cnet news December 6, 2009 8:40 PM PST by Steven Musil
Facebook has formed a safety advisory board comprised of five Internet safety organizations that will consult with the social-networking site, the company said Sunday.
Facebook said it plans to meet regularly with the advisory board to review the existing safety resources it provides its users, develop new materials, and seek advice on best practices for safety in general.
"We believe that the only way to keep kids safe online is for everyone who wants to protect them to work together," Elliot Schrage, Facebook's vice president of global communications and public policy, said in a statement. "The formation of a board to advise specifically on safety issues is a positive, innovative and collaborative step towards creating a more robust safety environment, and we are thrilled that such a well-respected, trusted group of organizations has joined us in this endeavor."
Facebook said the board is part of an effort that includes cooperating with state attorneys general to rid the social-networking site of registered sex offenders. The board's formation comes on the heels of New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo announcing last week that more than 3,500 sex offenders from his state had been purged from Facebook and MySpace.
The five organizations on the advisory board are Common Sense Media, ConnectSafely, WiredSafety, Childnet International, and The Family Online Safety Institute.
Community Watch comments:
Great to see Facebook taking a leadership role in eliminating the obvious threats on their site - We are hoping to see Mark and Facebook use their innovation and intelligence to create an API that could be used by all internet sites to help keep our kids safe online.
