Indian Teens brainstorm cyber crime
By Pulkit Sharma

The net is one of the top technological advances to improve communications and our quality of life.  While some oldies still hesitate with laptops, the youngsters have taken to it like ducks to water. Like everything in life, there is a dark side to the net.  Perhaps the most evil are predators using the net to attack our children.

Governments, businesses and the UN have joined hands to make the net a safer experience for the children.  Last month, London hosted a law enforcement-led International Youth Advisory Congress (IYAC) on online safety and security.

About 150 young people aged between 14-17 in London had face-to-face meetings with security experts from Government, industry, law enforcement and media. Apart from teens from developed countries like USA, Sweden, Italy, Canada, developing countries like India were also represented.

The initiative was led by the Child Exploitation and Online Protection (CEOP) Centre – the UK’s dedicated organisation for tackling the sexual abuse of children - and is supported by the Virtual Global Taskforce (VGT), an international alliance of law enforcement agencies focused on tackling child sexual exploitation.

The five-day Congress gave young people, specially chosen to represent their countries, the chance to shape the internet and online environment for children and young adults across the world.

The event empowered young people by providing a platform on which they, the main inhabitants and drivers of online environments, can meaningfully engage with those delivering and working with online environments. It was a chance to explore the risks of the increasingly converged online and offline environments and to outline a roadmap of solutions and possibilities.

This event help built the strategy for industry, government, law enforcement and education sectors when tackling future online issues.

A number of private companies like Visa Europe, Microsoft, Virgin Media and PayPal helped to sponsor the event.

So what did the young delegates from India think about the London conference?  Coincidentally, both our young representatives’ hail from Meghalaya

17-year old Emarine Kharbhih is from Meghalaya and currently doing a degree in Bachelor of Commerce from St Edmund College, Shillong.  Emarine told techgoss: “The conference in London wholly changed my perspective and views on the internet; it made me aware that it is frightening to meet a person in the internet rather then meeting a person down the street.  It brought a kind of awareness in me that when I came back home I have to teach my friends not to feel so much safe on the internet and to keep a track about the disadvantages of the internet”.

Emarine is realist about this being a global battle, “As the internet is used globally there was no specific country discussed at the conference, though young people from different countries shared information and stories related to the internet.  There was one unique information given to all of us about the ‘REPORT ABUSE’ button/icon that is seen on the virtual global task force website but is prevalent only in the United Kingdom.  I think that such a button/icon should be given on every web side of the internet and especially in India as the internet crime is rising higher day by day.”

Husnara Kharbhih from the Christian Academy School, Shillong, Meghalaya is vocal about the need to be careful on the net.  She told techgoss: “I learned a lot as an IYAC delegate.  What I brought back is the awareness on how careful the young people have to be on the internet. The internet has good and bad sites and we have to be aware of how young people get exploited and land up in trouble. The internet can also harm young people, and we should recognize such abuse that happens on the net and try to report whenever we are on danger.  This will ensure we are safer on-line.  My role is to reach out to other young people in my home town Meghalaya and Asia as a whole”.