Here's just a selection of the press and media coverage FOSI's 2009 3rd Annual Conference has received so far.

CBS.com and CNET News Safe and Secure Blog
Net safety conference to call for digital citizenship
Larry Magid
11/2/09

This week nearly 400 Internet safety advocates are expected to attend the third annual Family Online Safety Institute Conference and Exhibition in Washington, D.C. The event, which is expected to draw attendees from 14 countries, is a gathering of Internet safety advocates from industry, nonprofit groups, academia, and government.

The theme of this year's conference, "Building a Culture of Responsibility: From Online Safety to Digital Citizenship," reflects a significant change in the thinking of many online safety experts. "Of course we need to teach basic safety skills," said FOSI CEO Stephen Balkam, "but we need to move to the next stage which includes digital citizenship and responsibility."

Speakers at the conference will include Sen. Robert Menendez (D-NJ), author of a bill that would increase federal funding for Internet safety. White House Deputy Technology Officer Andrew McLaughlin (formerly of Google) will be talking about the Obama administration's efforts to increase awareness on Net safety issues. Dr. Tanya Byron, author of a report on the British government's 2008 national policy on child safety online will talk about her country's efforts to dial-down the fear factor and increase awareness on how to empower young people to better manage online risks. Other sessions will focus on the safety needs of "seniors and grandparents," challenges facing young people's use of mobile devices, and psychological issues kids face online.

Attorneys General Patrick Lynch of Rhode Island and Robert McKenna of Washington will speak on how law enforcement is dealing with youth online risk. Nearly all U.S. state attorneys general have expressed concerns about Internet predators, cyberbullying, sexting, and other potential crimes committed against and--in some cases--by children and teens. Last year a coalition of 49 attorneys general created the Internet Safety Technical Task Force which, in January, issued a report saying that children are less vulnerable to predators than had been feared but are more likely to be harmed by peer-to-peer bullying as well as self-destructive online behaviors.

I will also be a speaker as will my ConnectSafely.org co-director and NetFamily News editor Anne Collier. We will be formally releasing our "Online Safety 3.0" paper which calls for moving away from fear-based messages toward an emphasis on media literacy and digital citizenship, including recognizing young people not as "victims" but as stakeholders in positive Internet use. Instead of schools filtering out access to social-networking sites, we believe they should be incorporating social media not only to enhance learning but to promote responsibility. Along with others attending the conference, we will call for expanding the public discussion on Internet safety to include more physicians, mental health professionals, social workers, tech educators, and other experts.
The conference which runs Wednesday and Thursday at the Andrew W. Mellon Auditorium in Washington will also feature an exhibition where companies and nonprofits will show a variety of online safety tools.

Hillicon Valley -The Hill’s Technology Blog
Online safety panels abound this week
Kim Hart
11/03/09

For those of you interested in online safety--for kids, students, seniors, pretty much anyone--this is your week.

Starting at noon today, Google and iKeepSafe Internet Safety Coalition are holding a panel and presentation in Rayburn House Office Building. On the panel are a couple of medical doctors, such as Michael Rich, Director of the Center on Media and Child Health at Children's Hospital in Boston, who has done extensive research on children and online safety. The panel focuses on helping kids become responsible digital citizens.

The Commerce Department's Online Safety and Technology Working Group is also holding a day-long workshop today that is chock full of company representatives from Microsoft, AOL, Yahoo and Facebook.

Tomorrow, the Family Online Safety Institute will kick off its two-day annual conference that aims to promote a culture of responsibility for kids and teens online. Speakers include Anna Gomez, Deputy Assistant Secretary for Communications and Information, and Hemanshu Nigam, Chief Security Officer for MySpace.
The FCC recently launched a review of the effects of digital media on kids--and their parents. Keeping kids safe on social networks, video sites and other interactive platforms has caused an increasing amount of anxiety for parents and teachers. And a handful of lawmakers, including Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D-Fla.), have introduced bills over the past few years aiming to better protect children from online predators.

InternetNews.com
NCTA Chief Urges Feds to Rethink Stimulus Plans
Kenneth Corbin
11/5/09

WASHINGTON -- The head of the leading cable industry association today took aim at the government's efforts to spur broadband deployment, arguing that rather than funneling billions of stimulus dollars into new networks, the money would be better spent on programs to drive adoption of the technology.
Kyle McSlarrow, the president and CEO of the National Cable and Telecommunications Association (NCTA), made his pitch here at a conference hosted by the Family Online Safety Institute.
"If the stimulus package and the broadband fund is going to be a success, the way we need to think about this is to think about this in terms of broadband adoption," McSlarrow said. "We have it a little backwards right now."
The economic stimulus package, enacted in February, allocated $7.2 billion for broadband projects, but only $250 million of that was set aside for programs to drive sustainable adoption. An additional $250 million was earmarked for upgrading community facilities like libraries and senior centers, with another $350 million for mapping programs.
But for McSlarrow, who argues that the companies he represents offer high-speed Internet access to 92 percent of U.S. households, that split gives short shrift to the demand side of the broadband equation.
"There are a lot of reasons why people who have broadband at their doorstop don't take it," he said.
McSlarrow pointed to the broadband research of the Pew Internet Project, which has identified a significant segment of Americans who don't see the value in broadband service.
"You really need to take a step back and think about how you spend these monies," he said. The stimulus "seemed to me a little bit of a mismatch between the goals and the means."
Is USF wasting billions of dollars?
Only a few hours after McSlarrow's talk at the FOSI conference this morning, NCTA released a petition it submitted to the Federal Communications Commission urging the agency to cut back on the subsidies it distributes to telephone companies in favor of programs to spur broadband adoption and deployment.
NCTA argued that the FCC's Universal Service Fund wastes as much as $2 billion funneling money to rural phone providers in areas where unsubsidized companies are already operating and the market is competitive.
"The commission's high-cost support mechanisms are premised on the assumption that a particular location would not have affordable service available but for the support provided by the program," the group said in its petition. "But in markets with extensive facilities-based competition, that assumption no longer holds true."

