Public Policies in a Transition Year

Moderator:  Adam Thierer, Senior Fellow and Director of The Progress & Freedom Foundation's Center for Digital Media Freedom

Panelists: 

• Joe Waz, Jr., Senior Vice President, External Affairs & Public Policy Counsel, Comcast Corporation
• Dorothy Attwood, Senior Vice President - Public Policy and Chief Privacy Officer, AT&T Services, Inc.
• Frank Torres, Director of Consumer Affairs, Microsoft
• Charlie Firestone, Executive Director, Aspen Institute Communications and Society Program

The panelists discussed what role the incoming Obama administration will play in shaping Internet policy and shared their insights on how the President-elect should approach providers of Internet service.  The panelists agreed that Internet safety is achieved best when private companies are left to innovate; for instance, Comcast having to compete against AT&T is a positive step toward producing public policy results rather than relying solely on government regulation. 

Thierer asked the panelists whether the incoming Obama administration would hold “the industry’s feet to the fire” to police the Internet. Attwood made it clear that there are plenty of people already working to protect children. Likewise, Waz and Torres said that competition between service providers is already working to solve any concerns about Internet safety, with Waz providing the example of Comcast providing free McAfee protection software to their subscribers, thereby forcing other competitors to provide similar benefits to their subscribers. Firestone believes that government can use its bully pulpit to persuade companies to provide safeguards.

Torres said public and private partnerships should be created to educate children. Firestone does not believe Congress will allocate money toward Internet Safety right now, largely due to the fact that they are tackling so many other economic issues.  Attwood believes a national Internet safety program would be worth funding.

Mission Impossible? Protecting Kids and Free Speech Online

Moderator:  Gene Policinski, Vice President and Executive Director, First Amendment Center

Panelists:

• Robert Corn-Revere, Partner, Davis Wright Tremaine LLP
• Christopher Wolf, Partner, Proskauer Rose LLP
• Andrew McLaughlin, Director of Global Public Policy & Government Affairs, Google, Inc.
• North Carolina Attorney General Roy Cooper

 
The “Mission Impossible? Protecting Kids and Free Speech Online” panelists generally agreed on one major point: regulation and laws alone will not be enough to tackle the challenge of protecting children online.  Panelists urged American Internet companies to guard against children falling victim to others online, with the United Kingdom’s success of having companies self-regulate content being held up as an example of how this could work. Panelists also brought up legal challenges, specifically looking at America’s First Amendment rights versus government regulation of content.

Cooper stated that Internet service providers and social networking sites have an obligation to protect children. Cooper also stated that children being exposed to the darker side of the Internet must be considered a policy problem. McLaughlin said that social aspects must be researched into why hate speech and child pornography proliferate on the Internet. Corn-Revere and Wolf then discussed the legal hurdles involved with regulating content on the Internet—Pennsylvania courts have found certain anti-child pornography bills unconstitutional due to legal technicalities, Corn-Revere noted, with Wolf arguing that hate speech also falls under the protection of America’s First Amendment, negating the possibility of an outright ban on hate-speech, as many European nations have done.

Wolf offered effusive praise for companies such as Google, who have taken steps to fight hate-speech online through self-regulation, such as directing customers to educational websites like the Anti-Defamation League. Corn-Revere concurred with Wolf’s conclusion, going on to state that customers who liked such company policies could choose to give their business to self-regulating companies—through choice, not government statues, thereby encouraging company “self-policing” mechanisms. McLaughlin added that since the Internet is a global being, creating one set of regulations will put one nation at odds with global partners, making enforcement difficult. Cooper, however, used the analogy of creating drinking age laws: even though some will try and avoid the law, we still must have the rules. 

There was a lively exchange between AG Cooper and an audience member who took issue with AG Cooper’s dismissal of research being presented in an upcoming report that is due out at the end of the year.

Research Update

Moderator:  Charlie Firestone, Executive Director, Aspen Institute Communications and Society Program

Panelists:

• Sonia Livingstone, Professor, Department of Media and Communications, London School of Economics and Political Science
• Michele Ybarra, President and Research Director, Internet Solutions for Kids
• Janis Wolak, Senior Researcher, Crimes Against Children Research Center, UNHDr
• Sam McQuade, Professional Studies Graduate Program Coordinator, Rochester Institute of Technology

The “Research Update” panelists shared their research findings with attendees and detailed the different behaviors and problems that can be studied in relation to online safety. They made it clear that there are many different risks associated with Internet use and each of these risks pose a viable research topic.

