Relevant

The Family Online Safety Institute is proud to count some of the internet's leading companies as its members. These include:

AOL, AT&T, Blue Coat Systems, BT Retail, Cisco, Comcast, CompTIA, Crisp Thinking, France Telecom, Google, GSM Association, Kingston Communications, Loopt, Microsoft, Mpower Media, MySpace, NCTA, Ning, Privo, RuleSpace, Sentinel, Sprint, StreamShield, Symantec, Telefónica, TELMEX, The Wireless Foundation, Verizon.

AOL is a global Web services company that operates some of the most popular Web destinations. The AOL services and portals in Europe deliver a range of market-leading online content, including music, film, sport, news, shopping and community, as well as email, instant messenger, VoIP, safety and security features.

The online well-being of internet users is a priority for AOL. It takes a multi-pronged approach to safety and security, providing tools and features, offering age-appropriate content and moderated community areas for younger AOL users, publishing detailed advice about how to stay safer online, and setting robust community guidelines.

While the internet is a fantastic resource for children and teenagers, AOL recognises that some content may be unsuitable for them and offers Parental Controls so that parents and carers can tailor their children's online experiences based on their age and maturity.

AOL's representative on the FOSI Board is Holly Hawkins, Director of Consumer Advocacy and Privacy

AT&T is the largest telecommunications company in the United States and one of the largest in the world. AT&T has Internet Protocol-based (IP) network capabilities, assets and resources that are widely regarded as unsurpassed in the marketplace, enabling the company to lead the industry in using the language of the Internet to deliver innovative services that integrate voice, data and video.

AT&T's representative on the FOSI Board is Brent Olson, Assistant Vice President, Public Policy.

Blue Coat WAN Application Delivery solutions stop the bad and accelerate the good, optimizing application performance and security for any user, anywhere, across a distributed enterprise. Blue Coat's proxy architecture completely understands users and applications on the network, affords granular control over security, and permits fast, secure delivery of all applications critical to running the business.

Blue Coat Systems is the world's largest provider of WAN Application Delivery solutions. Over 8,000 of the most demanding enterprises, including 93 from the top 100 of the Fortune Global 500(r), trust Blue Coat to secure and accelerate mission-critical applications.Blue Coat Systems' representative on the FOSI Board is Laurie Coffin, Director of Marketing Communications.

BT is one of the world's leading providers of communications solutions serving customers in Europe, the Americas and Asia Pacific. Its principal activities include networked IT services, local, national and international telecommunications services, and higher-value broadband and internet products and services.

BT's representative on the FOSI Board is Nick Truman, Head of Internet Security.

Cisco Systems, Inc. is the worldwide leader in networking for the Internet. Cisco was founded in 1984 by a small group of computer scientists from Stanford University. Since the company's inception, Cisco engineers have been leaders in the development of Internet Protocol (IP)-based networking technologies, and today this tradition of innovation continues with industry-leading products and solutions.

Cisco's representative on the FOSI Board is Jeff Campbell, Director, Technology and Communications Policy

Comcast was founded in 1963 as a single-system cable operation. Today, they are the country's largest provider of cable services - and one of the world's leading communications companies. They are focused on broadband cable, commerce, and content. Comcast delivers digital services, provides faster Internet and clearer broadband phone service, and develops and delivers innovative programming.

As Comcast evolves, they continue to look to the future - seeking out new communications technology, new opportunities, and more choices. Comcast's goal is to continue to provide people with the communications products and services that connect them to what's important in their lives.
Comcast is a leader in providing parents the tools and the knowledge they need to make the right decisions about what members of their family should be able to see on their TV and online.

Comcast's representative on the FOSI Board is Joe Waz, Public Policy Counsel and VP for External Affairs.

CompTIA is a global trade association representing the business interests of the information technology industry. For more than 23 years CompTIA has provided research, networking and partnering opportunities to its 20,000 members in 102 countries. The association is involved in developing standards and best practices, and influencing the political, economic and educational arenas that impact IT worldwide.

As the largest industry association in the computer industry, no issues are more important in establishing business and consumer trust in the Internet than the issues of unwanted content and content that is inappropriate for children. Finding and using effective tools and procedures that permit businesses and consumers to manage the Internet content to which they have access based on their own, individual, requirements, is key.

CompTIA's representative on the FOSI Board is Roger Cochetti, Group Director of U.S. Public Policy, Computing Technology Industry Association / CompTIA.

