[LINK] NetAlert Campaign 'truth' finally coming out

[Ivan Trundle]

I have to disagree with this, though not in defence of a past  
government edict.

As a parent of offspring who use the net extensively, I am aware of  
the significance of a 'friend of a friend' - which is simply a  
euphemism for 'someone I don't know'. In every sense, they are a  
'stranger', and in the IM world, a friend of a friend is not at all  
equivalent to someone you might, say, meet at a party by way of a  
friend's introduction.

I've not seen the survey in question, so it's hard to deduce what the  
results imply, and to be perfectly honest, I think that the perception  
of what parents might find 'alarming' is open to considerable  
interpretation. Having had to assess proxy logs in a medium-sized work  
environment, there is no doubt that a good deal of net activity would  
be considered 'alarming', both at home and in the workplace...

What kids/young adults/adults say in a loaded survey of online  
behaviour is one thing, and what they actually do is something often  
entirely different.

All said and done, I'm no fan of NetAlert: the principle here is for  
parents to take more interest and control, rather than abrogating  
their responsibilities to the government of the day. And the same goes  
for the workplace.

iT


On 15/12/2007, at 8:35 AM, Jan Whitaker wrote:

> [You gotta hand it to the ex-government. Coonan could spin it with  
> the best of them. Gee, what is an eight letter word that means a  
> person you don't know and rhymes with danger? BTW, the package that  
> came to me was promptly marked 'return to sender' and put in the  
> nearest Aussie Post box, just like the anti-'terror' bogeyman  
> campaign]
>
>
> http://www.theage.com.au/news/national/coalition-internet-campaign-inaccurate/2007/12/14/1197568265011.html
>
> Coalition internet campaign 'inaccurate'
> Peter Mares
> December 15, 2007
>
> INDUSTRY professionals have raised doubts about the accuracy of  
> statistics used in the Howard government's multimillion-dollar  
> internet safety campaign. The NetAlert campaign used media  
> advertisements and billboards to warn of the risks to children and  
> teenagers online.
>
> One advertisement said a survey had shown that more than half of  
> 11-15-year-olds who chatted online were contacted by strangers.  
> Another claimed a survey had shown that almost half of 11-14-year- 
> olds had viewed websites their parents would find alarming. Similar  
> statistics were quoted in the NetAlert information booklet sent to  
> every household.
>
> The then communications minister, Helen Coonan, said the statistics  
> were drawn from a study commissioned by the government. But she  
> refused to make the research public, saying it contained personal  
> information. The Age has obtained the research, a survey prepared by  
> the Wallis Consulting Group, under freedom of information laws. It  
> does not contain any personal information.
>
> The claim in the campaign regarding stranger contact does not appear  
> in the government-commissioned research. The question was not posed  
> in this form. Participants were asked: "When chatting online, have  
> you ever been contacted by someone you haven't met in real life?"  
> More than half answered "yes".
>
> But when asked who they chatted to or messaged, they said  
> communication was mostly with friends (96%), friends of friends  
> (31%) or people met online who their parents had said "it is all  
> right to talk to" (20%). Only 14% chatted or messaged with "just a  
> mixture of people including strangers".
>
> Experts criticise the NetAlert statistics for including "friends of  
> friends" and anyone not met in the physical world in the category of  
> strangers. It says this inflates the statistic.
>
> Peter Mares presents the National Interest, Sunday at midday on ABC  
> Radio National.
>
> Jan Whitaker
> JLWhitaker Associates, Melbourne Victoria
> jwhit at janwhitaker.com
> business: http://www.janwhitaker.com
> personal: http://www.janwhitaker.com/personal/
> commentary: http://janwhitaker.com/jansblog/
>
> Living, like writing, requires no wisdom. Only revising does. - Jim  
> Sollisch, Sept, 2007
> 'Seed planting is often the most important step. Without the seed,  
> there is no plant.' - JW, April 2005
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--
Ivan Trundle
http://itrundle.com ivan at itrundle.com
ph: +61 (0)418 244 259 fx: +61 (0)2 6286 8742
skype: callto://ivanovitchk