Child Online Protection Campaign Macedonian

Experience
Smilka Janeska-Sarkanjac
Faculty of Computer Science and Engineering
Ss Cyril and Methodius University in Skopje
Skopje, Republic of Macedonia
Smilka.janeska.sarkanjac@finki.ukim.mk
Ivan Chorbev
Faculty of Computer Science and Engineering
Ss Cyril and Methodius University in Skopje
Skopje, Republic of Macedonia
Ivan.chorbev @finki.ukim.mk
Vesna Dimitrova
Faculty of Computer Science and Engineering
Ss Cyril and Methodius University in Skopje
Skopje, Republic of Macedonia
vesna.dimitrova@finki.ukim.mk
Gorgi Madzarov
Faculty of Computer Science and Engineering
Ss Cyril and Methodius University in Skopje
Skopje, Republic of Macedonia
Gjorgji.madzarov @finki.ukim.mk
Dimitar Trajanov
Faculty of Computer Science and Engineering
Ss Cyril and Methodius University in Skopje
Skopje, Republic of Macedonia
dimitar.trajanov@finki.ukim.mk

AbstractInternet, as a disruptive technology, changed
numerous things in the society. Entire industries disappeared.
New business models were invented. It affected the way we
communicate the information we exchange is more like tweet or
texting than like 19th century novel. Internet opened
unprecedented communication channels: Facebook, Twitter,
WhatsApp, Instagram, Pinterest, Skype, Youtube. People are
networked and interconnected.
The other side of the story is that internet facilitated crimes
also: impersonation fraud became identity theft, copyright
violation became file sharing, and accessing censored materials
political, sexual, culturalbecame trivially easy.
One of the most vulnerable socio-demographic cohorts on
Internet are the children. International Telecommunication
Union started global initiative named Children Online
Protection, addressing legal, technical, organizational and
procedural issues as well as capacity building and international
cooperation. Macedonia took part in this effort. The Ministry of
Information Society and Administration of the Republic of
Macedonia, the Faculty of Computer Science and Engineering,
and several other organizations and companies organized
number of events, lectures, workshops and provided free browser
for the children that controls Internet access. One of the
outcomes of these activities was survey conducted among parents
and guardians regarding behavior on the Internet of the children
and their guardians, and their perception of the Internet security
and undertaken protective measures.
This paper describes the activities conducted within this
initiative in Macedonia, and analyzes the results of the survey.

Keywords Online security, children vulnerability, children
online protection, Republic of Macedonia

I. INTRODUCTION
The Child Online Protection (COP) Campaign was
conducted in the Republic of Macedonia during the 2013. The
initiative originated from the Ministry of Information society
and administration of the Republic of Macedonia, and was
supported by a number of public sector institutions, business
companies, and media sponsors: the Government of the
Republic of Macedonia, Ministry of education and science,
Ministry of labor and social policy, Agency for electronic
communications, mobile operator company One, daily
newspapers Dnevnik, Vest, Utrinski vesnik and Sport, and the
Faculty of Computer Science and Engineering, Ss Cyril and
Methodius University in Skopje.
The campaign was part of global Child online protection
initiative, organized by ITU (International Telecommunication
Union). COP aims to tackle cybersecurity holistically,
addressing legal, technical, organizational and procedural
issues as well as capacity building and international
cooperation
1
- as it is stated by ITU.
The global Child online protection initiative had four fields
of action, and the same number of guidelines were produced:
guidelines for children, for their Parents, Guardians and
Educators, for the industry and for the policy makers.
The purpose of the Macedonian campaign was to raise the
awareness for the online threats that children face, and to
improve the level of security of the children when using the
Internet. Target audience were children, their parents, their
guardians and their educators. The main online threats that
were recognized were:
Inadvertent exposure to inappropriate images or content
Solicitation by sexual predators
Online bullying, harassment or cyberstalking
Disclosure of personal information.
The industry and the policy makers were tackled by raising
the awareness and opening a public debate on the
corresponding issues.
II. THE CAMPAIGN
Within the campaign, there was a web site
2
(Figure 1) set
and leaflets and posters printed and distributed. Leaflets
(Figure 2) were aimed for the adults, parents, guardians and
educators. They were distributed several times, as an insert in
the daily newspapers, which were media sponsors of the
campaign, and reached about 130.000 x3 adult audience.