Broadcasting & Cable
McSlarrow Wants Funding for Digital-Media Literacy
NCTA president calls for $500 million in broadband stimulus funding for new-media education
John Eggerton
11/5/09

National Cable & Telecommunications Association President Kyle McSlarrow told an online safety conference audience Nov. 5 that digital media literacy should be a focus of broadband stimulus funding--to the tune of $500 million.

"Congress should direct that the agencies managing distribution of broadband stimulus funding allocate $500 million during the next two years for the development of digital media education tools," McSlarrow said in a speech to the 2009 Annual Conference of the Family Online Safety Institute. "With a substantial portion of stimulus funding yet to be allocated, and with the broadband adoption rate continuing to increase from coast to coast, we must vigorously renew this call to acknowledge as a national priority digital literacy for children and families."

NCTA proposed that as part of the stimulus program, arguing it would create jobs, help kids and close the gap between schools that are offering digital literacy training and ones that aren't.

He told the group that some members of Congress are open to the idea.

NCTA has been pushing broadband education, training and adoption over using government money to underwrite potential competitors to existing service.

"[W]e must vigorously renew this call to acknowledge as a national priority digital literacy for children and families," he said.

Washington Internet Daily
Education, Law Enforcement Both Necessary for Online Safety, Panel Says
Leslie Cantu
11/06/09

Education and reaching across specialties to work together on online safety are important, law enforcement and safety specialists agreed Wednesday at the Family Online Safety Institute's annual conference. But the pendulum shouldn't swing so far in the direction of education that law enforcement is forgotten, said Parry Aftab, executive director of WiredSafety.
Law enforcement is needed to put people's feet to the fire, issue subpoenas and go after wrongdoers, Aftab said. Education is simply one component of an online safety program, she said, and educators can only go so far in telling minors not to do things -- like take naked pictures of themselves -- that they should know anyway.
There's an constant need to respond and send a message from law enforcement about appropriate behavior, said Rhode Island Attorney General Patrick Lynch. He acknowledged an ongoing discussion about the appropriate response to sexting when the senders and receivers are minors themselves. Some prosecutors have taken to charging the minors as sex offenders, but Lynch said he's not out to make a felon of a 14-year-old. On the other hand, he said, if older teens send photos to each other when they're friends, and then when they cease being friends use those photos to hurt the other, then, he said, "that merits a response." He's not backing down from the idea that such actions must be dealt with, he said, although law enforcement is still struggling with how to deal with the situation.
Sen. Robert Menendez, D-N.J., said his SAFE Act, S-1047, would promote Internet safety education and the initiatives aimed at the prevention of cybercrime. He urged the audience to contact their representatives to advocate for the bill because too many members of Congress don't understand the need. The online danger won't go away, he said. Yet he doesn't want to put the brakes on this "wonderful new vehicle," he said. Further, he said being tech savvy isn't just about safety; it's also about economic empowerment and becoming prepared for the new workforce. Menendez said it's necessary to explore why children behave the way they do online, how marketing affects their thinking and behavior, and how everyone uses technology.
States are still figuring out how to respond, the attorneys general said. Washington Attorney General Rob McKenna said his state hopes to become the fifth in the nation to have a dedicated digital forensics crime lab, which would focus on digital evidence from computers, iPods, cameras and other devices. Lynch told the companies present to be proactive about developing relationships with law enforcement and officials in their states. He reminded them that officials change -- there will be at least 16 new attorneys general after the 2010 election, he said, including in Rhode Island where he is term-limited out of office. New attorneys general can be dangerous, he said, but for the most part they're eager to educate themselves. Sgt. Jim Smith, of the Connecticut Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force, asked the corporations to think of front-line law enforcement in their outreach. It's good to speak to high-level officials, he said, but the officers at the state and local level want to know how technology works and how they can use it.
Aftab suggested to the law enforcement officials on the panel that they should create some type of outreach so people know whom to call when they're victims of a cybercrime. So many of the thousands of e-mails her organization receives each day are from people confused about whom to contact, she said.

Washington Internet Daily
No Reason to Mess with COPPA Age Rules in FTC Review, Conference Told
Leslie Cantu
11/06/09

Age 13 still seems to be the most appropriate for regulation as originally set in the Children's Online Privacy Protection Act, which the FTC has promised to review early next year (WID Nov 4 p1), tech companies and an industry regulator told the Family Online Safety Institute conference late Wednesday. But more worrisome than the FTC requiring more stringent data-collection rules for older children is the potential for more "super-COPPA" laws coming from the states, they said. Such a law in Maine, dealing only with health privacy, was deemed so unworkable that the state attorney general refused to enforce it following an outcry from marketers, though the legislature will likely try again with a narrower law next year (WID Sept 1 p6).
A review of other countries' kid-privacy laws finds a 12-14 year-old age range for getting "verifiable parental consent" before collecting their children's information, said Stephen Kline, vice president of public affairs, policy and security for Privo, an FTC-approved COPPA certification service. The law is "structured" for kids 13 and under, said Wayne Keeley, director of the Children's Advertising Review Unit of the Council of Better Business Bureaus. "The technical expertise" of older children would make it difficult to monitor and enforce data-collection regulation for ages over 13, he said. "There's a certain innocence built into the age range."
When the FTC last reviewed COPPA, most kid-friendly sites were directed at teens, but sites for five- to 10-year- olds have "exploded" in the past few years -- they are the fastest-growing demographic in virtual worlds, for example, Kline said. The "reasonable expectation" standard, under which sites must get parental consent if they think it's likely kids would visit them, has also worked well, Keeley said. His unit was approved by the FTC under the COPPA safe- harbor program to create and enforce its own self-regulatory guidelines, which will be updated around January to account for behavioral targeting, he said. The safe-harbor program has given companies an incentive to go beyond compliance, Kline said: They often ask Privo for "X, Y and Z on top of that, going well beyond COPPA." Another trend, though, is the use of paid subscriptions, which makes parental verification easier and avoids problematic advertising issues, he said.
Simply because the Maine law went down doesn't mean marketers should assume other states won't try their own versions, Kline said: "There's enough grassroots interest" for potentially many bills to be introduced around the country. The Maine law, which required marketers to get parental consent before collecting "health-related information or personal information from a minor" (WID Aug 28 p3), was poorly drafted all around, as a judge later agreed, he said. Other states will probably be more careful in drafting their laws while still testing the limits of COPPA's state-preemption provisions, Kline said, predicting a "constant drumbeat."
Speakers noted a bill in New Jersey would require any site or online service "directed at adolescents," defined as ages 13 to 17, get parental consent, going beyond COPPA both in age limit and breadth of sites covered. An Illinois bill would target all social networking sites, not just those directed at kids. Improved accuracy of age-verification technologies will give state lawmakers ammunition to push for laws that they claim aren't overly burdensome on sites that draw kids, Keeley said.
But approval of any super-COPPA law would basically graft the struck-down Child Online Protection Act onto the COPPA regime, which would "force the hand" of the feds to preempt them, said Adam Thierer, president of the Progress & Freedom Foundation. James Dirksen, managing director of "Web categorization" provider RuleSpace, said there were already models for age-verification abroad -- the U.K., for example, uses mobile-phone billing records to verify ages of those seeking access to certain sites. Importing such a system to the U.S. would require a whole new regime, though, Keeley said, and "there's still something of a lag in technology" to do it well. Kline warned that the U.S. probably doesn't want to follow the lead of countries such as China.

