"The Territory of the Safe Internet" information stand
On 12 to 15 May 2009, an Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) fair, "SVIAZ/EXPO COMM", took place in Moscow supported by the Russian Ministry of Communications and a number of major stakeholders that collectively form the organizing committee of the Year of the Safe Internet in Russia, launched last February. One of the highlights of the fair was a joint "socially-oriented" stand entitled "The Territory of the Safe Internet", dedicated to the issues of child protection and e-accessibility for the disabled.
On 14 May, at the invitation of the organizers, the Director of the United Nations Information Centre (UNIC) in Moscow acted as co-chair of the roundtable "Children in the Information Society", which focused on the legal, technical and institutional challenges posed by the issue of cybersecurity. In his opening remarks the Director quoted the UN Secretary-General's message on the occasion of World Information Society Day and said that awareness of the opportunities offered by a secure Web and of the looming threats are vital to meeting Russia's
national priorities in an information age.
During the roundtable, which lasted for more than three hours, many topical subjects were raised and discussed, namely, screening systems, "child help lines", problems of moral research and education in the IT environment, capacity building and promotion of positive content. The roundtable was attended by approximately 60 people and promoted a number of new initiatives. The roundtable was quite helpful in terms of putting child online security on the agenda in Russia and strengthening the collaborative network already existing here.