An agreement was signed between the Guarantor for the protection of personal data and the Postal Police aimed at strengthening the system of protection against minors from the dangers of the web. The protocol, signed by the president of the Guarantor for the protection of personal data Antonello Soro and by the head of the police Franco Gabrielli, formalizes the collaboration, which has already existed for some time on the operational level and originates from the recent law of 29 May 2017, n.71 'Provisions to protect minors for the prevention and contrast of the phenomenon of cyberbullying ', adopted with the aim of preventing and combating all forms of aggression and illegal processing of personal data concerning minors carried out electronically. The law calls both the Guarantor and the Postal Police to undertake not only remedial actions at the request of minors who consider themselves victims of cyberbullying acts (such as the obscuring, removal or blocking of the contents referred to them and disseminated on the net ), but also to educate the very young to a conscious and correct use of the web, supporting educational institutions in their educational and awareness-raising work. The goal is to activate a coordinated and structured intervention network to provide timely support to the victims of what has now taken on the characteristics of a real silent epidemic: in fact, from the 235 reports in 2016, it has gone to over 350 cases of 2017. Equally numerous were the reports and requests for help from children, parents, teachers and social workers. Thanks to the Memorandum of Understanding, in cases where it is necessary to identify the data controller or the manager of the website or social media where a content (information, photos, videos, etc.) has been published, considered an act of cyberbullying or is necessary to implement the decisions taken, the Guarantor may request the intervention of the Postal and Communications Police. The Postal Police will take care, for its part, to obtain data and information about the data controller or the manager of the website or social media, as well as any other web sources on which the illicit contents have been disclosed and possibly to carry out further necessary actions on the basis of the procedures and instruments, also in order to allow the Guarantor to intervene appropriately. The memorandum of understanding also provides for the launch of joint educational initiatives in favor of minors and further activities also in the context of European and international cooperation, always with the aim of preventing and combating violations of the regulations on cyberbullying. . "The Guarantor has always been close to the very young, not only because they are among the main users of web services, but also because the protection of their confidentiality and the correct use of personal data concerning them is the primary objective pursued by the Authority in many cases in which minors are the protagonists of their own measures ”, explains Giuseppe Busia, general secretary of the Guarantor, to whom law no. 71 / 2017 assigns the specific task of deciding on reports concerning episodes of cyberbullying. For this reason - he continues -, our action also aims to support minors in their growth path, in order to make young people understand the effective weight of their actions, making them aware of the relative consequences. Our commitment also serves to empower online service providers, so that, as far as they are concerned, they are equally responsible for protecting minors online, stemming the phenomenon of cyberbullying ". According to Nunzia Ciardi, director of the Postal Police and Communications service, "the protection of minors on the web is an absolute priority of the Postal Police and the timeliness of our intervention is essential to prevent conduct, often the result of superficiality and lack of awareness, from having effects devastating for the victims and their families ". This protocol, he adds, “establishes a collaboration that the Postal Police has been assuring for some time now to all institutions engaged in the prevention of an emergency that is not only criminal but, above all, social.
