At a recent visit to Cranbourne school Maria Miller MP spoke to pupils about online safety.
The Be Internet Legends curriculum teaches children to make smart decisions and empowers them to use the web safely and wisely so they can be confident explorers of the online world.
Maria Miller said, “It was great to meet the cyber ambassadors at Cranbourne school, the pupils asked many questions about the online safety bill and how this new legislation will protect people from online sexual harassment.
“It is vital that children are empowered to have the confidence to be able to talk about online experiences, tolerance of sexual harassment both on and off-line is way too high, it’s not part of growing up, it’s not OK and there must be zero tolerance to it.
“Perpetrators also need to know that there are severe consequences for bullying in the off and online world, and third-party reporting will be an essential tool to empower victims to protect themselves.
“People of all ages need to understand that distributing nude images without the persons consent and adults grooming school children to send intimate images are serious criminal offences”.
The pupils talked about how we behave and how it affects other people and the dangers of websites that promote eating disorders, self-harm, and terrorism during the meeting.
Maria added, “Internet platforms will have to be smarter, put in more checks and look at identity evidence before accounts are opened. Parents and schools must also bear responsibility too for the safeguarding of all children”.
