The Business Software Alliance (BSA) launched an educational Web resource on Tuesday to help youths across Asia understand and avoid the many risks they face on the internet. According to DPA "The internet has spawned a new generation of youths who spend significant amounts of time in cyberspace, where they are exposed to illegal or unwholesome content, or are lured into unlawful activities," said Jeffrey Hardee, BSA's Vice President for the Asia-Pacific region. Called B4USurf (www.b4usurf.org), it provides information for educators, parents and youth to promote safe, healthy and appropriate internet usage. In addition to Singapore, it is also being launched in Taiwan, Malaysia, the Philippines and China. The BSA encouraged schools, governments and parents to take a serious view of the online dangers and take steps to educate youth on responsible internet use. Asia has 38.7 per cent of the world's internet users, said BSA, the foremost organization dedicated to promoting a safe and legal digital world. The number of internet users in Asia grew at a faster rate than the worldwide average between 2000 and 2007, BSA said, by 346.6 per cent,compared to 265.6 per cent. Online dangers include child pornography, internet crime, harassment, paedophiles that lurk in chat rooms and computer security breaches, Hardee said. "Many schools do not adequately convey the risks associated with the internet to their students," he said.
