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| Safer Internet Conference in Bulgaria |
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A conference on “Safer Use of Internet by Children” was organized by ARC Fund on June 28, 2006 in Sofia, with the support of the Council of Europe’s Information Centre and under the auspices of the Public Council on Safer Internet. 
The conference is part of ARC Fund’s efforts to fight the distribution of harmful and illegal online content on Bulgarian websites, which is the main objective of a EU supported project under the Safer Internet Program launched in August 2005.
 The project has created a national hotline where Bulgarian Internet users can report incidences of harmful content, primarily such containing sexually explicit and pornographic material targeting or involving children.
ARC Fund, together with its partners in the government, IT industry and NGO community, is also launching a wide-ranging information campaign to raise awareness among children, parents and educators about the risks and dangers of uncontrolled Internet use by children and minors, and the means of prevention of child exposure to harmful and offensive online content.
The conference gathered over 30 participants representing policy-makers, government agencies, IT and e-content industries, child welfare organizations and mass media. The forum was opened by Mr. Svetoslav Spassov, Chairman of the Parliamentary Committee for Children, Youth and Sports, who also presides the Public Council on Safer Internet, recently established by ARC Fund
Other distinguished guests included Mrs. Shirin Mestan, Chair of the State Agency for Child Protection, who spoke about the initiatives of the Agency aiming to make Internet a safer place for children.
The point of view of children was presented by the Chairman of the Children’s Council to the State Agency for Child Protection and two students from the 119th School in Sofia who are administering their school’s website.
The topic of Internet and computer games was addressed by Mr. Nikolay Slavchev, president of the Bulgarian Electronic Sports Federation.
Mrs. Eva Borissova, Chair of the Parents Association touched on the topic of Reality and Virtuality.
Mr. Todor Georgiev presented the functionalities of specific filtering software used by one of the popular children’s websites, Dechica.com.
Mrs. Sylvia Kancheva, senior expert at the Ministry of Education spoke about the need and ways to raise the Bulgarian public’s awareness about the dangers raised by Internet for children. 
Participants held plenary discussions on the main themes of the conference agenda.
The conference contributed to improving the common understanding among key stakeholders of the issues involved in protecting child safety in Internet, and the various initiatives that are currently underway at national and European level.
During the forum ARC Fund also presented a new Safer Internet information kit, which includes information posters which will soon be made available to schools and Internet game clubs country-wide, a set of Rules for Kids Online (adopted from EU and international best practice), and a special leaflet for parents. All information materials prominently feature the address of the Bulgarian Safer Internet hotline – http://web112.net, and are part of ARC Fund’s campaign to raise awareness and use of this free online reporting service.
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