Family Online Safety Institute Launch
Feb 13th, 2007
CEO Stephen Balkam's speech from the launch event
Thank you, Adam. Good morning.
We live in an always on, anytime, anywhere digital content world. This has been commonly called Web 2.0. It is the world of MySpace, YouTube, Second Life and the mobile internet. Not only is there an explosion of content - from the largest multi-national corporations to your teenage daughter's live video feed on Stickam.com - there is also a continuous stream of new devices that can both deliver and produce content at the speed of thought.
We have flown past the moment of convergence, and we live in a world where many devices can do more than you'll probably ever use them to do. Your television is ringing. That innocent Nintendo DS you (and I) bought for our ten year old daughter is now web enabled. Thirteen year old boys are not only playing interactive games on their Sony Playstation Portable with kids in Cleveland or China, but if they live in a home with a wireless connection, they are also able to cruise all the darkest corners of the web. A cell phone has become a mobile production studio, allowing a gang of fifteen year olds to film themselves happy-slapping another kid and posting their exploits on sites that are happy to host them.
The speed of change is alarming. The amount of information an average parent must assimilate about this new world is overwhelming. This is the first technology in the history of mankind where the kids are leading the adults. In the agrarian age, we taught our children how to sow and to reap. In the industrial age, we brought our kids into the factories and took them on as apprentices, patiently showing them a skill they would take years to master. In my own lifetime, as a child, my father showed me how to use a mechanical typewriter.
But now, the kids have the skills, the desire and the fearlessness to master and consume any kind of digital device or product that tickles their fancy. And we believe that is a good thing - allowing for kinds of communication, learning and entertainment we could only dream of a decade or so ago.
Yet it is us, their parents, that are left in the dust, wondering how on earth we are ever going to come to terms with our wired kids and their incomprehensible gadgets and digital meeting places.
Parents are busy. We are out at work, often leaving our kids at home alone to play with their electronic toys. Harassed and guilty parents buy their kids the latest laptops with built in web cams and wireless internet connections and put them in their 14 year old's bedrooms and walk away. Is it any wonder we have reports of kids becoming addicted to porn, or being groomed into meeting their online buddies at the mall?
Parents are, not surprisingly, afraid of this new world. And yet, they also recognize the extraordinary opportunities that this online environment opens up for themselves and their children. So how can we tap into the undeniable potential for good, while avoiding or, at least, reducing the prospect of harm?
For us, it was clear that someone needed a vision for how to protect children better and be an advocate for families that want to make their online experience safer and better, while at the same time, respecting the free expression rights of content creators. That Vision is this: to increase the safety, decrease the fear and expand the benefits of our online world, particularly for children. Simple and straightforward. It's the underlying spark and inspiration for the new Family Online Safety Institute.
What are we going to do to make that ambitious vision a reality? It's a fine line, right? How do you protect without being too restrictive? How do you filter while also respecting the First Amendment? We are going to do it by identifying and promoting best practices, tools and methods in the field of online safety while respecting the free expression rights of content creators. Our mission statement is similar to the task handed to the Child Online Protection Act or COPA Commission that I and others in this room served on in 2000. I see the work of our new Institute as a living embodiment of that year-long endeavor, updated and re-positioned for a Web 2.0 world.
How are we going to achieve this new and expanded mission? Through four distinct and interrelated work areas: Policy - Technology - Education - Events
And what are the values, beliefs and qualities we bring to this new Institute? We bring a balanced, non-partisan, objective and pragmatic approach to this challenge. We have created a unique, international space where technology, policy and awareness efforts meet in the growing field of online safety. We believe, first and foremost, in the need to educate and empower parents to make wise and informed decisions about what they and their kids encounter online. Second, we believe in robust and comprehensive industry self-regulation. And thirdly, we believe in reasonable government oversight and support in this area. It will require the unprecedented co-operation of governments, industry and the non-profit sectors to tackle this fast moving, ever-evolving series of issues.
At the Institute, we will work on four fronts. First, policy. We will build on the success of our international Roundtables in which we bring together the top thinkers and practitioners in the field to catalogue the daunting challenges while jointly working on innovative solutions. We will act as a Think Tank and commission papers, write op eds, engage the media and produce thoughtful and timely papers to both frame and stimulate the debate. And we will do this at an international level.
Second, Technology. We will continue to develop and provide the growing family of ICRA products and services. We will continue to innovate and develop the ICRA labels for websites, utilizing the RDF standard to match the growing complexity of websites. ICRAchecked will be promoted to encourage the validation of self-generated metadata. The ICRAplus filter which has been recently updated, will continue to be available for free download. And our CTO, Phil Archer, will expand his groundbreaking work on quality labels, mobileOK and metadata-enhanced search.
We will partner with third parties who wish to license our system. Today we can announce a partnership with ICM Registry whereby all .xxx domain sites will be required to incorporate an ICRA label on every page of their website. We see this as a remarkable opportunity to greatly increase the uptake and use of content labels on adult websites.
Thirdly, Education. Here we see our role as a convener and an enabler - bringing together, as we have done today, the best of the individuals and organizations that have created safety messages and new techniques to reach parents, teachers and kids alike. We also see an important role in educating law makers and regulators of this fast changing environment and to help them to come to terms with their own responsibilities in providing local, regional and national educational campaigns and messages.
And fourthly, Events. Already we have run six Roundtables in the past year and a half in Washington, London, San Jose, Brussels and New York. More are planned for Mexico City, Paris and Madrid. These have been hugely popular amongst the participants who have been involved - one Verizon executive describing the first Roundtable as the Best Meeting He's Ever Been To, Ever!
In addition to these gatherings, I am pleased to announce today, we will inaugurate an annual International Online Safety Conference, Exhibition and Awards Dinner on December 2-4 of this year here in DC. We will gather the leading thinkers, the most innovative technologies, the effective educators and the most enlightened legislators for a two and a half day gathering that will celebrate and showcase the very best in online safety from around the world. And it goes without saying that we invite you all here today to join us in December for the kick-off of this annual event.
So how will all this be funded? The Institute is a membership organization that includes some of the leading names in the online and telecommunications industry. We also have smaller, entrepreneurial companies, and NGOs as members. And individuals may join as Associate Members for $100 a year.
Our funding also comes from Foundations, such as the Verizon Foundation which has supported our work for a number of years. Donations, advertising and licensing revenue are the other valuable sources of income. Of course, for us to meet these growing challenges and unprecedented changes we need your support in whatever way you can contribute. You each received a leaflet outlining the work of the Institute and the benefits of membership. Please ask me or Samantha or any of our current member companies here today if you would like to find out more.
I am pleased to announce today that Don Telage, former chairman of the COPA Commission and former CEO of Network Solutions has agreed to be a Patron of the Institute. My good friend Adam Thierer has accepted the role of Chairman of the Advisory Council made up of international experts, academics and practitioners in online safety, many of whom are here today. I thank all of them for their support and commitment to the cause.
Finally, I'd like to end with a challenge to each of you. How can you, in your companies, in your organizations, in your homes and in your schools, do whatever you can to increase the online safety for your consumers, for your clients, for your students or for your own kids? How can you help to reduce the fears of your stakeholders, your customers, your constituents, your partners or your family members, while holding dear to our centuries old respect for free expression. And can you help us to find a way to expand the benefits of this most extraordinary medium for the next generation and their children? I sincerely hope so and I look forward to working and colaborating with you all in the months and years to come.