Livingstone has found that disclosing personal information is the most serious risk associated with children using the Internet. McQuade studies what he has termed “contemporary digital youth culture” where the risks involve online incivility, abuse, crime and kids exploiting other kids. Ybarra’s research involves parental monitoring, stating that while most parents are concerned about the Internet, one in five children have visited a violent website in the last year. Wolak, on the other hand, argued that we should be careful not to overstate the problems of the Internet. She believes that young people cope very well with things they encounter online and parents risk targeting kids who are seriously affected by these behaviors when they do not distinguish between situations that involve criminality and those that do not.

The panelists agreed that the effects of these risks on the Internet cannot be known yet because this generation has yet to grow up. They also agreed that while there are risks associated with using the Internet, it might be a more protective and anonymous way for kids to explore and reach out. Additionally, panelists commented on the generational shift of teens turning to peers for support and away from parental guidance.

The British are Coming! Great Ideas from Across the Pond

Moderator:  Dave Miles, European Development Director, FOSI

Panelists:

• John Carr, Internet Consultant, NCH
• Julian Coles, Senior Adviser, Editorial Policy, BBC
• David Wright, E Safety Consultant, SWGfL

The panelists in “The British are Coming! Great Ideas from Across the Pond” brought a perspective on Internet monitoring and control from their homes in the United Kingdom. The panelists agreed that government does have a role to play in safeguarding the Internet, arguing that government should encourage private companies to act on clearing content that could be harmful to children and teach parents how to use Internet resources. There was a strong consensus that the Internet is not an entity that can be monitored by an independent authority, in this case the government.

Coles, in his role as a British Broadcasting Corporation employee, noted that the BBC has published its own online instructional for parents, so that parents may know how to safely allow their children to operate independently on the Internet. He argued that that the Internet must be led through companies and individuals such as the BBC, due to the fact that the Internet was not designed to be monitored and policed by the government—or any single entity. Carr and Wright expressed their agreement with Coles’ statement.
The theme of having the government act as a support system to citizens was echoed by Wright, saying that in the UK all students now have national standards for Internet safety training, enabling all students to have basic competency in knowing how to safely access all the information on the Internet.

However, with regard to child pornography, Carr did say that in the UK there are government audits of how companies are responding to eliminating the pornography. While only “five percent” of companies in the UK do not eliminate child pornography, that is still too high a number, Carr declared. Therefore, the government cannot completely remove itself from being an Internet watchdog. But Carr also said that once the issues of child pornography and Internet safety became mainstream issues in the UK and the government began talking about such deficiencies, the Internet industry “got serious about cleaning themselves up,” following the Byron Report’s completion, under the auspices of Prime Minister Brown.

Online Safety Technology Workshop

Moderator:  Adam Thierer, Senior Fellow and Director of The Progress & Freedom Foundation's Center for Digital Media Freedom

Panelists:

• Marian Merritt, Internet Safety Advocate, Symantec Corporation
• Ana Luiza Rotta Soares, European Projects Director, OPTENET
• Jon Curnyn, CTO and Vice President of R&D, Streamshield
• David Burt, PR Manager, Communications & Marketing, Microsoft
• On Kalich, Director of Product Marketing, Flash Networks

The “Online Safety Technology Workshop” panelists explored the numerous ways that technology can solve online safety issues for parents and children. They outlined various products from their respective companies such as parental control filtering software for everything from e-mail and instant messaging to social networking sites, and Xbox 360 video games that come with robust parental control settings.

Panelists discussed how in today’s society, children have many different means of communicating online, thus the industry has evolved to fit those changes and needs by developing products that are flexible and easy to use. Since today’s digital natives are much more technology-savvy than their parents, simple steps are much easier and more effective. Children often view filtering software as an invasion of privacy, but new services such as Symantec’s Norton Online Family program encourage parental communication and promote family discussions about rules for Internet safety, Merritt said. Children need to recognize that they will get more freedom online as a result of their parents trusting them to be responsible.

