450 students take part in safer Internet day meet

JOMANA ABU-FARAH

DOHA AS much as 450 students attended the Conference on "connect to Respect ', organized by the Supreme Council of information and communication technology (IctQatar) in cooperation with Qatar and Qatar University debate on Thursday to celebrate Safer Internet Day International.

Started as an initiative of the SafeBorders project of the EU in 2004 and acquired by the Insafe network (www.saferinternet.

org) as one of the earliest actions in 2005, Safer Internet Day has grown beyond the traditional geographical area and is now celebrated in more than 90 countries worldwide, and in six of the seven continents of the world.

In her opening remarks highlighted Cyber Security Section Manager at ictQatar Fatma al Noaimi the need of raising public awareness about the dangers of unsafe use of the internet.

"We want the world to celebrate Safer Internet day via ' connect to Respect ', which aims to raise awareness about the challenges facing internet users.

This year theme of online rights and responsibilities would also move in several groups of stakeholders, including children, young people, adults, parents, educators and service providers in Qatar. We need to be aware that we have a shared responsibility to make the internet a safer and better place for everyone, "she said.

A student at QU, who is also a presenter on Al Rayyan TV is encouraged that awareness-raising campaign should start with educating parents and caregivers on the latest technologies used by the young generation.

"Studies have proven that nearly 68 percent of parents and caregivers are not able to use the internet."And this is a big problem, because it affects their ability to monitor and guide the behavior of the young generation on the internet ", he explained.

The Conference that the participating students in two panel discussions that addressed different aspects of internet security.

One of the discussions presented by Ammar Mohammed, trainer and expert on social media, discussed online reputation and influence the user's real life. He also outlined some safety tips for social media users. The Conference is closed with a community debate about ' Online identity ' provided by Qatar debate Center.