CHILDREN were today being warned about the dangers of the internet in a series of animated films.
The films, aimed at children as young as five were due to be launched by a Government child protection agency.
The Child Exploitation and Online Protection Centre (CEOP), which investigates and prosecutes paedophiles, aims to warn youngsters about
interacting with adults on the web. Children will learn about potential danger by following the adventures of Hector the dolphin and his friends in a series of films.
The stories explore issues such as giving out personal information and how to assess if someone online is trustworthy.
The Hector's World animation has been adapted for a UK audience after the programme was successfully run in New Zealand.
The website
www.thinkuknow.co.uk/hectorsworld also allows parents and teachers to access free resources.
CEOP chief executive Jim Gamble said: "We know that children are now using the internet at an increasingly young age."
CEOP said Ofcom research indicated that 59 per cent of children aged five to seven had internet access at home and 21 per cent of them used the web unsupervised.
The full article contains 198 words and appears in Edinburgh Evening News newspaper.
