Cybersecurity and safer internet within modern societies
On the 4th of April of 2022, the ALL DIGITAL Weeks launched the 4th week online event titled “Cybersecurity and safer internet within modern societies”, which gathered more than 80 attendees, including EfVET. The ALL DIGITAL Weeks consists of a series of annual campaigns to boost digital inclusion and empowerment aiming to enhance digital skills and promote digital inclusion and accessibility.
The event started with a presentation by Una O’Sullivan, Corporate Affairs Manager at Microsoft, regarding the threats and risks for younger generations in the digital era, which she defined as being a real concern. After pointing out the importance of cooperation among all actors to address this issue, she explained what Microsoft is doing for online and digital safety. The company, which has been working on this for over two decades, defines safety online as “maximizing the positive online experiences and minimizing those tied to illegal; inappropriate; or illegitimate content, conduct, contact, and commerce.” In this sense, Microsoft develops policies, standards and procedures according to the objective, and also fosters collaboration and partnerships. Moreover, the company advocates for education, awareness-raising, and research, part of which translates into their annual study called the “Digital Civility Index.” The main findings of the 6th edition of the digital civility index, that was recently released, were presented by Una O’Sullivan.
The next intervention came from the hand of Claudia Matera, Chief Development Officer at ALL DIGITAL, who presented the RAYUELA project approach. RAYUELA is a Horizon 2020 project that aims to empower and educate young people, especially children and teenagers, in the benefits, risks and threats intrinsically linked to the use of the Internet by playing, thus preventing and mitigating cybercriminal behavior. Claudia Matera showed some of the outcomes that the project partners got through research on certain cyber threats.
Sylvain Le Bon, CEO & Co-founder of Startin’blox, presented some important data protection strategies. Startin’blox focuses on the interoperability of data on the web and Sylvain Le Bon talked about the importance of interoperability when it comes to controlling and protecting user data. He first explained that in the current situation, citizens and users have no control over their personal data, since the platforms follow a lock-in strategy and are non-interoperable. Then, he described some of the drawbacks of such a situation, not only for citizens but also for businesses. Finally, he mentioned the key assets of an open interoperable EU market and some factors that could accelerate the transition into it.
The last intervention of the event was done by Federico Bomba, Artistic Director at Sineglossa, who talked about citizens’ active engagement through data sharing. In the framework of two projects on data and future intelligence where Sineglossa is working on, Federico Bomba explained that people seem to have two different approaches on artificial intelligence (AI): indifference and fear. None of these attitudes is the right one, thus it is important to work on giving a critical understanding of what AI is and how it works. He remarked that linking technology, imagination and legal aspects is important for people’s security.
For more information:
About the online event at this link
The video recording of the event is available on YouTube at this link