Meet Jacqueline Beauchere, chief online safety officer, Microsoft
I have three main sets of responsibilities which are all aspects of Microsoft’s online safety strategy. They include internal policy creation and implementation; influence over consumer safety features and functionality in our products and services; and communications to and engagement with a variety of external audiences, including awareness-raising and educational efforts for parents, children, educators and others.
What my work involves
With such a broad mandate, there are a number of child online safety-related projects underway at any one time. Recently, we released an internal guidebook to enable international personnel to work with local governments and others in a given geography to create national initiatives for child online protection. The guidebook provides a framework for reviewing and conducting research; raising public awareness of online risks to children; promoting in-school education about digital literacy and digital civility; enacting, strengthening and enforcing child protection laws, and collaborating with technology companies and civil society.
We’ve also released some new educational resources about two key issues: teaching kids how to identify misinformation and hate speech (pdf) online and addressing online harassment and cyberbullying (pdf). These are the newest additions to a long list of informational and educational materials we’ve created over the last decade-plus, including protecting young children online (pdf), protecting “tweens” and teens (pdf), and starting online safety conversations (pdf) with children. All our materials can be found on the Microsoft YouthSpark Hub, and on our resources pages.
What I enjoy in my work
I find it incredibly rewarding when I get to interact with young people directly about their online habits and practices. There’s nothing better than when, after a brief awareness-raising, information session, or focus group, young people commit to being better “digital citizens,” agree to take steps to safeguard their personal information online, or stand up for their friends and classmates in uncomfortable situations.
Why it’s so important
Microsoft invests in child online protection because we believe we have a responsibility to our customers, their families and the public at large. We work to earn customer trust and confidence in technology and online services, so our global society and digital economy can continue to thrive. Success comes from ridding our services of illegal content; educating parents, teachers, coaches and counsellors about protecting themselves, their children, students and families from online risks, and working with governments to ensure the proper laws are in place to help children thrive, grow and embrace what is truly the transformational power of technology.
How I imagine my profession in 10 year’s time
Technology, risks, laws, and individual preferences all will have evolved over the next decade. Yet, in some ways they will all largely stay the same. Inherently human desires to learn, grow, play, communicate and socialize will persist, but how those interactions materialize may be quite different. Just as we’ve seen a fairly dramatic migration of these activities to the digital space over the last decade, we could easily see a further step-change 10 years from now. In addition, by 2026, even the most remote corners of the world will likely be online, bringing both benefits and risks to an even larger number of global digital citizens, namely youth. In anticipation, we have an opportunity to inform and educate young and older future-users alike; to encourage them to exercise safe online habits and practices, and to empower them to always be their best digital selves.
A shared responsibility
Protecting children online is a shared responsibility among parents, teachers, school officials and other trusted adults in a child’s life, as well as government, the technology industry and civil society. Each of us has a role. For instance, parents can lead by example when it comes to safe, responsible and appropriate use of technology and online services. They can watch for signs of inappropriate use among young people and encourage empathy in online environments.
Meanwhile, educators can teach digital literacy, civility and etiquette, and they can invest in their own professional development to try to keep up with kids online. The technology industry can embrace “safety by design” in products and services, encourage civil behaviour among customers, and endeavour to educate consumers about the forever-changing online risk landscape. Governments can ensure appropriate laws are in place, enforce those laws, and grow public-private partnerships. Children and young people also have a role to play, including living the “golden rule” online and off, and respecting use rules and codes of conduct in various online forums.
The major players
There are so many individuals, companies, governments and organisations doing so many innovative and interesting things, and I’m honoured to work with several of them. I am part of the WePROTECT Children Online International Advisory Board, INHOPE’s Advisory Board, and the board of directors of the Cyber Security Alliance, the Technology Coalition and the Family Online Safety Institute. All of these organisations—and many more—are innovating and working to keep children safe online and, thereby, at least indirectly helping them to succeed in our 21st century digital world.
Content on this page is paid for and provided by UNICEF, sponsor of the business and child rights hub.