Crisp Thinking has developed the world's first abuse detection engine, which reverses the normal way of dealing with this problem. Before AGE, the only way to be sure you weren't being groomed online was to avoid going online. AGE was designed following 3 years' research and development by Crisp into the tactics and techniques used by online groomers. These groomers are clever and don't use a typical set of 'keywords' and can appear at first just to be another young person. AGE reads between the lines - looking for the underlying patterns that groomers can never get away from.

Crisp Thinking's representative on the FOSI Board is Adam Hildreth, CEO

France Telecom serves almost 174 million customers in five continents as of June 30, 2008 and is one of the world leaders in providing telecommunication services from consumers through to multinational companies.

As part of its Corporate Responsibility Report, published in 2007, France Telecom has implemented a number of online child protection initiatives. This includes the provision of a free parental control service for Internet usage in several European countries and a set of guides adapted to each country promoting a reasoned approach to Internet and mobile phone usage. France Telecom's representative on the FOSI Board is Heather Pace-Clark, Head, Societal Issues

Google's mission is to organize the world's information and make it universally accessible and useful. Google's founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin developed a new approach to online search that took root in a Stanford University dorm room and quickly spread to information seekers around the globe. Google is now widely recognized as the world's largest search engine -- an easy-to-use free service that usually returns relevant results in a fraction of a second.

Google's utility and ease of use have made it one of the world's best known brands almost entirely through word of mouth from satisfied users.

Google's representative on the FOSI Board is Pablo Chavez, Senior Policy Counsel.

The GSM Association (GSMA) is a global trade association representing more than 690 GSM mobile phone operators across 214 territories and countries of the world. In addition, more than 180 manufacturers and suppliers support the Association's initiatives as associate members. The GSM Association is a unique organisation, with truly global reach, offering a full range of business, technical and public policy services to its members.

GSM Association's representative on the FOSI Board is Natasha Jackson.

Kingston Communications is a leading provider of communications solutions to businesses and public sector organisations throughout the UK. Kingston's national capabilities have been built on its strong foundations within East Yorkshire, where the company has been providing leading edge services to residential and business customers for over 100 years and where it has been a pioneer in the use of ADSL technology.

Why Kingston Communications supports FOSI: Kingston's membership underlines the increasing importance of child safety on the Internet. As a national provider of broadband in the UK, our company is committed to helping parents protect their children from objectionable material. Kingston is also a member of the Internet Watch Foundation, the UK body designed to track and remove illegal Internet content.

Kingston Communications' point of contact for FOSI is Steve Woodard.

loopt is a Silicon Valley-based company that has built a revolutionary "social mapping" service that will change the way people use mobile phones to keep in touch with their friends. loopt facilitates real-world interaction between friends and puts an end to frustrating missed connections. Using location-based technologies, loopt lets you know where your friends are by automatically updating maps on your mobile phone. loopt is the only social mapping service that can automatically update the location of everyone in a user's private network of friends and display that information directly on a map on the phone. You can send messages to nearby friends with loopt or receive alerts when they're nearby so that you never miss an opportunity to meet. loopt also offers geo-tagging capabilities, the service's journaling feature allows mobile users to "geo tag" locations and captures their experience with friends in their private network. With loopt, mobile subscribers put themselves on the map.

loopt recognizes the responsibility inherent in offering location-based technologies and our customers' privacy is a top priority. As a leader in this area, loopt is actively working to establish and promote privacy best practices for the entire LBS industry.

loopt's representative on the FOSI Board is Brian R. Knapp, VP, Corporate Affairs

Founded in 1975, Microsoft is the worldwide leader in software, services and solutions that help people and businesses realize their full potential. Microsoft is motivated and inspired every day by how its customers use its software to find creative solutions to business problems, develop breakthrough ideas, and stay connected to what's most important to them. Microsoft constantly updates and improve products, to evolve the company to be in the best position to accelerate new technologies as they emerge and to better serve their customers.

Microsoft's representative on the FOSI Board is Kim Sanchez, Senior Audience Marketing Manager.

Mpower Media, LLC of Reston, Virginia, USA, develops and markets leading-edge products and services that empower families and individuals to make positive choices in information and entertainment in both television and Internet environments. Families today are seeking content aggregation, management, and filtering services for the huge range of video services, and integrated tools for Internet management as well. Mpower Media was founded to satisfy those demands, while its sister company Mpower Pictures develops family beneficial content for film and television distribution.

Mpower's representative on the FOSI Board is Gary Hale, COO.

