AOL Europe

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

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

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

AOL believes that partnerships with industry and other stakeholders are fundamental in helping to protect consumers on the internet. Representatives of AOL Europe have worked with ICRA for a number of years to support the search for effective solutions to content regulation issues. As user-generated content and video make the digital landscape even more complex, AOL commends ICRA's ongoing efforts within FOSI to label websites.

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

AT&T

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

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

Blue Coat Systems

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

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

Blue Coat Systems' representative on the FOSI Board is Laurie Coffin, Director of Marketing Communications.

BT Retail

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

BT's representative on the FOSI Board is Nick Truman (Vice-Chair), Head of Internet Security.

Comcast

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

As Comcast evolves, they continue to look to the future - seeking out new communications technology, new opportunities, and more choices. Comcast's goal is to continue to provide people with the communications products and services that connect them to what's important in their lives.

Why Comcast supports FOSI:Comcast is a leader in providing parents the tools and the knowledge they need to make the right decisions about what members of their family should be able to see on their TV and online. We have been impressed by the good work of the Family Online Safety Institute in promoting effective private-sector responses to the need to keep kids safe and smart online, and it's an honor to join with other leading companies and organizations in supporting FOSI.

Comcast's representative on the FOSI Board is Joe Waz, Senior Vice President & Public Policy Counsel

CompTIA

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

Why CompTIA supports FOSI: No issues are more important in establishing business and consumer trust in the Internet than the issues of unwanted content and content that is inappropriate for children; and no organization is doing more about these issues than is the Family Online Safety Institute (FOSI). As the largest industry association in the computer industry, CompTIA supports the work of FOSI in finding and using effective tools and procedures that permit businesses and consumers to manage the Internet content to which they have access based on their own, individual, requirements. Because of the important and effective role that it plays in this critical issue area, FOSI enjoys the broad support of the computer industry and its principal representative, CompTIA.

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

Crisp Thinking

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

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

France Telecom

Communication habits are evolving: with the growth in Internet and mobile use, we have moved from a single-form offer, conditioned by time and distance, to an offer based on abundance. Technologies are also evolving very quickly and transmission speeds are rising. In a world that is permanently connected, lifestyles and work habits are changing. But customers are not buying speeds and pixels, and they are no longer ready to pay for just simple transmission of communications, but for services that make their lives richer and simpler, that improve business productivity and make life easier. Indeed, with the rising number of offers on the market and the variety of communication resources, both consumers and businesses expect simplified usages with easy-to-use, inter-communicating devices and equipment offering simplified communication. They want to define and personalize their services, which are becoming multi-access, and to instantaneously recreate their communication universes according to their own requirements, wherever they may be.

In this new world of services, France Telecom acts as both a telecom service provider and a telecom network operator, offering the best technology to the largest number as soon as it becomes available, while integrating the next generations of technologies. All of these technologies are forming a world in which everyone is increasingly connected. They are offering access to a new telecoms generation of services that will change everyday lives.

France Telecom's representative on the FOSI Board is Heather Pace-Clark, Head, Societal Issues.

Google

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

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

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

GSM Association

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

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

loopt

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

Why loopt supports FOSI: loopt recognizes the responsibility inherent in offering location-based technologies and our customers' privacy is a top priority. As a leader in this area, loopt is actively working to establish and promote privacy best practices for the entire LBS industry. The Family Online Safety Institute (FOSI) is an important part of the cooperative efforts that are necessary to create best practices in consumer privacy for nascent technologies such as loopt. FOSI brings together key players and top thinkers in industry, offering a constructive forum for developing elegant solutions to challenging issues.

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

Microsoft

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

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

Mpower Media

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

Why Mpower Media supports FOSI: The future of the Internet and increasingly convergent television networks is all about rich metadata that will enable and empower consumers to make informed, safe, and responsible choices for themselves and their families. FOSI provides an industry-leading forum for industry, consumer, and governmental organizations to develop the technology, content definitions, and policy recommendations needed to make this future a reality.

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

MySpace

MySpace, a unit of Fox Interactive Media Inc., is the premier lifestyle portal for connecting with friends, discovering popular culture, and making a positive impact on the world. MySpace has created a connected global community by integrating web profiles, blogs, instant messaging, e-mail, music streaming, music videos, photo galleries, classified listings, events, groups, college communities, and member forums. MySpace's international network includes more than 30 countries, including the United States, Brazil, Canada, Latin America, Mexico, Austria, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Australia, India, Japan, and New Zealand. Fox Interactive Media is a division of News Corp.

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

Ning

Ning (which means "peace" in Chinese) is based in Palo Alto, California, and was founded in October 2004 by former Goldman Sachs investment banker Gina Bianchini and Netscape and Opsware founder Marc Andreessen to give everyone the opportunity to create their own social networks for anything. Today Ning powers the largest number of social networks on the Internet, with over 350,000 social networks hosted on the Ning platform. Ning was started with a simple premise: to see what would happen if everyone had the freedom to create their own social network for anything. From artists to musicians, athletes, bloggers, video channels, journalists, students, educators, parents, craft hobbyists, alumni, and interest groups, the range and diversity of the social networks on Ning are profound.

