On Tuesday, February 9th, organizations across the globe celebrated Safer Internet Day. This global awareness campaign promotes a safe and responsible Internet. In this digital era, it is more important than ever to know how to create a positive and safe digital experience for ourselves and our children.
At Symantec, we understand the importance of Internet safety and empowerment, and we support programs that advance that mission. In partnership with the World Association of Girl Scouts and Girl Guides (WAGGGS), the Surf Smart program was first developed in 2011 to teach girls and young women about online safety. The program exposes Scouts and Guides to three themes – connecting positively online, protecting yourself from online risks, and respecting your rights and reputation online. For each of those themes, Scouts participate in various activities designed to teach them to take responsibility for themselves and their actions, and actively contribute to a safer online experience for themselves and others. After launching in the United Kingdom, France, Germany, and 13 African nations, we recently expanded the Surf Smart program to Latin America, the Caribbean, and India. In celebration of Safer Internet Day, below we share some thoughtful insights and experiences from a few of the girls and leaders that have participated in Latin America and India’s programs.
Mexico
A Girl Scout and Girl Guide group based in Mexico City had the opportunity to have a special guest join them for their Surf Smart program. A Symantec employee from the Mexico City office, Rafael Aguilera Zubiaga, Solution SE, spoke to about 80 girls and parents about Internet security.
“I think that it was a very good experience and in my opinion having this kind of talk helps parents understand how they can help their kids in a topic they may not know very well. My dad always told me, ‘Who does not live to serve, does not serve to live.’ This event made me feel like I contributed to society and maybe I changed one mind so that the next time they surf the web they will think about what they learned,” said Zubiaga.
We also heard from three girls that attended the event:
“The Surf Smart program was an unforgettable experience and so beneficial to my personal life and Girl Guide’s training. Yes, it sounds like a very strong statement, but it is true. The information we received from the security talk by Symantec’s security expert as well as all the activities that we participated in, made us think and realize just how much we share about our lives on social networks.
“Since it is so common to use all the social networks, and it is such a part of our daily lives, we didn’t realize the difference between right and wrong information to share. We usually don’t think about our actions in that way or maybe we just don’t think that bad things will ever happen to us.
“I think the best way of caring about us young people is sharing this sort of information so that we understand what can happen. This is not about putting ourselves in a bubble, but protecting our information and who we provide it to.”
--Samantha Alcocer Morales
15 years old, Mexico City
“When our Scout leader told us that WAGGGS had a programme about improving our safety while on the web, I was very interested in learning about it. I spend many hours a day after school on the computer. After completing my chores, I’m allowed to spend hours on social media, chatting with friends and interacting with them online, so I was very interested in coming to the activity that day. It was very nice to hear the safety talk from the Symantec security expert. He was very trustworthy and easy going, so we all participated in his chat by asking questions and commenting about our experiences. All the girls, teens, and parents that were there were all very interested in learning the tips about what to do and what not to do. What we originally had thought was ok, we found out was actually not ok!
“After the safety talk, we participated in the activities for the Surf Smart programme in order to gain our badges. It was very fun and we learned some new things and confirmed other things. I liked that the activities were split out for different age groups, because it isn’t the same for 5 years old girls as it is for the older girls who are already well acquainted with the Internet.
“In the end I was very pleased and learned so much. I feel more secure and of course I’ll avoid all the wrong mistakes people do when we surf on the web!”
--María Guadalupe Miranda
17 years old, Mexico City
“I loved the Surf Smart programme. I was impressed by many of the things they showed us that day. People of my age usually assume, or at least like to think, that the risks in social networks do not apply to them. But in the course they showed us all that can really happen, and what we can do to help. I loved learning about it and now being able to show other people as well.”
--Jimena Gamiz Sandoval
15 years old, Mexico City
India
Miss. D.N. Harini, Ranger, Bharat Scouts and Guides, is one of the leaders that helped deliver the program to the Scouts. She shared her thoughts and the tips she learned too through the program!
“Surf Smart is an extremely relevant curriculum for our generation that has empowered me and my fellow Guides to surf online with confidence. Very often, parents or teachers stop us from using social websites because they are worried about cybercrime; but after gaining such specific and technical knowledge from the Surf Smart workshop I now feel very confident using the Internet without being victimized by negative cyber elements. I always loved connecting with the rest of my Guiding community through the Internet and now I am more excited as we learned about the various ways of connecting with them, through the ‘Connect’ part of the curriculum. It was a life-changing experience.
“We learned a lot from the Surf Smart program. It emphasizes the importance of creating unique passwords to ensure our safety when using the Internet. Passwords have to be created in such a way that our profiles cannot be hacked by anyone for any reasons. I learned that passwords can be a mixture of special characters, numbers, letters and that each should have an ideal length; none of which I knew before. The main aim of creating a password is that the profile must remain safe and personal. Staying safe on social networking sites is also very important, as our profile is viewed by many individuals and we must therefore control the visibility of our personal information. Making sure all privacy settings are set in such a way that the information will be viewed only by our friends keeps us safe on the Internet. I also learned about not sharing my passwords with anyone.”
This Safer Internet Day the theme is “Play Your Part for a Better Internet.” All of us as individuals have a role to play in creating and contributing to a safe and responsible Internet. How can you help shape a better Internet?
Lora Phillips is Symantec’s Director, Corporate Responsibility