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Improper use of the Internet could harm young users, the Deputy Secretary for Commerce, Industry and Technology (Communications and Technology), Mrs Marion Lai, said today (January 21).
Speaking at the presentation ceremony of the 䩕2005 Meritorious Websites Contest蒅, Mrs Lai said the Internet had become an indispensable element of life and its influence was widespread. 䩕The illicit publishing of objectionable material on the Internet - in particular pornographic content - is harmful to the mental health of young people. In this connection, the Government has been cracking down on local pornographic websites by taking enforcement action and actively promoting the proper use of the Internet in the community,蒅 she said.
䩕During the past few years, the Television and Entertainment Licensing Authority (TELA) has joined with various non-government organisations to organise a wide range of educational and promotional activities, such as 䩕The Ten Healthy Websites Contest蒅 (which is now called 䩕Meritorious Websites Contest蒅), 䩕Project on Opportunities and Challenges of the Cyber World for Youth Development International Youth Conference蒅 as well as seminars for parents and students.
䩕Through these activities, we hope to educate young people on how to filter information from the Internet, and provide support for parents to protect their children from such objectionable material.蒅
The 䩕2005 Meritorious Websites Contest蒅 is jointly organised by the Young Women﷿s Christian Association (YWCA) and TELA. The 11 awarded websites are:
TVB.COM : www.tvb.com
Hong Kong Public Libraries: www.hkpl.gov.hk
Radio Television Hong Kong on Internet: www.rthk.org.hk
Hkedcity: www.hkedcity.net
Hyper Earth Rescue Team: www.ert.org.hk
Hong Kong Observatory: www.hko.gov.hk
Radio Television Hong Kong eTVonline: www.etvonline.tv
Yellow Bus: www.iyellowbus.com
Hkreadingcity: www.hkreadingcity.net
Zoo of Chinese Idioms : http://resources.emb.gov.hk/idiom2
The Splendid Chinese Culture : www.chiculture.net
Other officiating guests at the ceremony were the Commissioner for Television and Entertainment Licensing, Ms Lorna Wong; President of YWCA, Mrs Mona Leong Wong Man-Suen; Chief Executive of YWCA, Dr Miranda Chan; Legislative Councillor (IT sector), Mr Sin Chung-kai; Chief Curriculum Development Officer of the Education and Manpower Bureau, Mr Stephen Yip; Vice chairperson of Committee on Home-School Co-operation, Mr Christopher Yu; and Deputy Head of Radio 2, Radio Television Hong Kong, Mr David Ho.
At the presentation ceremony, the President of YWCA, Mrs Mona Leong Wong Man-Suen, said the organising committee had set the theme of the contest as 䩕Concern about online safety; Recognition of the healthy websites蒅, with a view to encouraging young people to properly use the Internet by visiting healthy websites, and motivating Internet content providers to create more healthy websites for children and young people.
Response from the public was encouraging this year. A total of 2,060 nominations were received. Of them, 424 websites were valid and 128,316 votes from 18,380 members of the public were received on the nominations.
To further promote and increase the appeal of the contest, a 䩕Website Logo Design Competition蒅 was also organised. The competition was open to students of primary schools, secondary schools and tertiary institutions, as well as other members of the public. A large number of entries were received from each group.
The 11 winning websites this year cover a variety of topics including integrated information, education, culture, science and environmental protection. Awardees were invited to set up a booth at the presentation ceremony today to introduce to the public the merits of their websites.
For details and the list of winners of 䩕2005 Meritorious Websites Contest蒅, please visit www.merit.gov.hk.
Ends/Saturday, January 21, 2006
Issued at HKT 15:01
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