It is time to create a protocol on how to guide our children on the use of devices that connect them to the cyber world.
IN the past 10 years, the access to cyber space has gotten easier and faster. Almost everyone who has a mobile phone can now “surf the Net” and be exposed to the wonderful borderless but seemingly rule-less world.
There is almost nothing you cannot do when you are on the Internet – you can read about anything, pretend to be anyone and do everything you fancy.
While there may be censorship laws in the real world, in the digital one there are plenty of ways to circumvent even the tightest of software security set up supposedly to control access.
Even a young child attuned to the wise ways of software and electronics can easily undo most of these “safety measures”.
One whole generation of children has grown up not knowing the world without Internet. Even their vocabulary is filled with words now commonly used by the digital age.
Apple now is no longer just a fruit and virus is something that attacks your electronic system and not just your body. And yes, the word net no longer means something you use to catch fish.
The acronym LOL is now widely used by everyone from seven-year-old Year One pupil to an 80-year-old grandmother. (For those who don’t know, it stands for Laugh Out Loud or Laughing Out Loud.)
It is a whole new culture when one is out in the cyber world. It is a whole new world and way of life. The Internet is a great equaliser and enabler.
Everyone is the same size physically there and it doesn’t matter if you are a king, president or a blogger because no one can tell.
However, this is where the easy access of the Internet gets dangerous because the cyber anonymity can easily be abused and many have already done so.
All sorts of crime are committed in the digital world that contravene both the rules and laws of the cyber and real world.
Recently, at a child security roundtable hosted by The Star in partnership with DiGi, it was revealed that in Malaysia the mobile phone penetration now stands at 130%, this means there are more phones in Malaysia than there are people.
Ten million of them are 3G (which means they can get into the Internet via their handphones) users and that 63% of all households in the country have access to broadband.
Datuk Mohamed Sharil Tarmizi, chairman of the Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission, in disclosing these figures at the discussion said about 35% of mobile phone users are below the age of 18.
These statistics are to be proud of but it also worries me (and it should also worry every parent out there) because it truly means that our kids are constantly hooked on the Internet. But to be fair, so are most urban adults.
At the same discussion, Lt Col (Ret) Prof Datuk Husin Jazri, the CyberSecurity Malaysia chief executive officer, said the Cyber 999 Help Centre received 43 reports last year involving Internet users below the age of 18.
He said cyber harassment incidents were the highest with about 23 reports followed by fraud (nine), intrusion (nine), malicious code (one) and spam (one).
One report each was received so far this year for fraud, content and cyber harassment.
“Most of the complainants were 13 to 17- year-olds. But there were also primary school pupils. Most of the cases surrounded the use of social media sites such as Facebook and Twitter,” he said.
Sharil said parties, including the Government, private sector, non-governmental organisations, civil society and the media, must play their part to protect the children from virtual predators.
“These monsters stalk our kids for sexual reasons as well as to prey on them for other unthinkable crimes.”
The other speaker was Women, Family and Community Development Ministry deputy secretary-general Harjeet Singh who stressed that educating children about the Internet should start from as early as five years old.
I can’t help but agree with Harjeet that we have to teach kids from young because we, modern parents, are guilty of using our mobile phones, tablets and computers to baby-sit our children.
Isn’t it common to see a father or mother allowing a toddler to play Angry Birds on their tablets or mobile phones at a dinner table?
We, as parents need the Government to provide the infrastructure for us to educate our young ones on the usage of these devices especially when surfing the Net because not all adults are well versed on the rights and wrongs of handling cyberspace.
Just like teaching them how to behave in a real world, we also need to educate our young about the right and wrong ways to act in the digital world.
Parents must realise the ultimate responsibility still lies in our hands – we cannot expect the authorities to regulate the behaviour of our kids.
However, the ease with which children can get online via the mobile phone worries me because the moment we can afford it, one of the first things we do these days is to buy a handphone for our kids.
About 35% of the 60 million handphones in the country are held by those below the age of 18 and I am sure many of these are smart devices which have easy access to the cyberspace.
At the moment, no one controls such an access and maybe the time has come for this to change. In Britain, all pre-paid subscriptions are presumed to be held by minors and have no access to the Internet.
Those who want such access must show proof that they are 18 and above to lift content controls enforced by service providers.
However, in Malaysia, the authorities worry that if they implemented such a scheme, some people would scream “censorship of the Internet”.
I say the need to protect our kids from digital predators as well as prevent them from turning into one is more urgent.
As the first generation of parents of cyber-wise kids, we owe it to our grandchildren to establish ground rules so that they will grow up not only to be responsible people in the real world but also in the cyber one.