Washington Internet Daily
CAPITOL HILL
Greg Piper
11/06/09

Congress should direct agencies managing broadband stimulus money disbursement to set aside $500 million over the next two years to teach children in primary and secondary school about the Internet, NCTA President Kyle McSlarrow said. The money should be used to pay people to teach kids and parents about technology, particularly in "underserved" school districts, he told a Family Online Safety Institute meeting on Thursday. "There are some members of Congress and policy makers among the federal agencies who are open to the idea," he added. "We must vigorously renew this call to acknowledge as a national priority digital literacy for children and families."

Washington Internet Daily
Internet Makes 'Visible' Kids' Problems for Society to Address, Researcher Says
Greg Piper
11/05/09

The Internet hasn't changed children's behavior as much as it has shown parents, teachers and lawmakers the problems that have always existed, such as bullying and sexual experimentation, a social-media researcher at Microsoft Research New England said Wednesday at the Family Online Safety Institute's annual conference. Danah Boyd, also a fellow at Harvard's Berkman Center, said social workers and "non-custodial adults" must be brought in alongside law enforcement to reach children, who often lack parents' support, to deal with their problems. Other researchers explained children's thinking patterns online and the promise of videogames to promote positive behavior based their own studies. All agreed that policymakers need to base legislation on solid research. But no lawmakers or bills were singled out for criticism or praise.
The familiar statistic that one in seven children online are sexually solicited lacks crucial context, Boyd said. Nearly half the come-ons are between minors, she said. Girls "think it's cool to get attention from older guys. ... Kids are very active as agents in this process." Research on cyberbullying is much less developed, because there's no authoritative definition, Boyd said: It could include anything from "lightweight teasing" to sexual, physical and psychological violence. "All of a sudden, we're forced to contend with the fact that we don't actually know ... how to deal with bullying," leading many to blame technology and miss the "roots" of the problem.
Parents often play a negative role even if unintentionally, Boyd said. Bullying sometimes comes from a perceived lack of control, and one of the new expressions of that feeling is pressuring friends to share their Internet passwords as a sign of trust - just as parents have long done with their children, she said. Recent research has shown that kids are exposed more to sexually graphic content on TV than on the Internet, a statistic that "seems absolutely insane," Boyd said. But in her in-home research, she said, she found parents watching R- and X-rated programming with their kids in the living room, though there was an "extreme class divide" in where this happened, implying that lower class adults were more permissive. Sexting has become more common because children want to "show off their bodies ... long before they're actually having sex," Boyd said, adding that parents aren't talking to their children early enough about sexting.
"Youth-generated problematic conduct" online often comes about because kids see celebrities such as Paris Hilton doing it, Boyd said. "Self-harm" sites, for kids to injure themselves in front of an online audience, involve demographics the opposite of those for porn, she said: Children of wealthy families are the overwhelming percentage of participants. But the activities show the same need for control, Boyd said. Kids are "very much seeking out help, they're seeking out attention" for their offline problems such as parental drug use. Through the Internet "we have this amazing ability to reach out," even as American society has "tried to segregate" in gated communities and polarized groups, she said.
Children's thinking and behavior online is largely driven by "consequences," said Carrie James, the research director of Project Zero at the Harvard Graduate School of Education. Her most recent research, the GoodPlay Project, studied 15-25-year-olds in connection with social networks, gaming, blogging, content creation and sharing. "For all the shining examples of digital superkids who are blogging about social issues ... I would argue that there are a lot more confused kids out there," she said, and a major factor is the "near absence" of adult roles models in their online lives.
Teens and young adults mostly think about how their online behavior will affect themselves, a frequent response concerning illegal downloading being, "I hope this doesn't get me in trouble," James said. Less common is "moral thinking" - considering others' feelings when blogging or taking into account how in-game actions will affect a player's guild. "Ethical thinking" -- considering in abstract terms the effect on society -- is the least common among young, she said. One interview subject, a college student studying music, said he stopped illegal downloading when he learned of its effect on musicians' careers.
A positive strategy for educating children is using games, said Carly Shuler of Sesame Workshop's Joan Ganz Cooney Center, which has researched the use of emerging media with young children since Sesame Street's debut. The group's Game Changer policy brief on videogames found that 85 percent of 2-14-year-olds play games and 9-year-olds play nearly an hour daily on average, she said. Some games that have shown positive effects include Horsepower Challenge, in which kids compete against each other for fitness using "smart pedometers," Shuler said: Nearly half started eating better and exercising with their families. The ReMission game allows children with cancer to battle the disease virtually, to increase their knowledge and encourage their will to fight. The center's most recent study, not officially released, found that nearly half the most popular paid applications in the iTunes Store are aimed at preschool and elementary children, although "these are not devices that are targeted at children," Shuler said. This shows that devices such as the iPhone and iPod touch should be considered a medium for reaching young children, she said.
All the research is a treasure trove for lawmakers, Boyd said. "Make your policy grounded in research." Some takeaways include the need for social workers and "non- custodial adults" in children's lives to be more involved with children's problems as made "visible" online and to concentrate on "at-risk" children. Most children's organizations have good ties to law enforcement and the FBI, but that's it, she said. Shuler said digital media should be used in education, but there are gaps between the marketing of tech products such as applications from iTunes as educational and their value. "There's a huge role for policymakers" in the area, she said without specifying the direction she supports. One way to encourage children to start thinking ethically online is to promote their taking part in online communities, James told a questioner.
The influence of older peers is also crucial, researchers said. "Cousins are a really key character in this," especially for poorer children, but older siblings are broadly trusted across social groups, Boyd said. James said the GoodPlay interviews showed kids were concerned about their younger siblings and the Internet. "I believe that's something that can be leveraged and tapped."

