Don Hollander
Chair, 2020 Communications Trust
ET12: Emerging Technologies Session
Building a Cybersafety Partnership

1. Martin Cocker compares cyber safety with the Ocean in his article in Beyond Tunis 2.0: Horizon. "We do not control the ocean - he argues - so we do everything within our power to manage the risk it brings." Similarly, we are not able to exert macro level control on the environment of cyberspace. So what chances do we have? What kind of "boats" do we need to build and who can teach us to "swim"? What is the right approach to cyber safety?

Martin provides a very appropriate analogy given New Zealand and our neighbours geographic location in the middle of an ocean. During my discussions with community, government and business leaders throughout the Pacific, one of their top concerns is 'How to keep their people safe?'

I have seen many Cyber Safety programs that have tried to protect people, either in a school, government department, or business, through technological filtering. Some operate on 'White Lists' which allow access to a limited and pre-approved set of sites and others on a 'Black List' which allows greater flexibility, but stops access to known inappropriate sites. And no doubt, there are some good tools. But, what if these fail? What do people, particularly children, do then?

That is the key difference that Netsafe pursue.

2. You will be moderating the GK3 Panel on "Building a Cybersafety Partnership", which will showcase a successful model from New Zealand. Could you briefly introduce the speakers and tell us about your expectations regarding the different angles they will be representing?

Martin Crocker, the CEO of NetSafe, will talk about the NetSafe program – how it focuses on people from 2 to 102. How it focuses on education and support. How it focuses on training. How it focuses on research. How it uses different channels, such as schools, community groups, police, etc. to spread its message.

Keith Davidson, the CEO of InternetNZ, will speak about their focus on an Uncapturable Internet for All – and how the work of NetSafe fits into their mission and why InternetNZ is a major supporter of NetSafe.

Douglas Harre of the NZ Ministry of Education will talk about the very important partnership that NetSafe has with the Ministry of education – where NetSafe provides the programs and the schools provide the delivery channel – thus facilitating schools to have more open access to the Internet for their students studies – knowing that the students have the skills to deal with inappropriate content when it arises.

Stu Woollett from Westpac will talk about the safety issue for banks. The better informed and skilled and knowledgeable their customers are to Internet Safety issues, then the lower the risk of Internet fraud for the bank, and the more confident their customers will be with using these new tools.

3. Who is responsible for cyber safety?

In short, everyone. Parents have an important role to play in their homes, community leaders and institutions, such as the church and clubs, in their communities, and schools and businesses in their respective institutions.

Banks and on-line businesses also have a role, and ISP's do as well.

I don't believe that Governments have an overarching role other than to support education.

4. What specific challenges do you think developing countries face regarding cyber safety?

I think that developing countries have the ability to learn from those who have gone before, and to take steps to initiate Cyber Safety programs BEFORE people are exposed. You'll see that Netsafe's programs are very much focused on the children and new comers to the Internet. This is to address the issue before it becomes a problem. Just as a parent teachers children to look both ways before crossing a road, similar education should apply to anyone who is new to this new media.

The 2020 Communications Trust includes a segment on Internet Safety in all its training programs involving 'Digital migrants'.

5. Would you assess your expectations about GK3? Please be subjective!

I expect that GK3 will provide an opportunity to share information, to see who's doing what around the globe. It will also be an opportunity to build new relationships between people working in this space around the planet. We are particularly looking forward to finding partners for innovation in the Pacific.

The venture is vital, because there's not really another venue for practitioners in this space to meet and exchange ideas.

My only frustration is our inability to bring more people from New Zealand to share experiences. The issues of GKP apply to developed as well as developing economies.

And a final note, my comments above are just a small portion of what each speaker will be talking about. Fundamentally, the session is about the importance of Cyber Safety, NetSafe's Positive approach toward its achievement, and the appropriate interest of different stakeholders in a community toward Cyber Safety. And, finally, NetSafe's team are quite happy to share their experiences and their programs with others – indeed that's why they joined GKP.