On 9 October 2007, the internet safety campaign NetSafeNow kicks off in Denmark. A number of events and initiatives targeting the senior population will highlight internet safety issues all over Denmark. The Danish Awareness Node, the Media Council for Children and Young People, and Microsoft Denmark will mark the day with an event for grandparents.

The event will take place between 10.00 -17.00 inside the NetSafeNow tent on the Copenhagen city-hall square where a number of organisations will be present. At the Media Council and Microsoft stand, grandparents can e.g. ask experts questions about the chat programme Messenger and get advice on how to get started with chatting with their grandchildren. To highlight the event, grandparents can bring along their grandchildren. The latter can help them in a knowledge-testing competition on online chatting with questions such as how to create different smileys & emoticons on Messenger. Just in case they want to smile on the internet as well:)

Facts about NetSafeNow:

The Danish internet safety campaign NetSafeNow! is conducted by the Ministry of Science Technology and Innovation in cooperation with organisations and industry partners. This year the campaign is targeting seniors aged 60 and up. The campaign is launched on 9 October 2007 and in the time to follow a number of activities focusing on various internet safety issues will take place all over Denmark. This includes the NetSafeNow tent in the shape of a giant computer on the Copenhagen city-hall square, the NetSafeNow magazine with articles on various internet safety issues concerning the 60+ population, elderly people teaching their peers about IT and many more.

The events go under the following themes:

1. Before you go online – about antivirus, firewall, etc.
2. When you want to contact the authorities – about digital signature
3. When you want to communicate – about mail and chat
4. When you want to shop – about e-commerce

Gry Hasselbalch, The Media Council fro Children and Young People