This Thursday the Ministry of Public Administration and Justice visited Gödöllő with the programme titled ‘The Internet Does Not Forget’; a campaign started in favour of raising awareness on the dangers of the World Wide Web and reducing the phenomena of in-school and cyber-bullying. Hundreds of pupils and their teachers have attended the lecture held in the Riding School of the Gödöllő Castle.

Before the presentation Monika Balatoni, Minister of State for Public Diplomacy and Relations of the Ministry of Public Administration and Justice drew attention on the fact that kids between ages of 10 and 14 years use the Internet for four and a half hours per day and more specifically social media sites; all so that they do not consider, for example, that they might violate the law  with the exchanged information; personal data or pictures. She added that it is important to think about the future too, since a photo regarded now as funny could be embarrassing ten years later and then could affect their lives.

The Minister of State said that according to surveys it is common for stakeholders to not talk about abuse; for parents and teachers are not considered appropriate partner in this matter, because they are believed to not understand what it is all about. Monika Balatoni pointed out that among others the program intends to bridge this “gap” and the educational material soon to be available for teachers will help in this matter. It will contain important legal and methodological knowledge for teachers, which will assist them in among other things to be able to recognize the signs of bullying and to counter-act.

Till the middle of March over three thousand students participated in the program at 30 locations, but in regard to the great interest the Ministry will continue with the lecture series. During the one and a half hour programme students could try out in a playful way with the help of three moderators, what kind of consequences does posting have and it turns out, how many times they have violated others’ rights when they used their photos illegally or gave away their private secrets.

(Minister of Public Administration and Justice)