Safer Internet Day 2006

Declaration of the Association

Objectives

Promoting the public’s awareness of the positive and negative effects of the use of the Internet on society and its values, and for the furthering of the appropriate and safe use of the Internet.

Vision

To be a leading factor in Israel in the formation and fostering of this awareness, both in the general public and the professionals, in close cooperation with the involved factors at the national and the international levels.

Human values

The Internet can bring a significant contribution to the promotion of issues in the sphere of man and society.
The variety of the available sources of information in all spheres, the swift and efficient communication, the abolition of the geopolitical boundaries and the rapprochement of the nations, cultures and ethnical groups, and the strengthening of the relations between Israel and the Diaspora, the convenient approach to remote learning and teaching, without mediators – all this and more, shall bring an important contribution to the well-being of the individual, the progress and the advancement of society.

The wide use of the Internet has a certain social value as well.
The wide-spread use of the Internet in all spheres and the increasing number of its users has brought about on the one hand the development of technological relations (such as: the availability of the network, the speedy transfer of data and similar), and the development of the social relations on the other, which, however, along with the beneficial effects, involves innumerable risks.

Anonymity and lack of supervision have also shortcomings.
The Internet has several unique advantages: it eliminates the various logistical difficulties related to time and space: information flow is quicker, it is more accessible to all people, efficiency of the markets increases, communication within the community and between the individuals develops etc. Nevertheless, the Internet is an anonymous network, lacking supervision, which might conduct to the absolute misuse of the freedom of expression, intended to take advantage of the user not in the know, such as teenagers or customers, and to encourage unethical goals, such as hatred between nations, religions and various minority groups within the society.

In a world without fences or borders, better-defined behavioral rules are needed
The Internet is a new world with as yet undefined borders. As such it raises new challenges, related to society and its values, and all attempts to meet these challenges have failed until now.

Coping with the changes needs awareness
Taking a close look at the technological changes taking place in the sphere of Hi-Tec, owing to which the Internet has become a permanent presence in our homes, and taking a close look as well at the effects of these changes on our lives, it was suggested to set up an association with the objective to promote and cultivate the awareness of the expected changes and their effects on the society and the individual, deriving from the wide-spread use of the Internet in particular and computerized communication in general.

Objectives
In order to reach said objective the Association should implement the goals mentioned hereunder:

1. Foster and stimulate the awareness and the understanding of the public, of (the negative or positive) effects of the various uses of the Internet in relation to the individual, the group, the institutions and the society in general. (The Association does not wish to relate to the technological effects of Hi-Tec.)

2. Foster the understanding between the Internet and the professionals in the sphere of Hi-Tec and the public who is not concerned yet with the advanced technology, and study the connection between the needs of the individual and the society, and the development trends in Hi-Tec and the use of the Internet.

3. Check and understand the social significance of the use of the Internet in the following spheres:

• Changes in the employment structure and the effects on business planning and the patterns of professional advancement.
• The effects on the trade and the significance of the shifting from traditional trading to electronic trading
• The effects on the rights of the individual and the protection of their physical and electronic assets.
• The ethical and legal issues of the use of the Internet.

The activities of the Association

The Association shall carry out its activities in the following spheres:

Conferences
The Association shall hold an annual national conference and regional conferences (meetings, workshops etc). All conferences and meetings shall be held in memory of Eran Aderet.

Internet sites
Building of an Internet site serving as a platform for its activities and the exchange of opinions on various issues.

Information and education
• Development of information programs for the elementary and the high-schools, and the non-formal education as well
• Distribution of information on the technological means capable to minimize the Internet-related risks
• Use of the means of communication to increase awareness of the general public of the above issue
• Promotion and distribution of subject matters related to the extended use of the Internet furthering improvement of quality of life
• Establishment of an information “hot-line” to provide support, if and when needed

Legislation fostering of the obligation
• Establishment of a lobby in the Knesset with the aim to further legislation meant to impede the misuse of the Internet
• Preparing of a Convention on the issue to be signed by the Internet servers and the programming companies

Research promotion
• Fostering study and research in the sphere of the use of the Internet and its effects on society
• Examination of forecasts and research work, which might reveal the future (positive and negative) effects of new technologies.

Cooperation
• Cooperation with the domestic Hi-Tec industry for the study of the social consequences of the Internet
• Domestic and international cooperation with organizations and institutions having objectives similar to our objectives.