Thierer asked the panelists what their experience has been in actually getting parents to adopt these technologies to work within their families. They all agreed that people should recognize the fact that the Internet is great, but there are dangers and there is something you can do to protect your family against those dangers. Burt added that Microsoft is in the process of developing a parental control system for all of their products that is more uniform.  All panelists agreed that Internet safety is an important issue that requires the attention of industry leaders to work to keep up with the times and continue developing innovative technologies.  They concluded that we must continue to improve tools and promote awareness campaigns to make Internet experiences safer for children and families.

The Online World & Its Impact on Kids

Moderator:  Larry Magid, SafeKids.com & ConnectSafely.org

Panelists:

• Rachel Dretzin, Producer, PBS FRONTLINE
• Jeff McIntyre, Director of National Policy, Children Now
• Marsali Hancock, President, iKeepSafe
• Alan Simpson, Director of Policy, Common Sense Media

The “Online World and It’s Impact on Kids” panelists agreed that peer to peer education and discussion of online citizenship and safety is crucial because what one pretends or imagines in the virtual world, does in fact affect who they are in the real world. When asked whether the issue of cyber-bullying was exaggerated, the general consensus was, yes. Hancock explained that cyber-bullying is an issue because it takes place in a space where adults are not present and leaves kids feeling “fragile” and without help.

Panelists also discussed the media’s portrayal of online safety issues. Dretzin commented that the media tends to look for dramatic panic-inducing stories and the widespread issues of child safety online get buried under the shocking stories.  Dretzin continued that most kids are not at risk online, but those that are at risk online are also the ones that are at risk in reality.

When asked how he would rate Internet hosts as a threat versus other types of media to which children are exposed, Simpson responded that polling shows that parents think the Internet is both the most dangerous and educational tool. When we look at the way children behave online we must also look at the way adults behave. Magid asked McIntyre how to properly address and identify high risk kids with ever changing platforms and technology that most parents do not even understand. McIntyre responded that media literacy on the part of parents is an important part of an educational framework that will help children become better, more ethical online citizens. An audience member asked about the digital native/digital immigrant issue, and whether or not anything can be done to engage seniors.  Simpson answered saying, outreach and education of seniors has been a huge issue.  He commented that studies show extraordinarily positive results of mental health of seniors who are online because they find a whole new way to engage and communicate.

Guiding Digital Natives in a Social Networking World

Moderator:  Anne Collier, NetFamilyNews.org & ConnectSafely.org

Panelists:

• Jill Nissen, Chief Intellectual Property & Policy Counsel, Ning, Inc.
• Chris Kelly, Chief Privacy Officer & Head of Global Public Policy, Facebook
• Micah Schaffer, Policy Analyst, YouTube
• Sibley Verbeck, Founder, Electric Sheep Company

“Guiding Digital Natives in a Social Networking World” panelists agree that the subject of online safety is a moving target due to the ways young people use constantly changing technology. Kids make little distinction between the online world and the offline world.  This idea makes it crucial to build in online safety into user-generated social sites using a multi-pronged approach of user responsibility and accountability, as well as customer service.  Verbeck discussed virtual worlds, explaining that the real world mirrors the virtual world because people are walking around as a character representing themselves.

When asked about privacy tools, Kelly responded that there is always room for process improvement and design has been a critical component from the beginning. It is important to give users choices in the area of privacy while at the same time keeping the options simple. Schaeffer answered, there needs to be a broad diversity of tactics in trying to ensure a positive online consumer experience.

When asked where they stood on terms of service, panelists agreed that enforcement and education of terms of service is incredibly important. It is vital to enforce terms of service agreements because actions send a real message to users. Nissen responded saying that modeling the user as a stakeholder is also a useful tool. Giving users a sense of being a part of a community helps to enforce terms of service. When asked about greater human moderation of virtual world sites, Verbeck said that when the age demographic is young, sites should send parents a weekly report of kid’s activity.  He also noted that any communication with parents is an opportunity to connect and educate them about resources that are available and how to deal with inappropriate behavior.

