The Internet allows people, cultures and businesses to create and connect with the rest of the world, however digital literacy and access to information online isn’t equally available for everyone. Next week marks ten years since the United Nation’s first Media and Information Literacy Week, a moment to assess and celebrate progress toward everyone better understanding their rights online and feeling empowered in the face of online opportunities and threats.
Locally, Netsafe is an independent body that champions for New Zealanders to be confident internet users, in the context of both digital opportunities and in preventing online harm. We’ve been a long time supporter of their work and are proud to announce a new sponsorship to support their online safety programmes, which focus on three core areas:
Educating New Zealanders to raise awareness of and build resilience against online harms, including misinformation;
Supporting people through online incidents, for example victims of fraud or online bullying;
Advocating for a safer online environment by working closely with the online safety community, government, businesses, NGOs and media on online safety issues and solutions.
“Netsafe and Google have worked in partnership for over 15 years to find practical responses to evolving online safety threats. With this support from Google we can continue to respond to the rising demand for our services – and continue our tradition of innovating in the delivery of online safety.” said Martin Cocker, CEO of Netsafe.
At Google we invest extensively in our products and services to ensure they’re secure by default and private by design. We keep more users safe - by blocking malware, phishing attempts, spam messages and potential cyber attacks - than anyone else in the world. We also know that collaboration is key to ensuring that our products and services offer a safe and secure experience online and we believe that access to accurate, authoritative and helpful information online has never been more important. As one of YouTube’s local Trusted Flaggers, our hope is that with this grant Netsafe is further empowered to work with us to help Kiwis stay safe online.
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Posted by Ross Young, Government Affairs and Public Policy.