Family Online Safety Institute Notebook ...
The Obama administration's push for expanded broadband has a foreign-policy component, said Alec Ross, senior adviser for innovation in the secretary of state's office. The use of technology to organize and motivate supporters of then-candidate Barack Obama is better known than the new administration's use of technology to "empower, rather than overpower, in our foreign policy," he said. Diplomacy has changed little in recent centuries, Ross said. But access to technology abroad is transforming the ability of the U.S. to reach, and in turn hear from, the poor and powerless abroad. A friend of Ross' used to visit a "tin toymaker" in a poor village whenever he visited Togo, buying a few of his comical creations. But the toymaker told the friend on his latest visit to just send a photo by e-mail of what he'd like made into a toy, Ross said. On a recent trip to a poor village in the Congo where the average villager made less than $200 a year, Ross said he found 300 mobile-phone kiosks doing brisk business, and even a refugee camp made a business out of charging others' phones. "It's chapter one, page one" for mobile technology around the world, he said.

Sexual Intelligence blog
Protecting Kids On-Line: A Growth Industry
Dr. Marty Klein
11/7/09

I was privileged to be part of this year’s annual meeting of FOSI, the Family On-Line Safety Institute. This was the first year they invited a sex expert. So it was 400 public policy people and one sex guy—me.

The lineup of speakers was extraordinary: a Senator; senior executives from companies like Verizon and Comcast; several state Attorneys General; President Obama’s Deputy Chief Technology Officer; and dozens of heavy hitters like Adam Thierer (Progress & Freedom Foundation) and Larry Magid (ConnectSafely).

The complexity of the internet, broadband, and mobile-connected world of kids and teens which they discussed for two days had my head spinning. Preschoolers tweeting?
Everyone agreed that the online environment posed various dangers to kids; thankfully, in addition to talking about predators, these sophisticated people talk about cyberbullying and other problems that are far more common in most kids’ lives.

All speakers expressed commitment to the same thing: helping young people have safe, productive experiences online. Of course, sincere people disagree on how to define “safe” and “productive”—a common disagreement whenever sexuality is involved. That tension underlines policy discussions of adult sex-related issues, too, like the morning-after pill, prostitution, and same-sex marriage.

With this all-star lineup I didn’t have much time, but I did make the following points:

* Why do kids use the internet for various sexual activities? Why NOT? Kids are sexual (whether we like it or not), and the internet is the most powerful communications technology ever invented. Of COURSE they’ll use it for sexual purposes—just like adults do.
* How should we deal with kids sexting? The way we would deal with it if we could see beyond its sexual aspect: by talking about trust, power, privacy, etc...

* Parents don’t need help dealing with their kids’ sexuality online—they need help dealing with their kids’ sexuality, period. Most parents deal with their kids’ online erotic lives the way they deal with their kids’ offline erotic lives—by ignoring or problematizing them. Whether they’re talking about the internet, the playground, or hooking up, parents need to discuss sexuality with their kids beyond the context of danger and safety.

* We’re preparing our kids for lives they’re NOT going to have—lives without erotic feelings, falling in love, and sexual decision-making. In doing so, we leave them unprepared for the lives that they’re going to have—whether we’re comfortable with that or not.

* It would be great if kids were as thoughtful and careful online as many policy-makers wish they would be. But that’s expecting kids to make better decisions online than most adults do. When tens of millions of adults are hooked on their blackberries, spending too much time in chat rooms, and being deceitful about porn use or online flirting, why are we surprised when kids reveal themselves too much on facebook or by sexting?

In most states, the age at which a picture qualifies as child pornography is higher than the age of consent. And so privately, I asked the Attorney General of one western state how he could justify criminalizing pictures of teens being sexual if the sexual acts themselves were legal. He kept telling me that the pictures were illegal no matter how they were created, so that ended the conversation fairly quickly.

He was more interested in enforcing the law than in understanding how it affects the society he supposedly wants to protect. Perhaps his attitude would change if his 16-year-old son had to register as a sex offender because he’d shared a nude photo of his girlfriend.

There are, of course, some real threats to the health and safety of young people online. But sometimes the criminal justice system is one of those threats. I wish this had been discussed seriously during the two-day conference.

San Jose Mercury News
Treating kids on the Web in a new way
Larry Magid
11/8/09

I spent part of last week in Washington, D.C., attending a gathering that turned out to be a watershed moment in the 16-year history of online safety education.

The third annual conference of the Family Online Safety Institute brought together about 400 Internet safety advocates around the theme of "Building a Culture of Responsibility: From Online Safety to Digital Citizenship."

The event, which drew participants from 15 countries, was different from previous years in that young people were viewed less as potential victims of online crimes and more as participants in a global online community.

That's not to say that participants didn't worry aloud about youth safety, but instead of focusing on real and imagined dangers, we focused on how adults can work with young people to encourage both ethical and self-protective behavior. It's all about media literacy, digital citizenship and critical thinking.

This was a big change from just a couple of years ago, when Internet safety gatherings typically focused on ways adults could put up walls to protect children against predators, pornography and other dangers.

While Internet porn continues to be an issue, the "predator panic" that was rampant a few years ago has largely been put to rest as safety experts and law enforcement studies from the Crimes Against Children Research Center and elsewhere show that, statistically, the odds of a prepubescent child being sexually molested by an online stranger is virtually zero and the odds of it happening to a teenager are very low, especially when compared with children who are harmed by family members and others they know from the real world.