Ning offers the latest social networking features, all infinitely customizable to meet your unique needs. The Ning Platform makes this possible. As a platform, you don't have to appeal to Ning for the features you want. If you have the time and the inclination, you can build them yourself. It's the software equivalent of Home Depot. Unlike other services that offer a "one-size-fits-all" offering, your social network on Ning runs on a programmable platform.

Why Ning supports FOSI: Ning is committed to making the Ning platform safe and fun for everyone who uses Ning to create and participate in their social networks. An important aspect of this commitment is the protection of our users' privacy and the education of parents on how to most effectively ensure that their kids are staying safe online. We take this responsibility very seriously and are excited to collaborate with FOSI and the outstanding members of the FOSI Board in the ongoing effort to promote effective approaches to ensuring that kids are safe and smart online.

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

Privo

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

Privo is the leading provider of youth registration and parental permission management web services, offering parents multiple options for verifying their parental identity and consenting to the use or disclosure of their child's personal information with participating companies. Privo enables and certifies through its FTC approved privacy assurance program safe, parentally-approved communication and interaction between children and online destinations. Privo's proprietary software and services enables responsible, safe, and COPPA-compliant online interactions between youth and other youth, and between youth and the brands they love.

Privo has created a suite of identity and permission management applications implemented on a proprietary technology platform that enable participating companies to initiate and manage responsible relationships with their online consumers. The applications on the PrivoLock™ platform allow consumers, or registrants, to maintain control of their personally identifiable information, edit its content, and extend this privacy protection to their children while providing companies with a legally compliant "opt-in" method for communicating with their customers.

Privo extends to multiple industries that market family-oriented products and services and to general audience websites that attract underage children. It is a costly challenge for individual companies to responsibly and legally initiate and sustain online interactive communication with kids. Privo enables these companies to create lifetime customer relationships through branded permission-management systems consistent with the Children's Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA).

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

RuleSpace

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

Why RuleSpace supports FOSI: RuleSpace is the leading supplier of Parental Controls filtering software for ISPs, Home Users, OEMs, Search Engines. RuleSpace is making groundbreaking technological advances to provide parental controls technology to Mobile Operators and Cellular Telephone Carriers who are also conduits for delivery of adult content.

RuleSpace uses many different technologies such as pattern recognition, image recognition, link analysis and URL analysis to identify adult content on web sites. In addition to these analytical technologies, RuleSpace inspects web sites for ICRA labels. Upon discovery of an ICRA label that identifies the site as containing adult content, all of the analytical technologies are ignored and the ICRA label is trusted. To date, RuleSpace has identified over 33,000 web sites that use ICRA labels to identify themselves as serving adult content.

RuleSpace fully endorses the use of ICRA labels as a reliable means of protecting children from being exposed to inappropriate content.

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

Sentinel

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

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

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

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

Telefónica

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

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

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

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

TELMEX

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

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

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

The Wireless Foundation

The Wireless Foundation is a non-profit 501(c)(3) organization established by the membership of CTIA-The Wireless AssociationR in 1991, The Wireless Foundation coordinates the following national programs: CALL TO PROTECTR, VITAT, Wireless AMBER AlertsT, The Amy Fund, Get Wise About Wireless, and Text 2HELP.

Since the first commercial cellular system came on line in Chicago in October of 1983, the impact of wireless technology upon our lives has grown steadily. Today, nearly 240 million Americans use a wireless phone to stay in touch, change plans on the fly, and to run their daily lives more efficiently.

One of the most significant ways that wireless technology has changed the landscape of American communities is to help make us all safer. This safety benefit lies at the heart of The Wireless Foundation's programs, both past and present. Our major programs include Communities on Phone Patrol providing wireless phones to neighborhood watch groups; ClassLink which provided phones and airtime to classroom teachers contributing to school safety; CALL TO PROTECT, which has provided both wireless phones and substantial funding to help survivors of domestic violence and charitable agencies that seek to end family violence.

The VITA program run since 1993 recognizes the remarkable stories of Wireless Samaritans who have used wireless technology to stop crime and save lives in emergencies and in 2005, The Wireless Foundation launched the Wireless AMBER Alerts initiative, working with law enforcement and the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children to send AMBER Alert text messages to consumer's wireless devices with information about an abducted child in their community. In 2006, The Ad Council developed and launched a nationwide PSA campaign to help make consumers aware of this valuable public service. The Wireless Foundation also works with The American Red Cross on the Text 2HELP program, which allows wireless users to donate $5.00 to the American Red Cross Disaster Relief Fund when major disasters such as Hurricane Katrina strike.

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

Verizon

Verizon delivers technology that touches life. The Verizon Foundation uses that technology and the foundation's financial resources to improve literacy and K-12 education; to support victims of domestic violence; and improve the delivery of health care. In 2005, the foundation awarded more than $74 million in grants to charitable and nonprofit agencies in the United States and abroad. The foundation also supports Verizon Volunteers, one of the largest employee volunteer programs in the United States.

Verizon's representative on the FOSI Board is Michael W. McKeehan (Chair), Director, Internet & Technology Policy, Verizon Public Policy & External Affairs.

Cisco

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

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

Kingston Communications

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

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

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