‘Good to know’ website contains valuable ‘must know’ advice

The ‘Good to know’ website launched Thursday (29) gives valuable advice that all influenced by ICT ‘must know’ both to gain best benefits and to prevent ill effects emanating from it.

That puts in a nutshell the view the participants at the launch carried in their mind as they left the Empire Ballroom at Mt. Lavinia Hotel after the launch event.

The singing and play by a group of children, and the speeches by distinguished personalities drove home the good to know tips as must know practices necessary for survival.

Organised by Google partnering with the Child Protection and Women’s Affairs Ministry and the ICT Agency of Sri Lanka (ICTA), the event ended punctually ensuring safe return home of participants.

“The launch of this local language website is an important milestone in Sri Lanka’s endeavour to bridge the digital divide and bring the best benefits of ICT to the people”. ICTA re-engineering Government Program Director Wasantha Deshapriya, during his address as Guest of Honour, commended the wisdom of launching the Sinhala and Tamil versions of the website.

As 90% use the local language, it is important that local language ICT facilities are available, if we are to fulfil the national ICT goals, Deshapriya emphasised.

“Just as we lock the door before we leave home, we should also lock our ICT content whether it be on the computer or phone. A password like ABC123 does not manifest much wisdom”. That was a couple of the many but simple tips that Google Southeast Asia Public Policy and Government Affairs Country Lead Mike Orgill gave the avid audience.

We cannot have someone hold a red flag as it was done when automobile transportation began in the 1880’s to prevent to warn someone of browsing a dangerous website. Nor is it necessary to resort to safety assurances like warning a person not to come into contact with live electricity wire when warning users of the potential dangers in ICT. The responsibility of ensuring safety is a shared one, shared by children, parents, teachers, Government and the private sector. The country lead concluded with a request to check up the website www.google.com/goodtoknow/.

Participating in the event Child Protection and Women’s Affairs Ministry Secretary Eric Illayapparachchi, said that technology was double-edged and underlined the importance of linking civilisation and technology properly.

Joining the event Sri Lanka country consultant Rohan Jayaweera, disclosed that a search engine user would wait only for 400 mini-seconds before diverting from the search. Internet had great potentiality even to contribute to GDP. Internet contributed to 5% GDP in Hong Kong, 7% in the UK and 1.6% in Indonesia. It can be said that well used common sense can be a guiding principle in ensuring safety and that good to know was, in a way a collection of common sense tips.

The Sri Lanka Computer Emergency Readiness Team Coordination Centre (Sri Lanka CERT|CC) a subsidiary of ICTA plays a major role in this arena. CERT|CC acts as the focal point for cyber security for a nation. It is the single trusted source of advice about the latest threats and vulnerabilities affecting computer systems and networks, and a source of expertise to assist the nation, in responding to and recovering from cyber attacks.