When kids are harmed or annoyed online, the culprit is far more likely to be a fellow young person. Though exact numbers are hard to come by, about a third of teens report having been subjected to some type of cyberbullying or online harassment ranging from slightly nasty comments to cruel messages, impersonation or even stalking.
Kids are affected by their own behavior ranging from posting pictures or comments online that could come to haunt them later to "sexting," sending nude or nearly nude pictures of themselves to others.

While such images usually wind up only in the hands of the intended recipient, there are plenty of cases where photos have been distributed to others or posted online, causing embarrassment or potential ridicule. Even worse, there are teens who have been charged and convicted of producing, possessing and/or distributing child pornography.
While most prosecutors realize that child pornography laws were meant to protect, not punish, kids, a few misguided ones have used these laws against children.

When I said that the Internet safety field is 16 years old, I'm dating it from the publication of the first widely disseminated Internet safety booklet and set of rules which, I confess, were written by this columnist. Back then, I came up with some assumptions like "that 12-year-old girl might be a 40-year-old man" and "posting personal information can lead to harm," but I wrote that material long before we had research to show that these and other early assumptions weren't actually the case.

Years ago, I stopped giving out that type of advice but others continue to perpetuate myths about Internet dangers. What made me feel good about this conference is that all of the panic messages were off the table. What we talked about instead is how we can help adults better understand how kids actually use technology and how we can work with kids to better manage risk.

One theme at the conference was "one size doesn't fit all." Most kids are actually pretty savvy about keeping themselves safe from serious harm, but others — who are taking big risks — need more serious intervention. Risk prevention specialist Patti Agatston suggested we consider using health prevention models for Internet safety education — basic safety advice for most youth and intense counseling from mental health professionals for the small minority of young people who are taking extraordinary risks both on and offline.

There was a lot of discussion about the lack of interactive social media in schools. Federal law requires schools that receive federal "E-Rate" funding to use Internet filters, and many schools use these filters to block social media sites like MySpace and Facebook.

No one was suggesting that kids should spend their school days socializing with friends on Facebook and MySpace, but several speakers wondered why schools aren't using social media as part of the educational process.

Anne Collier, my co-director at ConnectSafely.org, suggested that we think of social media "as the new book." These are interactive books, in a sense, where kids are both consumers and authors. Rather than banning them, schools should be channeling kids toward educational use of this technology.

These and other ideas are covered in a paper that Collier and I co-authored called "Online Safety 3.0: Empowering and Protecting Youth" (www.os3.connectsafely.org).

Contact Larry Magid at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it . Listen for his technology chats on KCBS-AM (740) weekdays at 3:50 p.m.

TheOnlineMom.com
Kids and the Internet: Less fear, more guidance
11/9/09

In many ways, last week's third annual Family Online Safety Institute (FOSI) conference in Washington, D.C. was a groundbreaking event. Except in this case, it was notable not for something it did but rather for something it didn't do. It didn't spread fear.

When these kind of gatherings first took place just a couple of years ago, the Internet and the tech companies were on the defensive. All the discussion was about widespread pornography and the possibility of chance encounters with sexual predators. Most sessions focused on keeping our kids away from the computer or setting up spyware, so we knew exactly what they were up to.

Now, reality has set in. Technology and the Internet are so much a part of our children's lives that most people have stopped trying to turn back the tide. Instead, we are focusing on doing everything we can to make sure they are good swimmers!

The theme of the conference, "Building a Culture of Responsibility: From Online Safety to Digital Citizenship", set the tone. Speaker after speaker took the thoroughly refreshing view that our kids are not just potential victims of online crimes but are better characterized as participants in a global digital community. As such, parents need to encourage media literacy and responsible behavior, rather than focusing solely on the dangers.

That's not to say that we shouldn't be worried about online safety, but research has shown that the chances of a tween or teen being sexually abused by someone they met over the Internet are extremely low. When kids are harassed online, the culprit is far more likely to be a fellow tween or teen indulging in some kind of cyber bullying. Hence the emphasis on encouraging ethical and self-protective behavior.

Some of the discussion at the conference centered around how smart most kids are when it comes to mastering the physically use of technology, but how the emotional maturity of the average teen is still pretty much the same as it's always been. And that's where the problem lies. Put web-enabled cameras in the hands of immature teens and they are likely to do things they will later regret.

Another discussion point was that all kids are different. Most kids are fairly savvy about keeping themselves safe and will interact with their friends online much like they do offline. Others are natural risk takers and are just as likely to take those risks online. Understanding where your child falls on the "risk curve" is the key to providing the help and guidance that they need.

Thankfully, we are moving towards a time when we can regard technology and the Internet as just another part of a child's learning experience, much like they learn how to get along with school friends, go away to camp, or learn to drive a car. If we give them sufficient guidance along the way, then hopefully a responsible digital citizen will be the end result!                

Ask Marian – Symantec Blog
Recap of This Year's Family Online Safety Institute Annual Conference: Did We Just Turn a Corner?
Marian Merritt
11/9/09     

I'm really proud to be a board member for the Family Online Safety Institute. (http://www.fosi.org/). We just completed the 3rd annual conference in Washington DC. This year's theme was "Building a Culture of Responsibility: From Online Safety to Digital Citizenship." It's been exciting to see how, in such a short time span, this meeting has become to global "go to" event for those interested in contributing to a safer internet experience for all. The attendees included everyone who is anyone (such a cliché, I know): representatives from Microsoft, Google, Facebook, MySpace, Symantec, PBS, Verizon, AOL, and many others. There was also a good mix of private citizens, some parents, some teachers, even a group of Girl Scouts from the NY/NJ area.
 
I hope in future years we can attract more private citizens, especially to have parent and teen groups. It's very positive to see our industry moving away from a single-minded focus on risk of online predation to a broader, more nuanced view of online danger. This year's conference reflected that. One speaker, danah boyd from Harvard University, referenced the commonly held statistic of 1 in 7 kids will be approached by an online stranger for a sexual solicitation. "Online sexual solicitation, you've heard the 1 in 7 figure but few people ever get far enough into the information to understand it (solicitation) ranges from flirtation and teasing from peers to receiving images from strangers. Kids are agents in their own part of the process, seeking out the inappropriate attention. We can't always think of kids as victims."
 
