With online safety an ongoing concern when it comes to interaction with the Internet, and specifically social networking sites such as MySpace and Facebook, a task force of Net experts headed by Harvard’s Berkman Center for Internet and Society are to investigate how to better protect children from potentially dangerous outside influences.
Harvard-led task force looks to improve security and safety of children using the Net. Credit: Flattop341/Flickr.
The Internet Safety Technical Task Force has been formed following an agreement between News Corp-owned MySpace and almost all of the US state attorneys general --only Texas remains unattached to the initiative.
Specifically, the task force will see leading Internet companies and non-profit organisations turning their collective focus to the online safety of children, and has been prompted following concerns related to online sexual predators, online bullying, and the spread of pornography.
“The Berkman Center's impressive research on the challenges and opportunities offered by the Internet makes them the ideal leader for the task force,” commented Hemanshu Nigam, MySpace's chief security officer, in an official statement regarding the task force.
Notably, apart from the core participation of MySpace and Harvard, influential members of the investigative group include Internet search giant Google, software company Microsoft, media group Time Warner, and other Internet and telecommunications heavyweights such as AOL, Facebook, Bebo, Yahoo, Comcast, AT&T Inc. and Verizon.
Extending the task force’s reach will be child-safety groups such as the missing children's center, Enough is Enough, and WiredSafety.org, reports the Associated Press.
The task force is expected to hold between four and six meetings in Washington, with reports sent quarterly to attorneys general ahead of a final public report likely to arrive in around a year’s time.
The group outlines that any progressive tools and options capable of helping to improve the online safety of children will be opened for adoption across the entire Internet industry.
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