Safer Internet Forum 2015 a great success

The 12th edition of the Safer Internet Forum (SIF) took place 28-29 October 2015 in Luxembourg with the theme ‘Breaking down barriers for a better internet'. More than 250 stakeholders in the field of child online safety, including youth ambassadors, academics, industry, teachers, NGOs, the European Commission and Ministry representatives came together to discuss the latest trends, risks and solutions to help build a better internet for all.

Date 2015-10-28 Author Safer Internet Forum Secretariat
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The intended outcomes of the 2015 forum, included: 
  • To help participants gain a better understanding of emerging trends online such as the Internet of Things (IoT) and wearable devices and the implications of such for children and young people. The forum will particularly consider issues for policy makers, Safer Internet Centres (SICs), educators, and young people themselves concerning these new concepts of connectivity and protecting children online. 

  • To explore activities and strategies which are effective at empowering children and young people online, focusing on skills, literacy and creativity, while providing new opportunities for education and participation. 

  • To consider how youth-produced user-generated content can sometimes be problematic and, indeed, illegal. Forum participants will explore some of the grey areas, such as grooming, sexting and sextortion, and consider recent responses to such activities.
  • To provide a forum for discussion and debate on children's rights in a digital world with particular emphasis on the current definitions of children's rights, on best practices from around the world and on strategies to continue protecting children's online rights in the ever-growing technological world. 

  • To consider the effectiveness of some of the tools which are available for user control and community participation, and to explore the importance of this in strengthening core values such as democracy, debate and more responsible user behaviour online. 

  • To forecast, through interaction with industry, academics and media experts, as well as youth and their parents, where we need to be in 2020 given the leaps and bounds of technological inventions and the increasing need to protect children in unforeseen digital areas, and how can we best achieve those goals and play our part for a better internet. 
See the conference brochure, presentations and graphic recordings at www.betterinternetforkids.eu/sif2015. A report will also be made available shortly.
 
The event also saw the launch of the new Better Internet for Kids (BIK) portal - www.betterinternetforkids.eufeaturing resources from Safer Internet Centres (SICs) across Europe, latest research, industry news and much more from a multitude of stakeholders in the online safety field.

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