New Tool Monitors Online Safety Practices Around The World

WASHINGTON, D.C. and LONDON, February 8, 2011 - The Family Online Safety Institute (FOSI) today announced that it is making available free of charge one of the most comprehensive online directories of Internet policies and best practices from around the globe known as the Global Resource and Information Directory (GRID).

FOSI, an international nonprofit organization dedicated to online safety, announced the availability of GRID to coincide with Safer Internet Day.

GRID is a free online portal that monitors, tracks and provides commentary on the online safety efforts of countries around the world. FOSI designed GRID to create a single, factual and up-to-date source for governments, industry, lawyers, academia, researchers, educators and anyone else dedicated to making the Internet a safer place. Maintained in real time by a team of editors and expert researchers, GRID aggregates information from a comprehensive range of academic, government, industry and non-profit sources around the world and offers expert oversight and analysis of the educational, legislative and regulatory approach of these countries.

GRID's interactive maps, timelines and comprehensive directories provide new insights and opportunities for those interested in online safety issues to apply their resources more efficiently and promote best practices. To date, GRID offers more than 100 country profiles, including the states and provinces of many of the world's leading digital economies.

"This is the first time much of the world has access to this information," said Stephen Balkam, CEO of FOSI. "By partnering using GRID, countries can connect and share insights in their efforts to create a safe online space for families and children."

Every three months, FOSI consolidates the significant changes, issues and trends in GRID's publicly available quarterly review. An expert panel covering key geographies, industries, topics and sectors provides commentary and analysis. GRID also brings together the important work of FOSI's member companies across the globe in relationship to online safety and places it within the context of their broader corporate responsibility strategy.

"GRID is a free resource for governments, industry and for all who are dedicated to making the Internet a safer place," said Kim Sanchez, Chair of the FOSI Board of Directors and Group Communications Manager at, Microsoft Corporation. "Now, more so than ever, there is a need for a global resource to highlight the best practices for an open and thriving online ecosystem."

GRID is available now at http://www.fosigrid.org.

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, BT Retail, Comcast, Disney, Entertainment Software Association, Facebook, France Telecom, Google, GSM Association, Loopt, Microsoft, Motion Picture Association of America, MySpace, NCTA, , Nominum, Optenet, RuleSpace, Sprint, StreamShield, Symantec, Time Warner Cable, Telefónica, TELMEX, T-Mobile, The Wireless Foundation, USTelecom, 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.