Hand in Hand: Media Literacy and Online Safety

Moderator:  Robin Blake, Head of Media Literacy, OFCOM
 
Panelists:

• Tessa Jolls, President and CEO, Center for Media Literacy
• Frank Gallagher, Director of Education and Media Literacy, Cable in the Classroom
• Patti Miller, Vice President, Public Policy, Sesame Workshop

What is media literacy and how does it affect how to keep citizens safe on the Internet? That was the main question for the panel in the “Media Literacy and Online Safety” forum. All panelists agreed that today’s older generation has not equipped the younger generation for Internet usage. Today’s schools were not designed with an Internet safety focus, as the school structure we currently have was built for a different era. Going forward, as a nation, we must prioritize training our young people to be prepared to enter a world that, as Gallagher noted, is “taking place on screens, not on paper.”

Miller noted that children today spend more time on social media sites than almost any other activity. The problem, Miller said, is that we are bombarded with messages all around us from the media about how kids are spending all this time online, with coverage focusing on the negatives involved with time on the networking sites. Trying to get parents to understand how to utilize such social sites must be a priority, instead of talking about how terrible it is that children sit in front of the computer. Jolls, in addressing the thirty percent dropout rate in American high schools, remarked that a possible explanation for this high rate is that American parents and educators simply are not meeting the needs of this tech-savvy young generation, due to their lack of understanding of technology.

In addressing Blake’s question of how we should be teaching children, Jolls remarked that we must be showing our children how to effectively use technology, with the goal that they become media literate—understanding how to harness the power of the Internet. Gallagher added his belief that to achieve full media literacy in this country we must change the way our schools operate; instead of having a teacher pontificate in front of a classroom, the teacher must now become a facilitator, as this young generation is so used to being independent online. And Miller argued that we can use the current global economic crisis to make the case to the public that in order for America remain globally competitive we must harness technology, thereby encouraging the way technology is being taught to the younger generation.

Keeping All Kids Safe: Is the Online Safety Message Reaching Everyone?

Moderator:  Mike Gallagher, President & CEO, The Entertainment Software Association

Panelists:

• Maria Jose Cantarino de Frias, Corporate Responsibility Manager, Telefonica
• Armando Novoa, Director of Alianza por la Seguridad en Internet
• Phillip Williams, Executive Producer, One Economy Corporation
• Debra Berlyn, President, Consumer Policy Solutions

The panelists explored whether or not the online safety message is reaching everyone in today’s world. Gallagher opened the discussion by noting the significant growth of the Internet – 70% of today’s population is using the Internet. The panelists all greed that the goal is to create a safe online environment for children and families by providing them with the necessary tools to use online equipment responsibly.

All agreed that education is essential for safe use of new online technologies. In the online scenario there are many players, so creating a safety culture is often very difficult.  Therefore, it is important for organizations ,such as Telefonica, commented Cantarino de Frias,  to continue developing resources that are flexible and adaptable because it is very difficult to enforce the same policies worldwide. Novoa noted that today’s children have moved from passive viewers to active participants in the online space. His organization, the Alliance for Online Safety, is working to provide a central center of help resources for parents and children in order to help them see the reality of online dangers more clearly. The Internet allows for participatory content, so there is constant exchange of information that cannot always be regulated.  Parents have to be aware that their children are involved in this content so they need to be educated from the very beginning. Williams emphasized the notion that the Internet is not necessarily a tool for entertainment, but rather a tool to connect with the rest of the world; therefore, parents need to instill proper values in their children before they begin using it.

Gallagher asked the panelists if there were different techniques and tools needed to reach consumers, regardless of age. All agreed that every generation faces the same issues online; however, Berlyn noted that the demographic group extremely important to the safety of today’s children is older adults. Because more and more older adults are raising children, the issues facing teens online also affect older adults.  The panelists agreed that it is often more difficult to reach parents and grandparents than children themselves, but we need to have the skills to be able to teach our kids the right way to communication and behave online. Panelists affirm that in terms of the technology, parents and grandparents don’t need to know everything about it, but they do need to know how it works. Technology is a great opportunity, but we must be responsible and understand the consequences of using new technologies. Parents need help from industry leaders who also need the support of the government.  Panelists concluded that this is something we must all tackle together. 

