New internet safety director appointed

The Government has appointed John Laffan as the director of the Office for Internet Safety (OIS) in Ireland. Mr Laffan will take up his post at the beginning of next month.

Minister for Justice Brian Lenihan, who made the announcement today, said the OIS will "encourage greater cohesion across state agencies and develop closer relationships with the gardaí on the practicalities for the application of blocking technologies".

The Minister was speaking at the publication of the final booklet in the Government's Get with IT series advising safer internet usage. The booklet is a guide for parents to social networking sites and the practicalities involved in allowing children to use them. It is available free of charge through libraries, community information centres and credit unions, or online at the Department of Justice website.

Get with IT! - A Parents' Guide to New Media

A parents' guide to new media technologies, has been published by the Internet Advisory Board.
Get with IT - a Parents Guide to New Media (PDF - 1.31MB)
Get with IT - A Parents Guide to Filtering Technologies (PDF - 1.06MB)
Get with IT - A Parents Guide to Social-Networking Websites (PDF - 2.73MB)

All documents are available here:
http://www.justice.ie/en/JELR/Pages/Get_with_IT