Liceo classico – scientifico "Euclide"Via Ligas s/n – 09121 CAGLIARI
Comenius multilateral Project 2010-2012 “How to avoid crimes and being offended in the Internet”
EUROPEAN SAFER INTERNET DAY
“Freedom and secrecy of the correspondence and of any other form of communication are inviolable.
Their limitation could happen only for motivated act of the judicial authority with guarantees established by the law.”
EUROPEAN SAFER INTERNET DAY IN CAGLIARI
For our Country it has been the 4th edition.
The European Safer Internet Day has been celebrated also in other different cities of our region and various events have been organized by the Italian Polizia Postale (Communication Police) in collaboration with different schools, one for each city.
In Cagliari, the European Safer Day was located in the “Liceo Euclide”, on February 7th, 2012. The event was born from the collaboration between the Liceo Euclide and the local department of “Police of Communication”.
Why the “Liceo Euclide”?
The collaboration between the Liceo Euclide and the local compartment of the Police of Communication was born within the Comenius Project (an exchange project between European schools that involves 5 different schools of as many European Countries). The title of this specific project is: How to avoid crimes and being offended on the Internet.
The work on it has been taking place between 2010 and 2012, and it specifically concerns the study of different aspects of the Net, especially the correct and legal use of Internet.
The contacts between our school and the Police of Communication started in September 2011 on the occasion of an interview to two officers of the National Communication Police about web piracy. The interview was made by some students who take part in the project coordinated by Professor Marco Pani.
The good job made by the students has brought the Department manager of the Police of Communication to propose the “Liceo Euclide” as a place for the European Safer Internet Day.
The activities connected to this meeting have taken place in the form of a seminary during which the experts of the Polizia Postale discussed about the various aspects of security in the Internet.
Many classes of the Liceo Euclide attended this seminary, in the Aula Magna of the school. The reports and the multimedia presentations have been followed with a lot of interest by the students, as we could observe from the debate which followed the reports.
The European Safer Internet Day has been also covered by a number of regional and local Tv networks and newspapers.
In the following pages we will provide a summary of the various topics discussed by the experts about the safety in the net.
GAMBLING
Many illegal associations get rich thanks to people's addiction to gambling. The potential gamblers are usually attracted by a bonus offered through an e-mail that allows them to start playing until they fall into the trap of addiction, with serious consequences for the gamblers and their families. We should not forget that the most part of these systems is run by a software and involves high risks in relation to identity theft and fiscal fraud. The promoters of these on-line games manage to seize the players' bank details and their credit card codes.In 2006 the fraud police department made an agreement with the AAMS (the State Administration for legal games), identifying the patented websites and consequently blacking out the illegal ones.
E-COMMERCE and frauds on the net
This kind of commerce allows us to purchase products that sometimes are unavailable in the shops of our towns at a reasonable price, entertains us and may make us happy with our shopping. We must not forget the influence that the advertisement in the web and in the social networks have on the consumers. The most common methods of payment for this kind of commerce are:
· Credit cards (72%)
· PayPal transactions (14%)
· Bank Transfers (7%)
· Cash on delivery (4%)
Shopping on-line may present some problems: when buying a product made in China, the purchasers may run the risk of receiving a good of a lower quality compared to the expected or not to receive anything.
We should also underline that no serious organization will ask for personal details. We can control if the website is safe through its address, by checking that the usual “http” is followed by a “s” (https), or verifying that a little padlock appears in the web page.
As an extra protection it is advisable to shop only from already known companies using our credit card only if the site is connected to a safe server and, in particular, always remember to log out at the end of the transaction.
SOCIAL NETWORKS
Social networks have an enormous communicative power as they allow the users to take part in discussions, to find affinities with other people, getting in touch with geographically distant people and old friends. It is also possible to share pictures and opinions with the other users and to share personal feelings and emotions more easily than in real situations. On the other side, we should keep in mind that when we share something we often disclose it to strangers or with mere acquaintances and that our account cancellation will not be definitive. As a matter of fact our data, although not visible, will remain memorized in the website. The danger is always lurking, especially in case of unknown or even fake profiles. Another danger is addiction, in particular among teenagers, who consider the social networks as a way to escape from everyday reality. It is very important to use these sites with responsibility: many people do not know that using a social network it is quite easy to commit a crime without being aware of it. As an example, if we steal/use our friends' profile just to play a joke to them or share someone else's photos without asking for permission, we may be punished by law.
PEDOPORNOGRAPHY
Children or young teenagers left on their own while connected to a social network on their pc might get in touch with molesters who draw their attention pretending to be their age and posting false information and pictures.
In order to fight against this crime the fraud police department enter a chat pretending to be children and deceiving the molesters making them believe they can plan an encounter.
After the meeting is planned, a squad goes into action and the offender is arrested.
On 27th February 2008 Italy joined the Council of Europe Convention on Cybercrime, introducing important changes to the Penal Code.
According to the law, the production, possession and circulation of pedopornographic materials is punished even if these materials are produced using virtual images.
It is of great importance a way to control and disable any computerized methods of payment, credit cards and so on.
At any rate, the parents' presence and attention is the most important measure to prevent from the paedophiles' attacks on the web.