Stuart Corner
Wednesday, 19 September 2007 18:00
Opinion and Analysis
Page 1 of 2
Press releases from communications minister Helen Coonan trumpeting some initiative or other to protect Australian families from the perils of the Internet seem to have become an almost daily occurrence in the run up to the federal election. They are not all they seem to be.
I've seen so many of these lately that I tend to ignore them but the mention of Microsoft in the latest offering caught my eye: "The Australian Government and Microsoft join forces to protect families online." That looked like a pretty big deal in anybody's book. So I read on:
"Senator Coonan said Microsoft has committed to a long term partnership with the Government by extending its Think U Know initiative to include information and resources to help parents understand the benefits of using the administrator function in their computer operating system to manage access to on-line services and materials...Microsoft is also supporting the NetAlert – Protecting Australian Families Online initiative by providing a link from their website to www.netalert.gov.au and promoting online safety education through its more than 200 community technology learning centres around Australia."
That was about it. Seems that Microsoft was already committed to some long term involvement with the government. So no big deal. But what you may well ask is this 'Think U Know' initiative? Turns out that this release, like others that have emanated from Coonan's office in recent weeks is a rehash of old news. NetAlert issued a press release last November (which you won't find on its website any longer) that ran as follows: "NetAlert, together with Microsoft, ninemsn and the Virtual Global Taskforce (VGT)*, recently launched the Think U Know initiative, designed to raise awareness amongst Australian children, parents and teachers of the increasing safety issues on the internet. This pioneering partnership has come together to support NetAlert's strategy to have Internet safety taught in all Australian schools.