Fig. 1. Website of the campaign
Posters (Figure 3) were aimed for the children, and were
placed inside the schools in the Republic of Macedonia.
Several workshops for the parents and educators in the
elementary, middle and high schools were held. One workshop
was organized in the Red Cross association, for the guardians
of the children in the foster families. Professors of the Faculty
of Computer Science and Engineering gave lectures on these
workshops, and were moderators of the discussions afterwards.
The subject of the lecture was to:
Identify risks and vulnerabilities to children in
cyberspace
Create awareness
Develop practical tools to help minimize risk
Share knowledge and experience when they use Internet
and the models of their protection.
As a part of the campaign a free software tool Internet
browser in Macedonian language (Figure 4), for the children in
elementary school was distributed to the general public in the
Republic of Macedonia.
The Internet browser works as a parental control for the
children it offers the parent to enter a list of approved web
sites, a list of banned web sites, and the lists may be updated.
Another feature of the internet browser is that a parent may
enter daily or weekly quota for hours spent on internet, and
also a time schedule for the periods of a day that are allowed
for internet use. Another important features are that the
browser may be started automatically on log in, desktop,
taskbar, minimize and maximize, Alt-Tab, Ctrl-Esc functions
may be disabled, and the only way out on Internet for the child
is via the controlled internet browser.

Fig. 2. Leaflet of the campaign
Within the workshops questionnaires were distributed, the
results of which will present and discuss further in this paper.


Fig. 3. Poster of the campaign
III. THE SURVEY
In the survey, total of 178 respondents answered the
questions stated below. In parentheses after each question is the
number of respondents who selected the answers respectively.
In some cases, respondents have not completed filling out the
questionnaire and some questions had more than one answers
selected.
Education of the parent/guardian
[95] College [11] Two years of college
[43] High school [18] Elementary
Do you use computer
[159] Yes [8] No
Do you have a Facebook profile
[126] Yes [39] No
How old is your child
[101] 5 to 11 [37] 12 to 15 [29] 16 to 18
Does your child use a computer
[151] Yes [10] No
How many hours a day he/she spends on the computer
[72] up to 1 hour [68] 1 - 3 hours [22] more than 3h
Does your child has a Facebook profile
[127] Yes [35] No
Are you friend on Facebook with your child
[104] Yes [56] No
Who should be responsible for educating children about
their behavior online
[152] parents [40] school [19] government
The last two questions were open ones:
Can you specify some Internet activities that are
punishable by law in the Republic of Macedonia
What measures should be taken to improve the safety
of children in their use of the Internet.


Fig. 4. Internet browser
The respondents had children aged between 5 and 11 years
at most (60.5%), which was the main target group of the
project as the most vulnerable population age segment. In
terms of level of education respondents with higher education
dominated (56.9%). This percentage is about five times higher
than the percentage of higher educated population in the
Republic of Macedonia. Some of the reasons of this
educational structure of the respondents are that schools were
in urban areas, and parents with higher education were more
aware of the threats that arise from internet, and more
interested in taking part in the campaign. Respondents with
primary education completed originate mainly from the foster
families for the children without parental care, but despite the
low standard of living, however the number of families without
a computer is less than the number of respondents with primary
education (8 vs. 18).
Three of the questions were Facebook related, as Facebook
was identified as one of the biggest source of threats in
childrens online experience, partly due to very high rate of
Facebook users as a percentage of Internet users in Macedonia
(82%).
The parents and guardians recognized their responsibility in
providing education on childrens behavior online (72%).
The answers on the open questions varied, and most
common ones were following:
Can you specify some Internet activities that are
punishable by law in the Republic of Macedonia
giving personal information, hate speech, luring,
violence, pornography, racism, overtaking another
persons profile, entering unauthorised into a web site,
publishing other persons photos and information,
violent video games, paedophylia, using another
persons information, hacking, profile overtaking,
personal insults etc.
What measures should be taken to improve the safety
of children in their use of the Internet secure
password, talking to the children and explaining the
threats and coping mechanisms, instalation of
protective software, school should take place in the
efforts to educate children on their safe behavior on
internet, building closenes and mutual trust with the
children, organizing of the parents to fight online
threats, forming a commitie for online censorship,
parents education, control of a childrens online
acitivities by their parents, instructions not to contact
unknown people, setting proper security settings on
Facebook, encoding the web sites with unappropriate
content, restricted access on adult web sites, identity
protection, cautious communication, fight against
game addiction, no internet there is no other solution,
etc.
IV. CONCLUSION
The Child online protection campaign conducted in the
Republic of Macedonia has met its goals. It raised the
awareness regarding online threats for the children, and opened
a public debate on the corresponding issues.
The survey demonstrated that the parents, guardians and
educators are aware of their role in providing safe Internet
experience for the children, but one part of them are not
acquainted with the mechanisms how Internet works, which
activities are punishable by law in the Republic of Macedonia,
and what are the proper measures to improve the safety of
children in their use of the Internet.
The conclusion arising from the campaign is that the
education of children, their parents, guardians and educators
should be an ongoing process, system approach should be
implemented, and apart from the campaigns, it should become
a part of the traditional education process.


1
http://www.itu.int/osg/csd/cybersecurity/gca/cop/
2
http://surfajbezbedno.mk