A division of News Corporation (NYSE: NWS, NWS.A), MySpace is a leading social networking site that offers a platform and tools for consumers to express themselves, communicate with each other, and engage with media. The company's worldwide network includes such category leaders as Photobucket, IGN, FOXSports.com, RottenTomatoes, AskMen and more, that together comprise one of the largest audiences on the Web.

MySpace’s representative on the FOSI Board is Hemanshu Nigam, Chief Security Officer.

The cable industry – as a leading provider of Internet access and services – shares the concerns of parents about keeping their children safe when online. As a result, cable is committed fully to giving parents a full range of tools, information and resources to help better shape and manage their family’s online use. Membership by the National Cable & Telecommunications Association (NCTA), the cable industry’s primary trade association, in the Family Online Safety Institute adds a new facet to cable’s important commitment.

The NCTA's representative on the FOSI Board is David Pierce, Vice President of Public Affairs.

Ning (which means "peace" in Chinese) is based in Palo Alto, California, and was founded in October 2004 by formerGoldman Sachs investment banker Gina Bianchini and Netscape and Opsware founder Marc Andreessen to give everyone the opportunity to create their own social networks for anything. Today Ning powers the largest number of social networks on the Internet, with over 350,000 social networks hosted on the Ning platform.

Ning is committed to making the Ning platform safe and fun for everyone who uses Ning to create and participate in their social networks. An important aspect of this commitment is the protection of our users' privacy and the education of parents on how to most effectively ensure that their kids are staying safe online.

Ning's representative on the FOSI Board is Jill Nissen, Chief Intellectual Property & Policy Counsel.

Privo empowers kids with the ability to safely interact with other kids and brands they love; Parents and Teachers with tools to manage their kids' personal information; Companies with 'best practices' to build relationships with their customers.

Privo's representative on the FOSI Board is Denise Tayloe, Founder, CEO

RuleSpace, Inc. is a privately held corporation located in Beaverton, Oregon. RuleSpace has been providing award winning Parental Controls services since 1996, and is the world's leading creator and provider of Parental Controls technology. RuleSpace solutions are offered through ISPs and Cable providers, filtered search engines, and OEM solutions which use RuleSpace's Online List Lookup Service with more than 50 million accurately categorized URLs in 15 languages, and its real-time recognizers.

Rulespace's representative on the FOSI Board is James Dirksen, Vice President, Operations

Sentinel is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Sentinel Tech Holding Corp, the parent company of Sentry, the leader in online identity verification. Sentinel is committed to creating safer and more secure online dating, social networking and marketplace experiences.

Sentinel has built the first national, realtime, searchable, sex offender database to contain detailed background information on the 550,000 registered sex offenders in the U.S. from various federal and state law enforcement agencies. The Sentinel Safe database is frequently updated with new information and includes identifiable details of the convicted sex offenders. By incorporating cutting edge technology, this realtime, searchable database gives social networking sites the ability to quickly identify registered sex offenders and immediately delete them from the community. Sentinel Safe is the single most comprehensive tool to keep sex offenders off social networking sites.

The company that provides this safety and security has launched a revolutionary product that provides safety and security for anyone meeting or communicating via the internet. Over 250 million end-users have already been protected by Sentinel. Know if the person you're speaking with is a criminal, sex offender, or worse. You're not safe until you're Sentinel Safe.

Sentinel's representative on the FOSI Board is John Cardillo, CEO

Sprint Nextel offers a comprehensive range of wireless and wireline communications services bringing the freedom of mobility to consumers, businesses and government users. Sprint Nextel is widely recognized for developing, engineering and deploying innovative technologies, including two wireless networks serving nearly 51 million customers at the end of the third quarter 2008; industry-leading mobile data services; instant national and international push-to-talk capabilities; and a global Tier 1 Internet backbone offers a comprehensive range of communications services bringing mobility to consumer, business and government customers.

Sprint's representative on the FOSI Board is Edward Palmieri, Deputy Chief Privacy Officer and Director of Sprint Nextel's Legal Department’s Office of Privacy.

StreamShield is a product line within Detica (a stand-alone business unit of BAE Systems supplying Intelligence, Security and Resilience solutions for government and commercial clients) possessing world-class capabilities in high-speed signal processing for IP-based systems and unique silicon-based technology delivering unrivalled performance for content security services. Detica has over 1,500 people, turnover of £203m (2008) and offices in the UK, USA and Europe.

