Google India launches 'Good to Know' campaign on Safer Internet Day

Coinciding with the Safer Internet Day, Google India has launched its new 'Good to Know' campaign on Tuesday. The campaign, aims at increasing awareness about staying safe online, for Internet users. Partnering with Digital Empowerment Foundation (DEF) (http://defindia.org) and Interest of Consumer Education (VOICE), a voluntary organisation, the campaign will include a series of online safety workshops which will reach out to schools, NGOs consumer and industry groups across the nation.

Speaking about the Good to Know campaign, Chetan Krishnaswamy, country head of public policy at Google India, says, "We want to help equip Internet users coming online in India to become responsible digital citizens. Internet safety is about having a open conversation about it and exercising meaningful choices. It is also about teaching basics such as, using unique, strong passwords and not sharing personal information."

Safer Internet Day, which is organised by Insafe every year on February, works on the cause of making the internet a safer place for citizens, and educating them about it. This is the eleventh year of the same. On the other hand, Google's campaign has also received endorsement from the Computer Emergency Response Team (CERT-In), which is the government's nodal agency to deal with cyber security threats, the Data Security Council of India (DSCI) and the Internet and Mobile Association of India (IAMAI).

The Google campaign will kickstart with week-long workshops and educational events in New Delhi. It will then be followed by digital literacy and online safety workshops in Pune, Kanpur, Guwahati and Lucknow. The workshops will be done by VOICE and DEF. VOICE will be focusing on NGOs and schools teaching them about the staying safe online. J Satyanarayana, Secretary, Department of Electronics and IT, Ministry of Communications and IT says, "The potential of the Internet, especially for young users, is immense. It is therefore important that we use the medium responsibly."

Google's Good to Know website also details a list of security and privacy tools, apart from safety tips to keep one's family safe. Endorsing on the same point was Dr. Gulshan Rai, DG, CERT-in, who said that both safety and security should first be the priority of Internet users.