Social Impact Committee Report to Council 26/04/01

Waitakere Economic Development Summit, April 27

ISOCNZ is one of the three sponsors of the Waitakere Economic Development Summit to be held tomorrow, April 27, in Henderson at Waitakere City Council Chambers. Our contribution to the event was $5,000. Crs Northover and Frederick participated in the organising committee and they together with Cr Mason participated in the conference. We also had an exhibit and distributed our information / membership forms to all participants.

On April 10, The Chairman of the Social Impact committee posted on the members list an announcement of the event. When after five days there was no response, he chastise members for "the lack of support amongst members for education" which led to a vigorous debate. Member Mott stated "Nobody cares about internet education, whatever that is". Member Miles wrote" It is indeed good to hear of positive things happening for the good of the society, but also for the good of the community at large. Member Varaine wrote: "[The] waitakere conference is looks like a dead fish." Frustrated by Member Mott's statements, Cr Frederick stated: "I see Seor Mott continues to reveal not only his pitiable ignorance but also is absolute lack of respect for the Society's principles. It's a sad statement that we must endure his small minded nihilism." To which Mott: " the content of your message isocnz have published to this list amounts to libel." And this led not to a discussion about education but about defamation and libel.

Manukau City event proposal

For the past few months, Crs Northover and Frederick have participated on behalf of the Society in the "SmartManukau" initiative. As a result of this work, Alta Vos, Business Development Facilitator of Enterprising Manukau (EDANZ member) has contacted us whether we might be willing to organise an event on E-Commerce in late June. Crs Northover and Frederick have not yet responded.
Tauranga Tech Expo, June 16

ISOCNZ has participated in the organising of the Tauranga Tech Expo to be held on June 16 under the auspices of the Tauranga Chamber of Commerce. Topics of relevance to the Society will include: Internet Safety; Internet Security; E-commerce; Success through E-mail Marketing and other Web business techniques; Web Research Skills for business people; Future of Internet Education; Governance of the Internet (added - JN); What every Kiwi business should know about protecting intellectual property; The Future of New Zealand as a Knowledge Society. The programme as of today indicates participation from Crs Northover, Gray or Mason, Dengate-Thrush or Shera, and Frederick.

ISOCNZ's objectives for this event (as with all roadshows) are: to increase awareness and image of ISOCNZ in the wider community; to communicate the core objectives and activities of ISOCNZ ; to increase membership. This objectives are done by way of branding, ensuring that information and profile of ISOCNZ is included in PR about the event, press releases etc, providing an area for us to have a sign board, membership forms. Information about ISOCNZ will be included in hand-out packs. We have insisted that it is ISOCNZ has a policy that all media releases are checked first by the Executive Director before going out. Our intent is to have 3-4 Councillors contributing to the event.

Internet Safety Conference

At its March meeting, the Society instructed the Social Impact committee to investigate the possibility of participating in the upcoming Internet Safety Conference. Membership of Internet Safety Group includes the New Zealand Police, the Department of Child, Youth and Family Services, the Department of Internal Affairs, the Department for Courts, educators from primary, intermediate, secondary and tertiary institutions, and representatives of community groups. The goal is of the Internet Safety Group is to educate children, young people, their parents and the wider community about Internet Safety. This gets into the issue of cyber-ethics, which ISOCNZ member Jenny Shearer has specialised in.

In March 2000, the Internet Safety Group has launched the first national initiative on Internet Safety in the world. In our estimation, New Zealand is quite a bit in advance of other nations in this regard. You can see the Website at http://www.netsafe.org.nz/ie/home/index.asp Liz Butterfield of Auckland Rape Crisis is the key organizer and she has approached the Internet Society to support an Internet Safety Conference later in the year. I'd like to recommend that Crs become involved in the conference and that the Society consider making a $5,000 contribution to the conference on the condition that the Society be recognized as a co-sponsor and that other needs of the Society be fulfilled.
Internet Safety Kit

The complete Internet Safety Kit is available at http://www.netsafe.org.nz Said to be a world first, every school in New Zealand received a copy of the Kit in March 2000 to help stop paedophiles from using the Internet as a hunting ground for young victims. Among its suggestions are that schools appoint an Internet safety officer and that parents monitor sites their children visit. Schools are now beginning to tackle the liability question since they are legally obligated to provide a safe learning environment. ERO is asking to see school policy statements, which should include signed Internet use agreements between parents and students as well as policies of what consequences there are when children transgress.
Girls on the Net survey

In 2001, Internet Safety Group commissioned Auckland University's psychology department to survey 347 teenage girls who visited the nzgirl site, to find out whether they are routinely risking their safety on the internet. An alarming 60 per cent "had done at least one potentially unsafe behaviour." For example, 35.5 per cent had given their address, telephone number or surname to someone they met on the internet, 26.5 per cent had sent their photograph to someone they met on the net, and 14.5 per cent had sent pictures of themselves. The survey showed a surprisingly low level of adult supervision of teenagers using the internet

Think Tank

The Internet Safety Group could be more effective if there was a serious attempt to share resources and information amongst government agencies, ministries, tertiary institutions, R&D companies, businesses, social service agencies, ISPs and others. The idea is to have an invitation-only two day 'think tank' in the September-October period at Auckland University where all who are involved in Internet Safety can come together, learn about aspects of the Net or the technology they do not work with themselves, contribute their own valuable viewpoints and establish new relationships. Two of the most important participants would be New Zealand Police and DIA Censorship Compliance, who we all rely on to catch those intent on criminal misuse of the Net. An awareness of the resources that exist in New Zealand could, in particular, help those in law enforcement keep pace.

National / international conference

The second conference would be a wider conference that might also invite people from other countries: how a small country with limited resources has made a realistic appraisal of the risks of the Internet and effective education to promote positive use and keep young people safe.