Coalition Launches Child-Friendly Site

GetNetWise is backed by everyone from Bill Gates to Al Gore.

Giada Zampano, Medill News Service

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The GetNetWise site was launched here on Thursday by a coalition of more than 30 Internet companies and associations, including America Online, AT&T, Disney, Microsoft, and Yahoo.

GetNetWise provides information and tips on how to protect children from logging on to pornography or alcohol- and drug-related material while surfing on the Internet.

According to its sponsors, it will be available on all major portals, and many Internet service providers and family-oriented Web sites.

"There has never before been anything like GetNetWise," Rick White, a former congressperson from Washington state and cofounder of the Congressional Internet Caucus, said at a news conference launching the site. "It finally puts smart, aggregated resources right in front of parents across the Internet and guide them to the tools they need to help children use the Net safely."

The new resource offers everything from a guide to Net filtering technologies to a page on reporting online troubles to law enforcement and advocacy groups. GetNetWise also lists educational and entertaining sites designed for kids.

"I had a chance to go through it, and it really is the total digital toolbox," declared Vice President Al Gore, who participated in the GetNetWise announcement via a satellite video hook-up. "I think it is safe to say that never before in the history of a new industry have so many companies that compete in the boardroom come together to ensure our children's safety in the living room."

Public and Private

The idea of GetNetWise evolved from meetings between congressional leaders and Internet industry representatives, the 1997 Internet Online Summit, and the 1998 America Links Up campaign to address child safety online. Since then, industry leaders have focused on creating an easy-to-use collection of digital resources that could be accessible from virtually all entry points to the Net.

"This was a multimillion-dollar investment for the companies," said Jerry Berman, president of the Internet Education Foundation, which managed the project and built the site.

"The Clinton administration believes that industry, not government, should take the lead on addressing such critical issues as protecting children online," said Secretary of Commerce William Daley. "Today, industry showed that not every problem with the Internet needs a legislative solution. I urge [the Internet industry] to come together on other important issues yet to be resolved, such as online privacy, consumer protection, and the digital divide."

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