As part of Get Safe Online week, a UK government initiative to help us all to be more aware of the dangers of surfing the web, and more aware of the easy ways we can prevent them. GetSafeOnline are encouraging people to become friends.
They describe this week on their website as…
What is Get Safe Online Week?
Get Safe Online is an annual event to raise awareness of internet safety issues.
We reach out to consumers and small businesses through competitions, events and PR activity. And to businesses and organisations through our annual Get Safe Online Summit 2009, which kicks off the week on Monday, 16th November.
What is our objective?
Our objective is to encourage everyone to take some time out of their week to learn more about internet safety and to make sure that their computer is properly protected.
The risks are serious but prevention is easy. A few hours is all you need. It’s a small price to pay compared to the huge hassle of dealing with viruses, identity theft and online fraud.
So what’s the point of becoming a friend? Simply put, GetSafeOnline is backed by major technology companies including PayPal and Microsoft and major ISPs and banks. The sheer number of people who don’t know how they can properly secure their PC is still enormous.
They have a logo program which you can link through to them.
By doing this you’re helping to raise awareness to others about internet safety, and how they can protect their PCs and their families.
They say…
For bloggers and webmasters
Show your support for Get Safe Online by displaying a Friend logo on your site. To download these .GIF images, just right click on the size you want and select ‘Save image as’ (Firefox) or ‘Save picture as’ (Internet Explorer). Please link back to our home page, www.getsafeonline.org.
I know you might think this all sounds like an advert, but it’s not. Why? Do you know what information about you is kept on the computers of your friends and family? They’ve got your email address, full address and phone number, date of birth. If they’re family they may have maiden names…
Should a friend or family member fall foul of a fraudster or trojan you would at least, in all probability, receive spam email from it. At worst you’re faced with a lot of personal information about YOU being given away.
So get blogging, get your friends and family safe, and get the peace of mind that goes with it.
