Last week, movie theaters in the Czech Republic started playing the feature documentary Caught in the Net, with the CZ.NIC Association, the Czech national domain administrator, as the general partner. The Caught in the Net movie is an experiment conceived as a documentary in order to call attention to the issue of child abuse in the Czech online environment. The CZ.NIC Association has been engaged in awareness-raising activities in this area for a long time, so it became the general partner of an awareness-raising campaign. The results of the campaign can be found at https://www.vsitifilm.cz/ and they will be of particular interest to young viewers, parents, and teachers. Other awareness-raising projects of the Czech national domain administrator include CZ.NIC Publications, CZ.NIC Academy and TV series How to Use the Internet or Teach Your Aunt about the Internet.

The CZ.NIC Association has been long and consistently focusing on improving awareness of internet security, including responsible user behavior, through awareness-raising and educational activities. For this reason, it welcomes and supports projects that are being created in the Czech Republic (Safer Internet Festival, the #martyisdead show, the Digital footprint online course, etc.). The Caught in the Net movie is yet another undertaking that deserves such support.

“The considerable interconnection between the today’s various human activities and information and communication technologies requires we all, regardless of age, use the Internet with caution and avoid lurking dangers. In this context, we should remember that children and adolescents are the most vulnerable group. Therefore, I would like to thank the filmmakers for arousing interest in the topic across society, especially with the emphasis on such a serious issue as child abuse on the Internet,” commented Ondřej Filip, CEO of the Association.

“We see the partnership primarily as a continuation of our awareness-raising and educational activities we have been long engaged in. At the same time, I would like to remind everyone that for many years, CZ.NIC Association has been running the STOPonline.cz service, where users can report materials related to sharing of child pornography or child abuse,” adds Martin Kožíšek, head of the Safe on the Net project.

More information on the Internet and its darker sides can be found, for example, in special episodes of How to Use the Internet, in related publications of CZ.NIC Publications (How to Use the Internet, Safely or The Online ZOO) or on the website of the Safe on the Net project or the #martyisdead show.