Tag Archives: internet

Everybody must play their part in ensuring the internet is a safe place to go. “On Safer Internet Day the focus is on ‘Together for a better internet’ and I believe we need to make sure we are all working towards a safer online world. It could be parents protecting their children, companies protecting their employees or users themselves making sure that they are safe online,” commented Ireland South MEP Deirdre Clune this week. “Figures show that almost 80% of children aged between eight and 10 own a smart device with access to the internet and 40% of eight are speaking to strangers online. These figures show what a major role the internet is playing in the lives of young people and we must do all we can to ensure they are kept safe.” The first Safer Internet Day was held in 2004 and is recognised in around 140 countries around the world. Meanwhile, four more IT companies decided to …

FIONNUALA Meehan, head of Google in Ireland, has defended the company’s record on privacy, its use of people’s information and the company’s impact on politics. Ms Meehan attended a business event in Limerick on Tuesday on the same day that US president Donald Trump tweeted that “Google & others are suppressing voices and Conservatives and hiding information and news that is good.” Most people take Trump’s social media utterances with a pinch of salt, but there is no doubt that Google, and a handful of other technology companies, have a previously unseen level of global influence, which is potentially very malevolent if not used responsibly. Ms Meehan claimed the company are taking its obligations in this area very seriously. “We are a platform and the platform can be used in different ways. We have a whole team who look at developing and enforcing policies around how bad actors could potentially use that platform in a way that spreads misinformation. “On …

ENNIS will soon be switching on to free public wi-fi. Clare County Council has commenced the rollout of free public wi-fi to Ennis town centre as part of a wider plan to introduce open internet access to several other Clare towns. Open wi-fi access was recently introduced to the Upper Market area of Ennis with plans to extend the free service to Parnell Street and Carpark, Abbey Street and carpark, O’Connell Street and O’Connell Square during the coming weeks. Clare County Council, which is funding the initiative, is working with local businesses to install the wi-fi hotspots in an effort to draw shoppers and business people to the town.

TEN-year-old Clare children are inadvertently engaging in cyberbullying, according to a local community garda. Garda Deirdre Scanlon, who is based in Ennistymon, has also warned that there are 11 and 12-year-olds with Facebook pages who are befriending people online who they don’t know, without realising they could turn out to be a sex predator. Having delivered a series of cyberbullying talks to primary and secondary schools over the last two and a half years, she believes the increased availability of different forms of information technology has facilitated more cyberbullying by children and teenagers. “Children and teenagers put up a comment and they have no idea it is up there forever. It seems every comment has to be worse than the next. It can be a case of bitchiness with the girls, who tend to be worse than fellas. Fellas don’t seem get as involved as much but girls can get involved in groups. “I tell children, ‘if you met a …

Senator Tony Mulcahy has called on Eircom and other fibre broadband providers not to increase internet charges after Commission for Communications Regulation (Comreg) said rural internet users are not paying the full cost of broadband provision. Senator Mulcahy, who is Fine Gael Seanad spokesperson on Communications, Energy and Natural Resources, expressed his concern following a report byIrelandOffline which outlines how urban broadband customers are subsidising rural users and that Eircom may apply to the regulator to raise its rural broadband prices to recover rural costs. He has pledged to contact COMREG and Minister for Communications, Energy and Natural Resources, Alex White, requesting them to discourage operators from introducing price hikes. “The quality of fibre broadband services in rural parts of County Clare is generally well below that of what is provided in larger towns such as Kilrush, Shannon and Ennis,” he observed.