January 30, 2020 FY2020 Spring Safety Net Campaign with Chain of Moves in New Semester

The Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications (MIC) will implement this fiscal year’s Spring Safety Net Campaign with Chain of Moves in New Semester from February through May this year with the aim of creating an environment where young people can use the Internet securely and safely.
Many young people acquire smartphones for the first time after their new enrollment or graduation in spring. With particular emphasis on this period, MIC will collaborate and cooperate with related government agencies and businesses to promote the use of filtering, and intensively work on improving the Internet literacy of youth and their parents.

1. Purpose

With the rapid spread of smartphones in recent years, many young people have been using so-called social media, such as social networking services (SNS) and online games. This trend has also been spreading to children of early elementary grades and smaller children.
On the other hand, with the progress of the use of social media by smartphones and other handheld terminals, children’s cyberbullying and long-term use of such terminals have become issues. Improper SNS use is causing serious cases in which young people are involved in crimes.
For this reason, it is very important for youth who will bear the future to understand the risks of using smartphones, along with countermeasures, and to create an environment where smartphones can be used securely and safely.
Many young people acquire smartphones for the first time after their new enrollment or graduation in spring. With particular emphasis on this period, since 2014, MIC has been collaborating and cooperating with related government agencies and businesses to promote the use of filtering and intensively working on improving the Internet literacy of youth and their parents.
From February through May this year, as part of the fiscal 2020 Spring Safety Net Campaign with Chain of Moves in New Semester, MIC and the parties concerned will intensively conduct various initiatives to promote the use of filtering and improve the Internet literacy for young people and parents.

2. Initiatives in fiscal 2020 Spring Safety Net Campaign with Chain of Moves in New Semester

MIC will collaborate with information communications companies and various organizations, including mobile phone carriers, and promote various initiatives to improve young people’s Internet literacy, including the safe use of SNS, and the use of filtering.

Examples of initiatives

  • MIC’s preparation and release of the 2020 Internet Trouble Casebook and conduct activities to keep the Boards of Education well informed of the trouble.
  • Enhanced awareness rising of parents by MIC and the related ministries through the Japan High School PTA Federation and the Japan PTA National Council, including the issuance of documents for cooperation requests (e.g., those on (1) Active use of parental control, (2) Safe use of SNS, (3) Internet literacy improvements).
  • Development of awareness-raising activities related to the safe and secure use of the Internet in each region in cooperation with the PTA, the Board of Education, etc., by MIC’s Regional Bureau of Telecommunications.
  • Promotion of careful explanations through the creation of flyers and distribution of them at stores, etc. for the promotion of filtering by mobile phone carriers and sales agents.
  • Storefront display of videos of popular animations tied up with educational videos created in cooperation with mobile phone carriers and the publishing industry.
  • Implementation of educational courses on the safe and secure use of the Internet by mobile phone carriers.
  • Implementation of awareness-raising activities related to the safe and secure use of the Internet by distributing flyers at new websites and events in various places by the Safety Network Creation Promotion Council
  • Intensive implementation of awareness-raising activities (e-net caravan) on the safe and secure use of the Internet in cooperation with tMIC, the Foundation for Multimedia Communications, and private businesses.

3. Others

In addition to the above-mentioned initiatives, the fiscal 2020 Spring Safety Net Campaign with Chain of Moves will be implemented by the related parties. The details of the initiatives will be posted on the website of the Japan Internet Safety Promotion Association (JISPA) (https://www.good-net.jp/ Open a new window) and websites of MIC’s Regional Bureau of Telecommunications.

Contact

For further information about this press release, please fill in the inquiry form and submit it to MIC on the website
https://www.soumu.go.jp/common/english_opinions.html

International Policy Division, Global Strategy Bureau, MIC

TEL: +81 3 5253 5920

FAX: +81 3 5253 5924