Youth Safety on a Living Internet

The Online Safety and Technology Working Group has submitted a report and many recommendations to the National Telecommunications and Information Administration after evaluating:

• The status of industry efforts to promote online safety through educational efforts, parental control technology, blocking and filtering software, age-appropriate labels for content or other technologies or initiatives designed to promote a safe online environment for children;
• The status of industry efforts to promote online safety among providers of electronic communications services and remote computing services by reporting apparent child pornography, including any obstacles to such reporting;
• The practices of electronic communications service providers and remote computing service providers related to record retention in connection with crimes against children; and
• The development of technologies to help parents shield their children from inappropriate material on the Internet.

The OSTWG has attempted to offer recommendations that will stand the test of time by stressing that lawmakers, government, and risk-prevention practitioners rely heavily on the research, as it unfolds, to get an accurate picture of what needs to be addressed when it is being addressed. This is in no way dissimilar to the approach policymakers have taken with our nation's longest living laws and policies, which continue to stand up to historical, behavioral, and technological change.