Not thinking of kids as victims. This is new thinking indeed for the Internet safety world. We know that for children who are victimized by online predators, often these are the same kids displaying risk factors for predation in the real world. Larry Magid of ConnectSafely has written a compelling story covering the FOSI conference and discussing this "watershed" moment.
 
I'm not fully convinced we're there yet. We still need to consider situations where children are victims, even if there are layers to parse. I sometimes worry that we in our industry focus on the beloved children of a two parent family to the exclusion of those outside that cozy picture. It's easy to suggest that parents use a family safety service such as OnlineFamily.Norton to keep children shielded from the ugliness of the internet. But that scenario requires loving, concerned parents with some level of cyber knowledge as well as resources for learning about such tools and services. And it requires a sense of morality and insight into appropriate forms of content for young people and a willingness to make rules and ask they be enforced.
 
What about homes that lack such engaged adults? When researcher boyd visits kids' homes in America, she often finds parents watching R and X rated content right in the living room with their children in the room with them. No surprise that these same children will seek out adult material for their own entertainment. And when they create new content and post it online it will mirror the entertainment choices in their own home.
 
On the flip side, even in privileged environments where you might assume parents are involved, there are negative practices associated with high socio-economic groups. Boyd associates self-harm practices such as cutting and anorexia as more often found in upscale communities as a self-control or power issue for young people. The pressure of having highly involved parents with extremely high expectations can push a vulnerable child to seek out dangerous practices out of curiosity, out of psychiatric need, out of boredom and pain. You can read danah boyd's research here.
 
Another speaker from Harvard's Good Play project shared research into the ethical choices youth make online. The study looked at the use of ethical thinking, where young people stop to consider how their online activities might affect them down the line. For example, to what degree do young people consider the legality of illegal music downloads when deciding whether to proceed or not. The study cited a near absence of adult role models or mentors in the online lives of the young people in the qualitative study. Over 60% had an adult person as a role model in general but not for online. They talk about peers, turning to someone for support in the case of an online issue but peers aren't likely to support ethical thinking. This means if we want our young people to achieve digital citizenship, they will need additional support from adults to give proper consideration to ethical choices.
 
The call to action from boyd and others throughout the conference was for every caring adult to find it within themselves to mentor and advise all children about online safety. You don't have to be a parent to be the trusted adult a troubled or worried kid can turn to for support. Not everyone is in a home with caring parents. We need engagement beyond parenting, and involve educators, social workers, and the community at large.
 
 Another demographic we discussed was senior citizens or "older Americans and boomers." Some of the random insights shared:
 
Seniors using internet not only for social needs but also to find jobs. In poor communities, people have to work, well into their 90's to afford rent, medication, etc.
Only 42% of those over 65 are using the Internet. 79% of the general adult public are using the Internet.

Gap in internet use at home for seniors can be seen visibly by long lines for computers at libraries in communities like southern Florida.

Most popular online activities: email, general search and medical information search.
Internet can reduce depression in the elderly by reducing isolation.

Some seniors think if cell phone is on, they will be charged for minutes.

Trust - seniors used to trusting corporations and are victimized by fraud and phishing as a result.

Seniors love single player games: Solitaire, Tetris and often search for new free games.

Can be victims of clicking a fraudulent link.

When victims of online scams, often seniors are ashamed, especially if dating or financial fraud involved.

Some online quizzes are highly invasive in order to sell data to advertisers. Seniors might reveal information that can compromise their privacy and safety.
 
Finally, I often use Twitter to send out quick "bites" of information from seminars and meetings. Some of my #fosi09 tweets included the following (and you can follow me on Twitter as @marianmerritt.):
 
• #fosi09 to reduce hype Adam Thierer says we need to call media to task for putting fear mongerers on the air and airing false stats
• #fosi09 need to rethink age limits on social networks (Larry Magid, referencing a conversation we had during break)
• #fosi09 Rachel Dretzin PBS Frontline said "kids confuse confession with apology" Tend to post or email instead of face to face discussion.
• Dr Byron #fosi09 concern that Oprah's team is still fixated on fear about web, need to get Oprah into the FOSI tent
• #fosi09, so on the sexting issue, some said report to personal lawyer (not law enforcement) but also discuss emotional/social impact to kids
• Byron #fosi09 call to arms for youth "take your mobile and laptop to school and say, 'hey i'm going to use it'"
• #fosi09 Byron negative about this, discrim'y to not let kids use tech in school to learn. "Old fart attitude, worked 4 me sitting at desk"
• don't blame tech when kids try to hide their online activities - it's adolescence to blame and normal for kids to try. #fosi09
 
Suffice it to say, if you are interested in helping drive the conversation about Family Online Safety, the FOSI conference is your mandatory destination. I hope you'll come join us next year!

 
Children’s Health Blog
Digital Citizenship Starts at the Dinner Table
Dr. Gwenn Is In
11/9/09

We all consider ourselves citizens of the world, global citizens. But, do you realize we’re also digital citizens?

That was the topic of last week’s Family Online Safety Institute conference in Washington, DC, where I had the privilege of being on the panel, Exploring Why Kids Behave The Way They Do OnLine, and interacting with the industry’s top movers and shakers in industry, research and policy.

The overriding theme of the two day conference was digital citizenship…in particular “Building a Culture of Responsibility: From Online Safety to Digital Citizenship.” We heard every topic imaginable from what’s happening in technology to keeping our kids safe online to topics on how parents can talk to kids about being better digital citizens to why schools need to step into the digital age, finally!

If you haven’t stopped to contemplate the fact that we live in a digitally connected world, you should. It can be easy to go through each day not thinking outside our own towns and communities but the reality is our globe is truly connected. Even countries with few economic resources have cell phones and internet access these days. We heard stories about that sort of interconnectivity last week as well.

From their earliest experiences online, even with games such as Club Penguin or WebKinz, our kids recognize how connected they are to the greater world. Our job is to teach them how to be safe in that space and how to act appropriately.

