National Round Table on Children's Safety in Internet

Today, a roundtable on children's safety in Internet took place under the initiative of Microsoft Bulgaria, Az-Deteto.com and Foundation Blagodeyatel. It gathered media, state authorities, nongovernmental organizations, parents and kinds to discuss the burning issue mentioned above.

Ms. Shirin Mestan, Chairperson of the State Agency for Child Protection opened the roundtable. Representatives of Microsoft Bulgaria, State Agency for Information Technologies and Communications, Ministry of Education and Science and Counsel for Safe Internet presented their viewpoints on the safety in Internet and shared good practices. The results of a poll were presented which showed that 38% of the Bulgarian kinds are online in Internet every day and 50% of the parents share that their fears of this fact.

The roundtable is part of the campaign "Children Safe in Internet", which started in the beginning of December 2007. More than 1700 kinds have given so far their proposals for an Eight Rule for Safe Surfing in Internet, in addition to the already created seven ones. Microsoft released for free an educational program with interactive games under the initiative "Partners in Learning", which educates children in safe behaviour in Internet. It is available for everybody on http://www.teacher.bg/.