Preventative Actions for Enhancing Online Protection and Privacy

Many citizens rely upon online services, and it is certain that this reliance will increase in the future. However, they frequently lack a solid appreciation of the related safety and security issues, and can be missing out on an essential aspect of awareness in everyday life. Indeed, users are often concerned about online threats, but it would be stretching the point to claim that they are fully aware of the problems. Thus, rather than actually protecting themselves, many will simply accept that they are taking a risk. This paper examines the problem of establishing end-user eSafety awareness, and proposes means by which related issues can be investigated and addressed. Recognising that long-term attitudes and practices will be shaped by early experiences with the technology, it is particularly important to address the issue early and improve awareness amongst young people. However, the problem is unlikely to be addressed via the approaches that would traditionally be applied with adult users. As such, the paper examines information gathering and awareness-raising strategies drawing from qualitative methodologies in the social sciences, whose pluralistic approach can be effectively applied within school contexts.