The best way of teaching good behavior is by modeling that ourselves. If we practice good digital citizenship, so, too, will our kids. Right now, the etiquette we practice offline goes out the window online and we have to put an end to that. If we do that, our kids will follow suit.

In addition, as our younger children come online, we should be talking about these issues and helping them view the world as one world. They will actually have an easier time acting responsibly on and offline since this is the only world they know…assuming we provide solid role models and talk to them about the issues.

Our world is based around communities and we are citizens of them all. Some are close to home. Some are far from home, and some are online. In today’s world, we should have the same good rules of behavior for all situations and that’s what we have to strive for.
For most children, their family is their first exposure to a community. Use the time you have around the dinner table to reinforce issues of citizenship, on and off line. If you let your kids know that these issues are important to you, they’ll feel empowered enough to come to you more when digital issues arise…and that’s the true end game in internet safety.

eModeration blog
Rebecca Newton on FOSI 3rd Annual Conference, Washington, D.C.
Rebecca Newton
11/9/09

The Family Online Safety Institute (FOSI) held its 3rd Annual conference in Washington, D.C. last week on November 4th and 5th. eModeration couldn't be there, so our good friend Rebecca Newton from Crisp kindly agreed to use our space to let us know what went on. You can see the official conference video here. Here's Rebecca's take on the conference:

The FOSI conference had over 400 registered attendees and 89 speakers, plus over 30 exhibitors set up booths (hence, lots of fun swag). It was, by my standards, a smashing success in every aspect.

FOSI, the clever vision of Stephen Balkam, is an international organization that “works to make the online world safer for kids and their families by identifying and promoting best practice, tools and methods in the field of online safety, that also respect free expression.” In other words (mine), let’s not over-regulate the internet or the people who use it. Let’s take an approach that people around the world can be responsible netizens. And let’s work together, globally, to figure out constructive, creative ways to deal with the small percentage of people who would abuse the net.

This post is about those speakers whom I found interesting, dedicated to the collective cause as opposed to their own self-promotion, and genuinely inspiring.

To be honest, I don’t get inspired much by speakers at conferences. There is the usual infomercial thing going on and then the count downs … titles like “5 Things You Should Know…” “The 2 Biggest Reasons People …” and the cute titles such as, “Using Your Fingers to Count 10 Reasons to Keep Your Customers in YOUR Hands” . Mercifully free of all this was danah boyd, a Social Media Researcher at Microsoft Research New England. I’ve been following danah’s research for a few years and was really looking forward to hearing her at FOSI 09. She embodies what listening to good, clear, educated, concise, passionate speakers is about. They make us think. They make us challenge our own belief systems and then we want to be them - until we get on to the next session.
danah discussed several points about youth and online safety. They included:

1. Teens play a big part in their safety online via their behavior choices.
2. Young people share their passwords with each other at significant rates (some of us in the Moderation business have been acutely aware of this for many many years..)
3. Access to problem content such as pornography – the number one correlation is that kids are seeking it out. A lot of kids are living in environments where parents or guardians are watching R and X rated films in front of their kids...
4. Youth Generated Problematic Content – simply making images disappear (via government control for example) is not going to cure the problem.

Kids who come from unsafe homes are engaging in attention-getting behavior online. Many of the at-risk kids online are taking care of their parents offline (because of drugs, alcohol, etc.). The people who read this blog for instance, are not the typical at-risk personality we’d find on the web. And we know that crime statistics show about 5% of the population commits crimes. That means 95% behave within the confines of the laws in their nation or state. We’ve found the same to be true online – 5-6% misbehave – yet the other 94-95% who behave just fine are often restricted from creating content, communication, learning and sharing because of the badly behaved 5%. (we’ll get to this subject again when we talk about the rock star, Tanya Byron).

“This is a community problem” according to danah boyd. I think many of us in the online community business agree. As danah pointed out, in physical environments we’ve moved to gated communities, we choose to live with people who are like us, we set up boundaries. This presents more of a challenge online, though it still occurs in the form of virtual communities. My takeaway from danah’s discussion was that we, the people who read blogs and live on twitter, are not typical young users online and therefore we forget we’re not really at-risk. It’s very important to understand that the at-risk youth online are also at-risk offline. It’s a community problem and not one that can be fixed via censorship. History has shown us censorship is ineffective. Mentors, communities of adults, are essential to help at-risk kids.

To read danah’s work, go to her blogs here and here.

The panel was a power panel with wonderful information and not too much self-promotion ... Carly Shuler (another Harvard grad) shared some interesting research. In particular, battling cancer in a video game has shown to have a positive effect upon young people battling their own cancer. And she pointed out a somewhat alarming fact – of the top 100 educational apps on iTunes (iTunes> apps > education) nearly half (47%) are targeted to pre-school children. PRE-SCHOOL CHILDREN – I just had to type that in caps. When asked “When should we start to address digital literacy?” Carly Shuler responded with “the 1st grade”, followed by the statement: ”Digital literacy is just as important as learning math.”

You can read more on Carly’s report at www. Joanganzcooneycenter.org. Joan Ganz Cooney founded the Sesame Workshop and CTW (Children’s Television Network)

Across the pond lives one Dr. Tanya Byron, the author of “The Byron Review” and many other publications. Tanya Byron is a noted child psychologist, a rock star in the academic psychology world. Tanya presented us with several formidable quotes.

First, Dr. Byron noted that “we’re raising our children in captivity.” I totally agree. She shared some scientific reasons as to why we’re not helping kids online by protecting them from every possible harm that could come their way. As she said “we used to fall over a lot” but we’re not letting our children fall over anymore. Consequently, they are not developing properly. And most importantly, she noted that kids can’t grow up properly if we base everything, every policy, every decision on “the most vulnerable child.” I don’t believe children can be creative under the restrictive guidelines some lawyers, legislators, and “concerned citizens” propose. Dr, Byron’s credo was, “let’s teach them how to be safe.” Linda Criddle has been carrying this banner for years. We teach them how to cross the street, let’s teach them how to be online safely. Dr. Byron’s pithy closing line referenced Elvis of Graceland, when she declared “A little less conversation, a little more action.”

