The 2006 World Day of Safety on the Internet was celebrated on 7 February; the initiative was supported by 95 organizations of 36 countries (including the European Union, the USA and Russia). The highlight of the event, organized by the Insafe network, was the “blogathon” or “blog-marathon”, a multilingual forum on line; geared to the various time zones of the planet, shifting from State to State and from school to school, and hosting the contributions of experts and guests for the promotion of the safe use of the Internet. At the European level, the Day provided an opportunity to present the results of the “Safer Internet” Programme funded by the European Commission since 1999, and aimed at “placing at the disposal of parents and teachers the necessary know-how and means for the risk-free use of the Internet”. According to Eurobarometer, in fact, only 20 parents out of 100 fix rules for the access of their children to the contents of the web: presumably, the percentage of those who actually respect those rules is far lower. For further information, consult the website http://europa.int
