“Protect yourself”, an app against harassment

“With great power comes great responsibility” and this is true on the network 100%. responsible use of the Internet It should be already subject in all schools in the world so that young people know how to defend and protect themselves in an environment where not everything is what it seems and where practically any content or person can be accessed. The Internet, and social networks, are a powerful, useful tool but also full of surprises.

To the recent and famous ones theft of intimate photos or compromising famous people (and not so famous), attempts to access lucrative bank accounts, the continued sale of our personal data voluntarily given to databases around the world, are added daily to behaviors that must be especially monitored: this is the case of cyberbullying.

We have cases of online harassment every day. One of the most recent was the one carried out by Zelda Williams, daughter of Robin Williams, who had to abandon her Twitter account due to insults following the death of her father. Another case that has stirred up the microposting network has been that of Miriam, the girl who faked her suicide, denouncing the apparent harassment suffered simply for being a fan of Selena Gomez (and incidentally get their attention).

Even though they are two very different cases and require a more than in-depth analysis of social behavior, they do serve to demonstrate the need to be more than attentive to possible cases of harassment that occur on the Internet (and off it) because no one is safe, whether you are the daughter of a famous actor or a completely unknown person. For those who detect or suffer from any of these cases, the world of Apps has also made a useful tool available to you. It is Protect yourself, an application developed jointly by Telefónica, Yoigo, Vodafone, Orange and the Internet Safety Center for Minors sponsored by the European Commission Protegeles.com.

This App allows you to report any type of harassment through new technologies such as “grooming” (sexual harassment of minors on the Internet), the “cyberbullying(online bullying) or identity theft on social networks. To do this, it puts minors in contact with lawyers, psychologists and security experts to try to find the best solution to the problem.

In addition, Protect yourself It allows us to determine the level of basic knowledge on security and responsible use of new technologies by minors in order to prevent them from becoming protagonists of a conflict situation.

This App can now be downloaded both on the Apple Store as in Google Play.