Child on the Web campaign

On June 8th, the Polish Safer Internet Centre (Nobody's Children Foundation, NASK), together with the Children's Ombudsman and under the patronage of Polish National Police, inaugurated the new edition of the „Child on the Web" social campaign under the slogan "Every move online leaves a trace...".

The "Child on the Web" social campaign was launched in 2004 by Nobody's Children Foundation and was aimed at drawing public attention to the threats related to Internet use by children and at promoting, among children, young people and parents, attitudes fostering the safety of young Internet users. The first edition of the campaign "You never know who is on the other side" run in 2004 - 2005 was noticed by over 70% of Poles and provoked a public debate on the problem of child grooming on the Internet. The campaign was acclaimed not only in Poland, but also in other countries and it was successfully replicated in Bulgaria, Albania, Czech Republic, Moldova and Latvia. Since 2005, the "Child on the Web" campaign has been a part of the European Commission's Safer Internet Programme run in Poland by Nobody's Children Foundation and Research and Academic Computer Network (NASK) in cooperation with Orange Foundation.

The 2010 campaign edition is aimed at highlighting the long-awaited amendment to the penal code, concerning penalization of online grooming and is addressed to potential offenders, Internet users and public opinion. Despite the increasing awareness of online risks (among children themselves as well as their parents), children still fall victims to online grooming. In addition to legal regulations that penalize sexual exploitation of children in the real world, the new amendments entering into force on June the 8th of 2010 will penalize the process of online grooming of children. The main goals of the campaign are counteracting child grooming on the Internet, publicizing new legal regulations related to sexual exploitation of children over the internet, fighting the sense of anonymity of offenders on the Web as well as promoting of Helpline.org.pl offer.

New edition of the campaign publicizes those legal provisions that are related to sexual offences towards children with particular emphasis on new regulations applying to child grooming on the Internet:
Art. 200a § 1. Anyone who with the aim of committing an offence specified in article 197 § 3 or art. 200, or producing or recording pornographic contents through the use of teleinformatic systems or telecommunications network, establishes a relationship with a minor under the age of 15 aiming to meet them - by misleading, exploiting an error of judgment, or inability to properly assess situation or with the use of illegal threat - is liable to imprisonment for a term up to 3 years.
§ 2. Anyone who with the use of teleinformatic systems or telecommunications network makes a proposition of a sexual intercourse, or of submitting to or performing other sexual activity, or of taking part in production or recording of pornographic contents to a minor under the age of 15, with the aim of actualizing that proposition, shall be subject to a fine, penalty of restriction of liberty or penalty of deprivation of liberty for up to 2 years.
The organizers took care about good visibility of the campaign. The TV spots were prepared based on spots from "You never know who is on the other side" campaign and are being broadcasted by main TV channels in Poland. The campaign is accompanied by a big outdoor action - 150 billboards and citylights were put in the biggest cities in Poland.

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