The Internet is a living thing. It mirrors and serves as a platform for a spectrum of humanity’s lives, sociality, publications and productions. And as with all living things, its current state is guided and molded by the years of evolution it has gone through to reach its current place in our society. Tasked with the goal of examining the safety of this dynamic medium, the Online Safety and Technology Working Group (OSTWG) embraced its mission mindful of the great amount of work done before it. We approached our task with open eyes and open minds, while at the same time remaining aware of the many efforts that had gone before us, many of which individual OSTWG members had participated in. Still, we were determined to take our combined knowledge and insights gained over the past year to shed new light on the issues reflected in our recommendations to you.
The OSTWG was fortunate to have representatives from nearly every facet of the child online safety ecosystem represented. Members came from the Internet industry, child safety advocacy organizations, educational and civil liberties communities, the government, and law enforcement communities. Collectively, we brought to our work more than 250 years of experience in online safety from a spectrum of varying perspectives. We hope the set of recommendations we are delivering to you here will leave an indelible mark on the online experiences of our country’s children as they evolve into adults in this digital century.report to Congress and the Assistant Secretary for Communications and Information of its findings and make recommendations on how to increase online safety measures. By statute, the Working Group is not subject to the Federal Advisory Committee Act.
