COVER N. 561 - ALGERIA

Postmarks: For a Safe Use of the Internet - First day / Alger Ahcene Askri   11.02.2025 

Posted on the 11 February; Received on the 6th March 2025

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Two covers from Algeria on the same day, Nice. Let's begin with this one. Un grand Merci Hocine.

I still remember the first time I read about the Internet.... Must have been the late 80s or right at the beginning of the 90s of last century. I was absolutely amazed by the possibilities it opened in terms of getting people closer together and as a tool for knowledge exchange.

As soon as it became possible and economically viable I bought my first router and signed up a contract with one of the first internet services provider here in Portugal.

Oh the trouble I went through to get it all to work.... I knew nothing about this new technology (and I still don't know much about it, either...) and having to go through all the system and hardware configurations was a pain...

The telephone line would not work properly, or the router would not connect, or the signal would fall off midway between connection....

eventually things got much easier with self-connecting and self-configurating hardware and software and nowadays  everyone can easily use at least the most common services the internet gives access to... (go ask my 90+ father in-law when he pays his supermarket stuff with his cell phone....)

Unfortunately, bad guys don't sleep and all the user-friendliness of today's internet is also an opportunity for those with devious intentions to carry out their ill intent.

Countless stories of people scammed on the internet are proof of this and it is important that  children and adults alike are made constantly aware of the perils lurking on their electronic devices.

The Safer Internet Day, a creation  of the European Union  aimed at raising awareness to the safe usage of the Internet, was celebrated in 2004 for the first time. Since then, on the second Monday of February, more than 100 countries carry out initiatives with this aim in mind.

This year, Safer Internet Day was celebrated on the 11th February and to commemorate it, Algérie Post issued the 40 Dinar stamp on the cover, cancelled with the First Day of issue Postmark.

Postage was completed with a 30 Dinar definitive stamp, featuring a rose, part of a set of four issued on 20OCT2004, dedicated to these fragrant flowers.

The rose stamp was cancelled with a regular postmark issued at the  post office of avenue Ahcene Askri, in Algiers, the country's capital.