Teletimes April 2011.pdf

Child
Online
Protection
This Paper investigates the
potential online threats to
children and measures required
to oppress such threats in the
developing Internet nations. The
paper not only culminates the
thoughts, feelings and concerns
of young people and their parents
over the use of technology,
but also concludes the survey
carried out in Pakistan in Oct
2010 on Child Online protection,
encompassing all the salient
features as were envisaged by
ITU in its COP National Survey
Report. The paper also highlights
the current status of Child online
Protection in Pakistan and necessary
way forward based on a
National Survey.
Introduction
Amid all the Information and
communication technologies of
this era, the most imperative,
cost effective and prompt information
dissemination novelty
is “The Internet”, not only it
has become an essential fraction
of the global information
society, but has also nurtured
the overall economic growth by
creating new jobs, encouraging
modernization and improving
national competitiveness. It is
an amazing means of communication
which can web information
across the globe and offer it
to any nook and cranny. It is a
multi flavor stage soo open that
anyone, anywhere, anytime can
jump into it for instance paying
electricity bills, downloading a
multimedia video, playing an
online game, advertising your
product, checking the status of
shipment, applying for a job,
developing social networking,
providing electronic government
services and enabling economical
VoIP for remote areas and
so on. Recent phenomenon of
information based society has
evolved almost all age-groups
and sectors of an economy,
though internet.
At the same time the Internet is
also described as an unlegislated
space for abandoned content.
It is a source of obscene and
obnoxious material, religious
secularism, a growing threat to
personal privacy, largest source
of harmful computer viruses and
an infringement of copyrights.
These issues are undisputedly
affecting the children, who at
this phase of life possess immaturity
and can portray a wrong
analysis and objective to things,
if not presented correctly. This
paper examines the potential
online threats to children and
measures required to confiscate
such threats in a developing
nation like Pakistan, where
digital divide and access are still
more of bigger problems than
the subject at hand. Moreover,
the paper also highlights some
of the salient features of the
survey carried out in Oct 2010
in Pakistan relating the subject
matter.
The World of Cyber Age
The communication media
today has major influence on
our lives, the way we think,
react and behave somehow is
influenced by the media. Minors
and sometimes even adults do
not apply critical thinking to
contents. They are unable to
strike a balance between risks
and opportunities offered by
online contents. Social demands
and cultural variability though
pose a potential influence on
Mohammed Amir Malik
the control of contents in a
particular country, however the
issue of child online protection
has been mandated by almost
all quarters. A close look at the
internet and its growth trends in
developed and developing countries
is necessary to culminate
opinion about the issues of this
ever growing Cyber World.
The Internet has shown a
phenomenal growth in terms
of subscription over last few
15Apr - 14May 2011
www.teletimesinternational.com
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