I was intrigued, whilst catching up on news, to see that the IPPR and Eurim have published a report that advocates a “Green Cross Code” to educate people on the perils of Internet usage. This is nicely aligned with my own thinking published a couple of weeks earlier than this report. The Register’s report, that I link to above, in turn links to the truly awful website of the National HiTech Crime Unit. I’m sure that they have to appear to be hitech, but somewhere I think the student that designed this is reading the wrong books on web design.
The full text of the IPPR/Eurim study can be found on the Eurim website (although, strangely, not on the IPPR site where there appears to be no mention). The study specifically concentrates on e-crime and protecting the vulnerable, rather than my broader angle about security, virus control, anti-spam and so on. The Eurim website is also unlikely to win any awards for design and ease of use.
Wherever the impetus for a Green Cross Code comes from, I believe strongly that we need one. Hopefully, the concept will get picked up more widely and a roll-out will get underway.
