Lights, Camera, Safety! MPAA Joins FOSI

A stack of papers

September 27, 2010

Fosi Logo

WASHINGTON - Continuing the mission to bring leading voices concerned about online safety together, the Family Online Safety Institute (FOSI) today announced that the Motion Picture Association of America, Inc. (MPAA) has become the newest member to join the organization. The MPAA serves as the voice and advocate of the American motion picture, home video and television industries and as a guardian of creative arts and artists. The MPAA will lend support to FOSI by promoting its guidelines for advertising content on the Internet, investigating innovative solutions for online child safety and helping educate children and families on the importance of digital citizenship. Orit Michiel, Vice President and Domestic Counsel, will serve on FOSI'S Board of Directors as the MPAA representative.

"The MPAA has made great strides in providing parents with information to help their kids avoid dangers in the online environment," said Stephen Balkam, CEO of FOSI. "As FOSI continues to promote Internet safety responsibility and digital citizenship among kids and their families, we know that the MPAA will be an invaluable partner in our mission."

"We are pleased to be part of such an important effort," said Michiel. "Through our Classification and Rating Administration (CARA), the movie rating system, the MPAA is firmly committed to helping parents make informed decisions as to what they consider appropriate viewing for their families, both on and offline. The MPAA is also looking forward to working with FOSI to help kids and parents understand the importance of respecting the intellectual property of others so that their own ideas and creative endeavors will be respected as well."

About FOSI

The Family Online Safety Institute (FOSI) works to make the online world safer for kids and their families by identifying and promoting best practices, tools and methods that also respect free speech. FOSI's members include: AOL, AT&T, Blue Coat Systems, BT Retail, Comcast, Entertainment Software Association, Facebook, France Telecom, Google, GSM Association, Kingston Communications, Loopt, Microsoft, MySpace, NCTA, Ning, Nominum, Optenet, RuleSpace, Sprint, StreamShield, Symantec, Time Warner Cable, Telefónica, TELMEX, T-Mobile, The Wireless Foundation, Verizon, Yahoo!.

FOSI hosts an annual international conference to bring together Internet safety advocates from a variety of sectors, including global corporations, government, non-profits, academia and the media, to discuss the current pulse of online safety and emerging solutions that will enhance it. For more information, please visit www.fosi.org.

About MPAA

The Motion Picture Association of America, Inc. (MPAA) serves as the voice and advocate of the American motion picture, home video and television industries from its offices in Los Angeles and Washington, D.C. Its members include: The Walt Disney Studios; Paramount Pictures Corporation; Sony Pictures Entertainment Inc.; Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation; Universal City Studios LLLP; and Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc.