Tomorrow, I’ll be at the State of the Net Conference in Washington DC to release formally the Internet Safety Technical Task Force final report. It’s available online. We’ve posted an executive summary (3 pages plus cover pages) as well as the full report (278 pages in total).
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John Palfrey 
Pingback: Bullies, Not Sexual Predators, Are the Biggest Threat for Children Online | Gauravonomics Blog
This report will give parents a false sense of security. There are real dangers online and many parents are not computer savvy enough to recognize these dangers.
Like the bible, this report can be used to justify any position. And is. See http://www.incontextblog.com/?p=121 for what I mean.
Dolphin Digital Media, Inc. (OTCBB: DPDM) Meets Children’s Need for Safe and Secure Online Social Networks
Dolphin Digital’s product launch differs with Harvard University’s Internet Safety Task Force focusing on “Child Safety & Online Technology”.
Online security has been of supreme interest to the investment community, internet users and their parents for a variety of reasons. Specifically, parents are worried sick about their children getting attached by cyber bullying, online predators and the people behind such actions.
The web, as a tool, is mind blowing. It has made communicating at the speed of light feasible and socializing on a world stage from the comfort of your own home, dorm room or even internet café.
Unfortunately, with all the good also comes the bad. Lurking in the shadows are millions of villains sitting back and looking for the vulnerable child or teen that is susceptible for providing too much information to someone who pretends to be someone they are not…. There virtual predators and bullies sit around and attack their prey either mentally or physically daily – one form no less harmful then the next. They attack their victims through unsecured social networks, vulnerable chat rooms, unsolicited websites, personal email accounts, bulletin boards, etc.
As adults, now veterans of the web, we can recognize these cynical ploys and even utilize filters to attempt to wipe them out. These tools and knowledge of such actions are what protects most from such attacks, but what about those that are new to the online environment or just plain naive. What worries me is not who attacks me (through email scams, viruses, virtual attacks, bullying, etc) or what I unintentionally get in my email; it is what is my son or daughters going to unintentionally going experience on the web.
My cynicism could be seen as being over protective, but in the real world I would not let my child wander around a porn shop, hang out with people significantly older than he is and let him be influenced by those whose views I don’t approve of, so why should I do this with the web?
I for one would take a bullet for my child and say ‘thank you very much can I have another’ before I would let any harm come to my child. On the web, my philosophy though does not appear to be shared by companies such as MySpace, Facebook and the like considering THEY DON’T EVEN KNOW MY CHILD EVEN EXISTS, never mind having the motivation to protect him like I would.
These sites say that they ‘do what they can’ for security, indeed, MySpace removed 29000 sex offenders from their site in 2007 and 90,000 in 2008, that’s great, but how did they get on there in the first place and how many are still circling their network?
These facts alone are why we are watching a company, Dolphin Digital Media, Inc (www.dolphinsecure.com – http://www.dolphinsurf.com) that has made the complete leap in protecting our kids while at the same time offering them the same social interaction (with a better interface and technology in our opinion) and top tier entertainment content that can not be provided by the larger players in the social networking environment.
Dolphin Secure (www.dolphinsecure.com) from Dolphin Digital Media, Inc. (OTCBB: DPDM) is a groundbreaking Internet security system that provides parents with the necessary tools to protect their children while they are using computers inside the home. Specifically, Dolphin Secure provides parents the peace of mind of deciding which websites their children can view and whom their children can interact with online, safeguarding them from exposure to pornography, gambling and unsolicited chat requests from potential predators.
Children log in and authenticate their account with their fingerprint utilizing a reader that is either built into the computer or connected via a USB port. Once logged-on, the personal computer is completely protected from accessing unauthorized internet sites as directed by the parent. The Dolphin Secure system lives as a system process on the computer (those icons by the clock on the computer) that can only be turned off with a parental password. To utilize the program there is no software to purchase as the system application is downloaded upon registration.
The parental control panel is where the action is. If your child surfs to an unauthorized site but has heard from friends it is ‘cool’ they can press a button to request that it be added to the white list of 5000 sites. If the parent thinks it is appropriate and Dolphin has reviewed it, it will be added to the list of available sites. This creates an organically growing network of websites that are suitable for your child and are deemed to be safe, something that sites who do not place a value on security will not be happy with.
Security is of the utmost importance but you also want your child to enjoy their experience, educate themselves and experience the amazing experience that the web can deliver.
Ultimately, the technology was developed by Dolphin Digital Media Inc. that was born out of Dolphin Entertainment who are the producers of popular kids entertainment and media (that Dolphin Digital has a 10 year license for all content) including:
TV Shows featured on Nickelodeon such as Emmy-nominated and top-rated Zoey 101, Ned’s Declassified School Survival Guide and Roxy Hunter mystery-movie franchise, all of which have sold into more than 100 countries
Movies currently in production are ‘Spectacular’ which is a “High School Musical” equivalent with better talent, Soul Surfer, the movie about Bethany Hamilton, the true story of a 13 year old shark attach victim who lost her arm and became a world class surfer on her come-back, and many other feature films
Dolphin Secure is more likely to be developed as a portal for children and teens providing them a secure and safe platform for Children to interact as well as:
View unseen content from TV shows and movies
Interact with the stars of the movies and shows
View teasers, deleted scenes of TV shows and movies
Even potentially win a walk on part in upcoming movies and TV shows
All these unique attributes are part of being a member of Dolphin’s network of affiliated sites creating further excitement for your kids to join the network and participate in a safe secure environment. The parents will ultimately be viewed as heroes by their parents for letting them join such a unique environment, but in reality are heroes because they made the necessary step to protect their children!
And the price tag for providing such entertainment and security is only – $59.00 per year – A small price to pay for the safety of you child……