Parents call for online privacy lessons

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The majority of parents want their children to receive lessons in online privacy, according to survey results released today.

The YouGov study, commissioned as part of the Digital Literacy Report 2009, showed 69 per cent of parents asking for the government to provide compulsory lessons in school so children understand their online footprint and the effects it can have.

One of the main concerns held by almost half of the parents was that their child’s activity on social networking sites may damage their prospects in the future, be it going for a job or getting into university.

Louis Halpern, chief executive of digital communications agency Halpern Cowan, which commissioned the survey, said in a statement: "Young people are spending more and more time online, growing up with technology ingrained as part of their daily lives. Unlike adults however, they're not streetwise, they don't understand the threats.”

However, even with these concerns, 44 per cent of the parents admitted they did not keep track of their child’s activities when posting online.

"Policy makers… are showing themselves up as being stuck in the dark ages by failing to recognise these pitfalls that British children are regularly exposed to,” he continued, “and parents have already begun to admit defeat in watching what their children do online.”

Halpern concluded: "If we do not proactively teach young people about the impact of their online activity how can they better protect and promote themselves? We want to see a generation of digitally 'literate' adults emerge in years to come, and it is our responsibility to ensure it.”

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