As participants in the Internet Online Summit, we are all joined by at least one common goal: to assure that steps are taken to make the Internet online experience safe, educational and entertaining for children. We recognize the growing potential of the Internet and the need to carefully weigh the alternatives for action to avoid unnecessarily stifling its development or intruding on constitutional rights. We concur with the President of the United States and Congressional leaders that the private sector should assume a leadership role in advancing these objectives.

We unite under the banner of the "Internet Online Summit: Focus on Children" to combine our efforts to benefit children. We recognize that examining children's relationships with the Internet is complex, involving issues of equitable access, marketing and advertising practices, quality content, privacy, and safety from harmful content, and illegal activity, among others. We acknowledge the diversity and complexity of these issues, and realize the need to examine each thoroughly. Therefore, this summit is the beginning of an ongoing dialogue dedicated to addressing this range of issues.

This initial summit will discuss personal safety and illegal and harmful material. To this end, this summit will explore approaches to ensure that the Internet is safe for children in accordance with Presidential and Congressional statements on Internet use by children:

• Technological Tools: Encouraging market-based development and deployment of an effective, easy-to-use "digital toolbox" of user empowerment tools which can assist parents and others responsible for children, in shielding those children from material they deem inappropriate and shaping children's communication and information options online; to enable access to appropriate content and communications based on individual values; and to enable service and content providers, and others, to create family-friendly environments.

• Enforcement of Current Law: Fostering greater cooperation among law enforcement, industry, and the public, to support vigorous enforcement of existing laws against using the Internet to traffic in obscene material and child pornography, stalk children, and commit other crimes.

• Parental Involvement, Private Sector Responsibility and Public Education: Working to ensure that the public--especially parents, children, and educators--understand the new challenges, opportunities and responsibilities of this new medium, and the need to guide children's Internet online experiences, as well as the availability and degree of effectiveness of the a variety of user empowerment tools in the "digital toolbox" while working with the business and nonprofit sectors to ensure that the Internet is safe for children.

We desire to build upon and establish working relationships that can outlive the summit and will help educate consumer, parental, educational, legal, corporate and governmental entities on the benefits and strengths of the Internet, as well as the limitations and dangers caused by the misuse of the medium, in order to earn the public's confidence. To this end, a series of summits, conferences, meetings or other fora will follow.

We commit our organizations and companies to follow through after the conclusion of the Summit in good faith on any commitments to which we may agree.

[Summit Archives] [Mission] [Latest News] [Summit Sponsors] [Summit Participants]
[Background] [About This Site & Awards] [Resources for Parents]

Last modified: Wednesday, 19-Nov-1997 15:57:58 EST.

webmaster@kidsonline.org / Copyright © 1997 - 1998