Centre for the Prevention of Risky Virtual Communication

The Centre for the Prevention of Risky Virtual Communication at the Faculty of Education, Palacký University Olomouc (CPRVC) is a certified university institute dealing with risky forms of online communication of children and adults alike. It focuses on cyberbullying, cyberstalking, hoaxes and spamming, sexting, social engineering in the online community, the risk of sharing personal data in social networks, and other hazardous communication phenomena.

The research conducted at CPRVC is both basic and applied (including contractual research). It is aimed at risky communication of children and sexual abusers, the risk of sharing personal data across individual communication platforms, specific forms of cyber attacks by means of webcameras (webcam trolling), how to reveal fake profiles, identify fraudulent e-shops and commercial offers, identify aggressors, support victims, etc.

Research, education, and interventions at the Centre are conducted in collaboration with a number of companies – mainly Google, Seznam.cz, O2 Czech Republic, Vodafone, IBM, the Allegro Group, and ESET, as well as with the Police of the Czech Republic, the National Bureau to Combat Organised Crime, and other institutions.

The Centre’s website www.e-bezpeci.cz/vyzkum/ contains:

• An overview of research, including final reports

• A list of articles and publications, including articles in impact journals

In addition to research, the Centre also runs a national project aimed at prevention and education in relation to risky behaviour on the internet called E-Safety (www.e-bezpeci.cz), an online advisory centre for victims of internet attacks (www.napisnam.cz) linked with the national Safety Hotline, the Police of the Czech Republic, the Authority for Social and Legal Protection of Children, and other specialised institutions.

The Centre also holds numerous activities related to popularisation of modern IT technologies in education and research, for instance the area of 3D technologies (Google Cardboard, Oculus Rift, 3D scanning, Leap Motion, Google Glass) and 3D printing.

In 2015, the E-Safety project won the Czech national round of the European Crime Prevention Award.