Google web rangers in “safer internet” campaign

At least 2,000 children are set to become “web rangers” to help other children stay safer on the internet in a campaign launched by the groups HomeVida, the Nigeria Film and Video Censors Board and Google. The “safer internet” initiative hopes to make a target 100,000 web rangers of school age in five years, beginning […]

At least 2,000 children are set to become “web rangers” to help other children stay safer on the internet in a campaign launched by the groups HomeVida, the Nigeria Film and Video Censors Board and Google.

The “safer internet” initiative hopes to make a target 100,000 web rangers of school age in five years, beginning with Lagos in March and Abuja this week. A future training is billed for Port Harcourt this June.

HomeVida has said it is pushing “safer and more responsible use of online technologies.”

Nigeria Film and Video Censors Board insists keeping children safe, including the sort of videos and images they are exposed to in movies, is “a social responsibility” that warrants it to categorise movies.

“Movies are a product, which, if not consumed well, will affect themind. It is like a drug, and our classification is the dosage,” said the board’s director-general Patricia Bala.

The concern is about an increasing number of school-age children owning mobiles and tablets, getting data subscriptions and going online—with or without parental consent.

“You can’t keep children offline. Everything is online,” said Nollywood actor Femi Jacobs, whose been named ambassador for the Safer Internet Nigeria.

“We just want to keep them safe by educating them about the opportunities on the internet as well as the dangers.”

Google, which sponsors the initiative, has stressed safety features it has built into its browser and apps to protect children online.

They range from safety settings and pop-up blockers to barring download of age-inappropriate content on home computers used by children and using settings that restrict contacts in children’s email accounts.

“It’s about things that people just innocently play with online, and they don’t know who’s watching or listening or reading, and they can use those things to hurt you or your loved ones,” said Jacobs.

“Education is very important. Nobody is going to see something that keeps their children safe and not use it. It is just that we haven’t seen the clear and present danger that the internet represents, because we are still consumed by all the opportunities. We need to understand that there are dangers and there are things we need to do.”