My notable speakers list also includes:

Alec Ross, Senior Advisor for Innovation to Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. I particularly liked his statement about government and the net when he said “Obama and Clinton want to know how can we empower rather than overpower in our administration.” It was most definitely an “amen” corner moment. The other “amen” or more appropriately “right on” moment was when Larry Magid stood up and pointed out that we’d been asking the same question for at least 40 years “How do we reach the parents?” I agree with Larry Magid; that’s not the question of the hour. The question is: how do we reach the kids and teach them to be responsible? We’ve been asking the “parent” question forever and nothing has changed.

The Attorney Generals Rob McKenna (WA.) and Patrick Lynch (R.I.) were informed, articulate and candid. General Patrick Lynch reminded us to “pick up the phone” and not wait to be contacted to help the cause. There was an excellent panel with physicians and psychiatrists regarding why kids behave as they do online.

I want to wrap up by pointing out what I believe is the most important factor in the two day conference. The conference wouldn’t have been possible without the sponsors, the FOSI staff (they did an outstanding job!) and all the participants and speakers. During these economic hard time, many people came together to share important information. It was not a dog and pony show, and for that I’m grateful. I am most impressed that Stephen Balkam had the vision and the determination 3+ years ago to turn an idea into a full-fledged, international organization of very smart people, sharing a common goal. Well done to him and those who have supported him and the FOSI family along the way. I look forward to next year’s conference and really do hope for “a little less conversation, a little more action”.

Rebecca Newton is the Head of Safety at Crisp, the leading provider of online child safety technology. After 16 years in survey research and computer application & design, she chucked it all to join the net culture. She has been an online community professional since 1994. Rebecca has also been a professional musician since 1976. She is the Chair person for Girls Rock NC, a non-profit organization that empowers young girls 7-17 through music. Rebecca likes children, dogs and most people, in that order. You can follow her at Twitter: @RebeccaNewton

CyberTelecom News Clips
11/10/09

Recap of This Year's Family Online Safety Institute Annual Conference: Did We Just Turn a Corner?, Ask Mariam
Two days spent in Washington DC with the leaders of the Internet Safety movement. Some think we've turned a corner, away from focusing on the issue of online predation and children as victims, and now able to move on to other, more complex issues. I'm not quite convinced.
http://community.norton.com/t5/Ask-Marian/Recap-of-This-Year-s-Family-Online-Safety-Institute-Annual/ba-p/170617
More Info: http://www.cybertelecom.org/cda/child.htm
Online Safety Blogosphere Round Up for Nov 9, 2009, Filtering Facts
Not thinking of kids as victims. This is new thinking indeed for the Internet safety world. We know that for children who are victimized by online predators, often these are the same kids displaying risk factors for predation in the real world. Larry Magid of ConnectSafely has written a compelling story covering the FOSI conference and discussing this "watershed" moment.
http://filteringfacts.org/2009/11/09/online-safety-blogosphere-round-up-for-nov-9-2009/
More Info: http://www.cybertelecom.org/cda/child.htm
Magid: Treating kids on the Web in a new way, Mercury News
The event, which drew participants from 15 countries, was different from previous years in that young people were viewed less as potential victims of online crimes and more as participants in a global online community.
http://www.mercurynews.com/breaking-news/ci_13723472?nclick_check=1
More Info: http://www.cybertelecom.org/cda/child.htm
Net safety conference to call for digital citizenship, Larry Magid
A Washington, D.C., gathering of Internet safety advocates will call for a change in the way we approach Internet safety.
http://news.cnet.com/8301-19518_3-10388202-238.html?part=rss&tag=feed&subj=SafeandSecure
More Info: http://www.cybertelecom.org/cda/child.htm
FOSI Report: Digital literacy, Comcast
Kyle spoke about PointSmart, ClickSafe initiative which was originally launched to point customers towards the tools and information they need to enjoy the Internet, and all that it offers, in the safest manner possible. The original initiative focused heavily on bringing awareness to these tools, but the members of the initiative felt more could be done.
http://blog.comcast.com/2009/11/fosi-report-digital-literacy.html
More Info: http://www.cybertelecom.org/cda/child.htm

ELDO TELECOM blog
Broadband demand vs. supply siders: Real debate or a diversion?
11/9/09

As in macroeconomics, an ideological split appears to be developing among supply siders and demand siders over government policy designed to make broadband available to all Americans.

The demand siders tend to hail from the telco/cable duopoly such Kyle McSlarrow, the president and CEO of the National Cable and Telecommunications Association (NCTA). Policy should focus on the demand side, McSlarrow told a conference hosted by the Family Online Safety Institute. "[T]he way we need to think about this is to think about this in terms of broadband adoption. We have it a little backwards right now."

Demand siders got a boost last week with the release of a study by the Information Technology and Innovation Foundation concluding the U.S. should create several programs to address demand for broadband in addition to subsidizing deployment of advanced telecommunications infrastructure.

Supply siders however question the need for government programs to stimulate broadband demand. IDG News Service reported at a recent California forum, some speakers suggested broadband adoption would continue to rise in the U.S. without significant help from the government. Connecting to broadband will eventually be like electricity, easy and inexpensive, Google cofounder Sergey Brin was quoted as saying.

I question whether the supply/demand side debate is real or contrived. The fact that the demand siders tend to be in the telco/cable camp raises my suspicion that their pushing the issue of adoption is more of a tactical move than substantial policy difference, aimed at diverting attention away from the problem of numerous broadband black holes. Last month, the Yankee Group issued a report noting about 12 percent of U.S. households, including those in some major metropolitan areas, have no access to broadband service, landing the U.S. at a dismal 15th in broadband penetration worldwide.

Even if we were to give the telco/cable duopoly the benefit of the doubt and accept a true policy split exists, I'd have to lean toward the supply siders. Unlike the far slower rate of adoption for basic telephone service, demand for and adoption of broadband has been explosive by comparison.

We also have to be careful not to frame the issue too narrowly. It's not just about high speed Internet connectivity but rather the larger migration to next generation, Internet Protocol-based telecommunications infrastructure than can provide not just fast Internet connections but also voice communication and TV/video -- both services that have very high rates of adoption in the United States.