Debates mark World Safer Internet Day celebrations at NIC.br and CGI.br

The World Safer Internet Day, celebrated this year on February 10, was marked by the Brazilian Internet Steering Committee (CGI.br) and the Brazilian Network Information Center (NIC.br) with the mobilization and commitment that the theme "Let's create a better Internet together" suggests. Activities at the NIC.br headquarters brought together representatives from various sectors: the NGO SaferNet and Unicef Brazil, companies like GVT, Twitter, and Google, institutions like the Federal Police, Federal Public Prosecutor's Office, and the Federal Government, with the presence of the Minister of the Secretariat of Human Rights of the Presidency, Ideli Salvatti, in addition to experts from NIC.br and CGI.br advisors. Together, the entities disclosed actions, statistics, and debated the challenges of responsible and safe internet use.

Coordinated since 2009 by SaferNet, World Safer Internet Day promotes actions such as lectures, classes, debates, and film screenings aimed at children, adolescents, educators, and parents. This year, there were 152 educational activities covering 27 cities and involving more than 30,000 people and 103 institutions. Virgilio Almeida, coordinator of CGI.br, highlighted the importance of the date, reminding that 77% of Brazilians aged 16 to 24 are Internet users. “The existing threats and risks are significant and are related to issues involving racial hatred, homophobia, and security aspects such as attacks and malicious software. We need to work to make the risks more visible, as well as expand the dissemination of available security and privacy mechanisms," he considered.

Virgílio emphasized that CGI.br has contributed to the dissemination of good practices through its decalog of Principles for Internet governance and use in Brazil and the Security Guide developed by the Center for Studies, Response, and Treatment of Security Incidents in Brazil (CERT.br), in addition to constantly gathering data on the Internet population in Brazil, with studies developed by the Regional Center for Studies on the Development of the Information Society (CETIC.br). On World Safer Internet Day, NIC.br hosted a program that started at 10:30 a.m. with a press conference, followed in the afternoon by debates between specialists and authorities—both streamed live on the Internet and available on the NIC.br YouTube channel.

Statistics and Actions

At the meeting with journalists, NIC.br highlighted internationally referenced data from the TIC Kids Online Brazil 2013 on Internet use by children and adolescents. Fabio Senne, project and research coordinator at CETIC.br, noted that the indicators show a low concern among Brazilians about Internet risks, as only 8% of parents believe that their children have encountered an uncomfortable or embarrassing situation online. "The form of mediation happens passively; 81% of parents and guardians prefer to talk with their children, while 43% have a more active mediation style by performing activities on the Internet with their children, which can help mitigate the risks," he pointed out.

The president of SaferNet and CGI.br advisor, Thiago Tavares, presented new data on cybercrime reports. According to the statistics from the National Cybercrime Reporting Center (CND) of SaferNet, there was an increase of 34.15% in reports of pages labeled as racist and 365.46% in reports of content supposedly related to xenophobia. “This significant number of reports proves that Brazilian society is vigilant and will not tolerate manifestations of extremism and prejudice against minorities on social media," emphasized Thiago Tavares.

Rodrigo Nejm, Education Director of SaferNet, stressed the importance of user awareness. “It's better to prevent than to punish. We need to encourage parents to supervise their children's navigation from the first clicks. It's necessary to mature the critical capacity of Brazilian users.” During the meeting with journalists at the NIC.br headquarters, Diana Calazans Mann from the Federal Police highlighted that the institution would promote 30 lectures with children and adolescents to celebrate World Safer Internet Day and also announced the achievements in 2014 in combating hate crimes and child pornography. Demi Getschko, CEO of NIC.br, highlighted that CERT.br has a series of brochures with Internet security recommendations and tips that are accompanied by a set of slides that can be used to conduct lectures or supplement class content.

Debate

The need for user awareness was also mentioned in the debate between specialists held in the afternoon at the NIC.br headquarters. "The more we invest in education, the better the Internet environment will be. When users understand the limits of navigation and how harmful it is to attack someone with hate and harassment speeches, the better the platform will be," stressed Felipe Vidoretti Magrim from Twitter, citing positive examples of campaigns promoted by users on the social network in defense of freedom of expression.

User privacy was another topic discussed in the debate. Demi recommended prudence when sharing information online. “We need to be cautious when exposing our data, as everything we put on the Internet is hardly removed,” he warned. Cristine Hoepers, manager at CERT.br, also commented on the risks of the hyperconnected world and gave security tips for using computers and smartphones. Obtaining applications only from reliable sources, installing patches, updates, making regular backups, protecting accounts and passwords were some recommendations cited by Cristine, who suggested reading the Internet Security Guide developed by CERT.br.

Marcel Leonardi from Google Brazil analyzed the gains the Country has made with the approval of the Marco Civil da Internet law, a subject also highlighted by Minister Ideli Salvatti. "I am convinced that we have approved one of the most dynamic and pioneering laws, which serves as an international benchmark". The importance of network neutrality was reinforced, as "differentiating who will access certain content only accentuates and hinders the Government's goal of providing opportunities for everyone." The minister also reminded that situations of violence, prejudice, and discrimination witnessed in the offline environment have been transferring to the Internet. "If we have public policies to combat and prevent such cases in the real world, we also increasingly need initiatives in the virtual world," she stressed.

This content was automatically translated with the support of artificial intelligence.