FOSI Applauds National Broadband Plan

WASHINGTON - The Family Online Safety Institute (FOSI) commends the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) on taking steps to connect children to the Internet while also implementing digital literacy training as laid out in the National Broadband Plan released yesterday. The following statement can be attributed to FOSI CEO Stephen Balkam:

"We are greatly encouraged by the FCC's new plan that goes beyond the notion of connecting approximately 100 million Americans to making sure that we connect Americans safely. The FCC lays out important Digital Literacy training that will empower families across the country to raise good 21st century digital citizens.

"We applaud the FCC for making children's media issues a priority, especially as specified by last week's speech by Chairman Julius Genachowski that outlined the broadband benefits for families. FOSI is encouraged to see that the FCC plans to launch an interagency working group on online safety and digital literacy and host a summit this year that will focus on children and online safety issues, both initiatives FOSI has called for in the past. We also agree that hosting roundtable discussions throughout the year that bring together industry and government will help further develop the necessary policies for safer broadband use.

"We commend the FCC for a Broadband Plan that seeks to improve digital access, digital literacy, digital citizenship, and digital safety and look forward to working together to make the Internet a safer place for all families."

More information on FOSI's reaction to the National Broadband Plan can be found on The Huffington Post.

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, Facebook, France Telecom, Google, GSM Association, Kingston Communications, Loopt, Microsoft, MySpace, NCTA, Ning, Nominum, Optenet, RuleSpace, Sprint, StreamShield, Symantec, Time Warner Cable, Telefónica, TELMEX, 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.