EU to tackle cyberbullying, grooming

Interesting that they're being lumped together: The European Union is moving its Safer Internet program will be training the spotlight on "cyberbullying and cybergrooming," German tech-news site Heise reports, the former being about peer-to-peer behavior and the latter about adult-to-child aggression. So far only two EU countries have enacted legislation dealing with these forms of aggression. Maybe the program puts them together more as behavioral issues as distinguished from inappropriate content. Heise reports that 34% of the Safer Internet program's €55 million 2009-'13 budget (about $69 million US) will be allocated to "illegal and harmful content."

Euro online youth self-reliant

A survey of 27 EU member countries plus Iceland and Norway found that "European children are well aware of the potential risks of Internet and mobile phone use but are confidently embracing digital technologies, believing they are capable of handling any problem that might arise without the help of a parent," according to an article in the portal Tiscali.Europe reports. That's good and bad news, of course, indicating that on the one hand they may be less susceptible to victimization and smarter than we think but on the other hand a little over-confident. Especially amid the rise of cyberbullying on phones and the Web, this may indicate an unhealthy disinclination to tell parents and other trusted adults about bullying incidents (out of fears that Internet privileges would be taken away, as other research shows). The study also found that "ways in which the internet was used proved similar across the continent as well as age groups. Schoolwork, communicating with friends and family via instant messaging and chat, downloading music, videos, and games scored highest, the latter more popular with boys in the 12-14 category, while chatting and emailing came out top for the older girls. Hours spent online per week also increased with age."