Kids & The Wide Open Wireless World

Moderator:  Mike Altschul, Senior Vice President & General Counsel, CTIA

Panelists:

• Natasha Jackson, Head of Content Policy, GSM Association
• Jack McArtney, Associate Director- Advertising and Content Standards, Verizon
• Brian Knapp, Vice President, Corporate Affairs & Chief Privacy Officer, Loopt
• Edward Palmieri, Deputy Chief Privacy Officer, Sprint
• Esther Cookson, Director of Strategic Initiatives, Web Wise Kids

 As technology has enabled users to have full Internet access from wireless Internet devices, Internet privacy and security have become two issues at the forefront of online safety. The “Kids & The Wide Open Wireless World” panelists agreed that privacy measures are a step toward better customer service rather than a means to avoid legal trouble. The panelists discussed parental controls and a mobile safety game as two ways to not only provide for a child’s online security but also teach them to make good decisions. 

Palmieri discussed Sprint’s parental control options that restrict usage at the hand-set and network levels, allowing parents to limit the content their children are viewing over their mobile phones. McArtney also discussed Verizon’s parental control options, outlining their platform of respect for customer choice, respect for customer security and full compliance with the law. Verizon has free parental controls across all of their platforms. Wireless controls are oriented around the family account and parents must choose the settings that are set based on age-appropriate content ratings. Knapp stated that he believes privacy should be more than an afterthought and the online safety industry should take the “customer service approach,” placing customer preferences and security above legal obligations, in order to elevate their corporations to the next level.      

Cookson spoke about Web Wise Kids’ development of a new mobile safety game to teach children about making good decisions which would address topics such as: “sexting,” loss of reputation, cyber bullying, being the bully and many others. Jackson illustrated the shift in attitudes about online safety in the United Kingdom over the last three years. She showed how the debate has evolved from blaming the carriers for their responsibility for online safety issues to a more comprehensive look at behavior and how it can be studied. Jackson argues that the industry must now take time to figure out what will be coming in the future. All of the panelists agreed that privacy is an issue that should be treated as more than a “means to an end.” They decided that treating privacy as a customer service, instead of a legal obligation, will allow companies to keep their businesses competitive and to grow while promoting customer safety. 

Authors’ Corner 

Moderator:  Kim Hart, Technology Correspondent, The Washington Post

Panelists:

• Sharon Cindrich, Author, “e-Parenting: Keeping Up With Your Tech Savvy Kids”
• Sameer Hinduja, Author, “Bullying Beyond the Schoolyard: Preventing and Responding to Cyberbullying”
• Nancy Willard, Author, “Cyber-Safe Kids, Cyber-Savvy Teens: Helping Young People Learn to Use the Internet Safely and Responsibly”

 All the panelists at the Authors’ Corner talked about cyberbullying as a huge phenomenon that most kids today have experienced in some way.  They drew attention to the fact that kids today are at a greater risk than ever before because they are more prone to participate in risky behavior and more likely to have parents who are not engaged. They emphasized the importance of parents’ role in teaching their children how to make good decisions in the online world and finding ways to reach out to these parents. They all agreed that we need to also reach out to kids and provide them with the tools and knowledge they need to be safe online.

Cindrich and Willard both commented that parents need to build a strong foundation from day one and set rules for their children that will prepare them to make their own decisions in the future.  Cindrich highlighted the difficulty in reaching parents and feel the most effective method is to catch them in their “flight plan,” such as at the grocery store, in the car, or at the doctor’s office or other activities in which they are already engaged.  Willard, on the other hand, feels it would be more worthwhile to reach out to kids at the school level.  She believes the savvy teens who know how to make good decisions are the ones who should reach out to the more vulnerable kids and influence their online behavior.  All the panelists agreed that there are many sectors in the online world that need to come together in addressing the issue of online safety, such as the advocacy groups, the service providers, and law enforcement.

The panelists also discussed online safety in the school environment and what role the school should play in restricting online behavior.  Audience members expressed confusion about when the school can become involved when negative online behavior occurs off school grounds.  Hinduja clarified that schools have the right to restrict online behavior when the student conduct becomes disruptive to the learning environment, such as preventing a student from feeling as if he can come to school or behavior that may cause violent altercations.  All the panelists agreed that online safety is a complex issue involving many different parties who need to join together in order to create a safe online world.