1. OnlineContent
True, False,
Inappropriate & Illegal
OnlineContent
True, False,
Inappropriate & Illegal
Being on the Internet today brings you into contact with all sorts content –
good and bad - in the form of text, video, audio and images! Being able to
judge the reliability of content you encounter is very important. Whether you
are checking if an email is a likely phishing scam, or whether you are
deciding if you should install a cool app on Facebook, all these decisions
need to be thought about.
www.wisekids.org.uk
• What is the aim of the site, and does it have
a particular bias?
• Is it trying to convince you of a certain point
of view? For example, there are historical
websites that are written by people who
want to give you a different version of history
• Are there contact details on the website?
• How often is the content updated?
• Is it a personal, business or government
website? For example does it end in .gov.uk?
Assessing websites
With the tools available today, virtually anyone can have an online presence, for example,
a YouTube Channel, a Facebook or Twitter account or a website. Anyone can set up a
website easily, and it may even look official! For example, have you seen the Endangered
Tree Octopus website: http://zapatopi.net/treeoctopus? The following are some
questions to ask when assessing websites:
• How does the content compare to
other sources?
• If the site collects your personal information,
does it have a ‘privacy policy’ that tells you
how the owners handle and use your data?
• If it uses cookies, does it give you the option
to opt out?
• Which country does the website domain
come from, and can you check who owns it
by using a service like: http://lookup.ws
Inappropriate and illegal content
You may have also come across websites with adult content, or websites which promote
extremism, race-hate, self-harm and violence. Whilst some of this content is illegal in the
UK, it may not be in other countries, so it may be difficult to have it taken down. However,
some police forces do co-operate with other police forces worldwide to remove content
that is illegal in their countries. In your school, you will also notice that many inappropriate
and illegal websites are blocked. In the UK, you can report all forms of online hate via the
True Vision website: www.report-it.org.uk. Similarly, the Internet Watch Foundation (IWF)
is a UK hotline to report illegal content. See: http://www.iwf.org.uk for more information.
Copyright © 2012 WISE KIDS. Creative Commons License: CC BY-NC-ND 3.0
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/deed.en_GB