Detica StreamShield’s vision is to enable a safer Internet experience for societies by embedding high speed content processing technology into the core of high-speed service provider networks to enhance security. To support this vision, StreamShield has pioneered an integrated approach to network layer security using a transparent streams-based device that collapses all content security functions onto a single platform. StreamShield enables network-based content security services such as parental controls, email cleaning, child protection e.g. anti-grooming/bullying, web anti-malware, anti-phishing and application firewalling, without the need for desktop software or CPE whilst providing subscribers full control and management of their service.

Detica StreamShield’s representative on the FOSI Board is Simon Reay, VP Sales & Business Development.

Symantec is a global leader in providing security, storage and systems management solutions to help businesses and consumers secure and manage their information. Headquartered in Cupertino, Calif., Symantec has operations in more than 40 countries.Symantec’s Norton products protect consumers from traditional threats with antivirus, anti-spam and spyware protection, as well as bots, drive-by downloads and identity theft-- while also being light on system resources. The company also provides services such as online backup and PC tuneup, and is a trusted source for family online safety.

Symantec's Internet Safety Advocate representative on the FOSI Board is Marian Merritt.

Telefónica is one of the largest telecommunications companies in the world in terms of market capitalisation. Its activities are centered mainly on the fixed and mobile telephony businesses with broadband as the key tool for the development of both.

The company has a significant presence in 23 countries and a customer base that amounts more than 212 million accesses around the world. Telefónica has a strong presence in Spain, Europe and Latin America, where the company focuses an important part of its growth strategy.

Telefónica is a 100% listed company, with more than 1.7 million direct shareholders. Its share capital currently comprises 4,773,496,485 ordinary shares traded on the Spanish Stock Market (Madrid, Barcelona, Bilbao and Valencia) and on those in London, Paris, Frankfurt, Tokyo, New York, Lima, Buenos Aires and Sao Paulo.

Telefónica 's representative on the FOSI Board is Maria Jose Cantarino de Frias, Responsible for Protection of Minors.

TELMEX is the leading telecommunications company in Latin America, with operations in Mexico, Argentina, Brazil, Colombia, Chile, Peru and the United States. TELMEX and its subsidiaries offer the most extensive services, including voice, data, video and Internet for all segments, from rural residential to large, international corporations. TELMEX has developed a 100 percent digital technological platform that operates one of the most advanced optical fiber networks, which reaches 39 countries via underwater cable way connections.

TELMEX is dedicated to making sure that each of its customers, especially children, has a safe and overall positive experience on the Internet. ICRA's labels are some of the most accurate, and most trusted, in the world, and TELMEX are excited to work with FOSI to better protect children from harmful and inappropriate content on the Internet. As a member, TELMEX will work closely with FOSI to create a set of public education messages and to develop a more proactive public policy stance on Internet safety within Latin America.

TELMEX's representative on the FOSI Board is Ricardo Kuri,Subdirector Atencion via Internet.

The Wireless Foundation is a non-profit 501(c)(3) organization established by the membership of The Wireless Association (CTIA). Since the first commercial cellular system came on line in Chicago in October of 1983, the impact of wireless technology upon our lives has grown steadily. Today, nearly 240 million Americans use a wireless phone to stay in touch, change plans on the fly, and to run their daily lives more efficiently.

One of the most significant ways that wireless technology has changed the landscape of American communities is to help make us all safer. This safety benefit lies at the heart of The Wireless Foundation's programs, both past and present. Our major programs include Communities on Phone Patrol providing wireless phones to neighborhood watch groups;

The VITA program run since 1993 recognizes the remarkable stories of Wireless Samaritans who have used wireless technology to stop crime and save lives in emergencies and in 2005, The Wireless Foundation launched the Wireless AMBER Alerts initiative, working with law enforcement and the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children to send AMBER Alert text messages to consumer's wireless devices with information about an abducted child in their community.

The Wireless Foundation's representative on the FOSI Board is David Diggs, Executive Director

Verizon delivers technology that touches life. The Verizon Foundation uses that technology and the foundation's financial resources to improve literacy and K-12 education; to support victims of domestic violence; and improve the delivery of health care. In 2005, the foundation awarded more than $74 million in grants to charitable and nonprofit agencies in the United States and abroad. The foundation also supports Verizon Volunteers, one of the largest employee volunteer programs in the United States.
Verizon's representative on the FOSI Board is Michael W. McKeehan (Chair), Director, Internet & Technology Policy, Verizon Public Policy & External Affairs.