Family Online Safety Institute Recognizes Internet Safety Month and Calls for a Culture of Responsibility

Washington DC. – June 1, 2009. – In conjunction with Internet Safety Month, the Family Online Safety Institute today issued the following statements from FOSI CEO Stephen Balkam and FOSI Chair Brent Olson, Assistant Vice President - Regulatory Policy for AT&T, in an effort to show support for protecting kids online and to further build a culture of responsibility.

“With the Internet playing a vital role in the lives of many teens and tweens these days, it has become especially important to teach them to make wise choices online,” said Balkam. “FOSI supports Internet Safety Month and we hope that by raising awareness during June and promoting a ‘culture of responsibility’ where government, law enforcement, industry, teachers, parents and even kids themselves, all take part in establishing a safer internet, kids will begin to make wise choices online.”

“At FOSI, we are dedicated to working collaboratively and cooperatively with leaders in industry, government and the nonprofit sector to make the world safer for kids and their families by identifying and promoting best practice, tools and methods that also respect free expression,” said Olson. “Since promoting online safety is our daily mission at FOSI, we look forward to Internet Safety Month as a great opportunity to highlight these issues for a broader audience and as a platform to encourage more awareness and education.”

About FOSI

The Family Online Safety Institute (FOSI) works to make the online world safe 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, BT Retail, Cisco, Comcast, Computing Technology Industry Association, Crisp Thinking, France Telecom/Orange, Google, GSMA, Loopt, Microsoft, Mpower Media, MySpace, Ning, Nominum, Optenet, Privo, Rulespace, Sprint, StreamShield, Symantec, Telefónica, Telmex, The Wireless Foundation, Verizon and 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 on FOSI, please www.fosi.org or www.youtube.com/fosi.

Media Contact:

Maura O’Connor
June 1, 2009
(202) 572-6252