developed more than 270 different educational materials in digital format and 30 printed materials;
  • trained 46 voluntary Safer Internet Ambassadors all over Latvia. They, in turn, have trained more than 20,000 pupils in their regions;
  • ensured the work of hotline which received more than 20,000 reports in 2021 about illegal and harmful internet content and problematic situations in the internet environment;
  • in cooperation with the National Centre for Education, the SIC organised a comprehensive online diagnostic test for 3rd and 6th grade students about internet safety and media literacy. 60 per cent of all schools, i.e. 420 schools all over Latvia, participated in the test involving 17,806 pupils;
  • organised, each year, more than 500 lectures for children and youth on various topics related to internet safety in schools all over Latvia.

In addition:

  • Every month, the educational and informational materials developed by the centre are downloaded 6,000 times, on average, from Drossinternets.lv. In February, when Safer Internet Day (SID) is celebrated, the number of downloads reaches 25,000.
  • The SIC's web page, Drossinternets.lv, reaches approximately 130,000 unique visitors each year.
  • Every year there are more than 250 publications in the media covering the activities of the centre.

Key partners/supporters

Apart from co-funding from the EC's CEF (Connecting Europe Facility) programme, the Latvian Safer Internet Centre (SIC) receives financial support nationally from the Latvian Internet Association, Ministry of Environmental Protection and Regional Development, Ministry of Welfare, CERT.LV and the Local Governments Training Centre. Activities are strongly supported by stakeholders from governmental institutions, NGOs, companies and experts from the internet industry, and teachers, educators and specialists working in the education sector.