The Family Online Safety Institute (FOSI) is an international nonprofit organization. It is registered as a 501(c)(3) tax-deductible nonprofit charity in the United States and a registered charity in the United Kingdom. FOSI was founded in February 2007 by Stephen Balkam, who had created the Internet Content Rating Association (ICRA). FOSI is chaired by Dave Pierce, Vice President of Public Affairs, NCTA.

Membership

The Family Online Safety Institute is a membership-based organization, members pay an annual stipend to FOSI. In turn FOSI uses this funding for its general operation and to further its goals and mission. Each of the FOSI members have a representative on the Board of Directors. Full members of FOSI include prominent American and British companies. Members include AOL, AT&T, Comcast, Facebook, France Telecom, Entertainment Software Association, GSM Association, Google, Microsoft, National Cable & Telecommunications Association, Nominum, Optenet KCOM Group, Rulespace, Sprint, Streamshield, Symantec, T-Mobile USA, Telefonica, Telmex, Time Warner Cable, CTIA – The Wireless Association, Verizon, Vodafone and Yahoo!.

Events and annual conferences

Annual conferences

2013

The Family Online Safety Institute's 2013 Annual Conference will be taking place at the Ronald Reagan Building and International Trade Center, in Washington DC. This year’s conference, being held on November 6 and 7, will bring together the top thinkers in online safety: academics, educators, law enforcement, industry, policy makers, and non-profits.

2012

FOSI's 2012 Annual Conference, "A Safer Internet For All" was held at the Andrew W. Mellon Auditorium in Washington, DC on November 14–15, 2012. The conference featured over 80 speakers, 20 exhibitors and more than 450 attendees from at least 14 different countries. Notable speakers included Karen Cator, Nancy Lublin, Constance M. Yowell of the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, Dr. Howard J. Schaffer, and Dr. Michael Rich from the Center on Media and Child Health.

2011

FOSI's 2011 Annual Conference, "Evaluate. Innovate. Collaborate. Strategies for Safe and Healthy Online Use" was held at the Andrew W. Mellon Auditorium in Washington, DC on November 9–10, 2011. The conference featured over 80 speakers, 26 exhibitors and more than 450 attendees from 13 different countries. Notable speakers included Dominican Republic Vice President Margarita Cedeño de Fernández, Dr. Edward Amoroso of AT&T, and Michael Altschul of CTIA – The Wireless Association.

2010

FOSI's 2010 Annual Conference, "Internet Freedom, Safety and Citizenship: A Global Call to Action" was held at the Andrew W. Mellon Auditorium in Washington, DC on November 9–10, 2010. The conference had 400 attendees, 90 speakers and 31 exhibitors from 13 countries. Notable speakers included Microsoft's Peter Cullen, Tami Erwin of Verizon Wireless, Anna M. Gomez of National Cable & Telecommunications Association, United States Ambassador-at-Large for Global Women's Issues Melanne Verveer, the U.S. Federal Communications Commission's Josh Gottheimer, and Karen Cator.

2009

FOSI's 2009 Annual Conference, "Building a Culture of Responsibility: From Online Safety to Digital Citizenship," was held at the Andrew W. Mellon Auditorium in Washington, DC on November 4–5, 2009. The conference had 350 attendees, 80 speakers and 31 exhibitors from 15 countries. Technology writer and journalist, Larry Magid described the event as "a watershed moment in the 16-year history of online safety education."

2008

FOSI's 2008 Annual Conference, "Safe at Any Speed: Online Safety Tools, Rules and Public Policies", was held at the Newseum in Washington, DC on December 11, 2008. At the conference, FOSI made a series of recommendations for the new Obama Administration and called for: The conference included over 300 attendees from 4 continents, 11 countries, and featured 60 speakers on 11 expert panels and 22 exhibitors.

2007

FOSI held its inaugural annual conference "Rights and Responsibility: Child Protection in a Web 2.0 World" on December 6, 2007 at the Ronald Reagan Building in Washington, D.C. The conference was covered by C-SPAN. Notable speakers included Google Vice President and Chief Internal Evangelist Vint Cerf, U.S. Ambassador David Gross, U.S. Federal Communications Commission Commissioner Deborah Tate and Federal Trade Commission Chairman Deborah Platt Majoras. Sponsors for the Conference include Verizon, AT&T, GSMA, RuleSpace, Crisp Thinking, Symantec, Google, Blue Coat, Comcast, CTIA, Microsoft, CompTIA, AOL and InternetSafety.com.

2013 events

2012 events

2011 events

2010 events

2009 events

2008 events

2007 events

Internet Content Rating Association

In 2007, FOSI was created and subsumed the Internet Content Rating Association (ICRA) and its day-to-day operations. ICRA developed and implemented a content labeling system that allows webmasters to clearly and accurately label their websites. These labels identify content in accordance with criteria developed by an independent third party. In accordance with FOSI goals, ICRA does not serve to rate the content of websites. ICRA provides the labeling system and encourages content providers to self-rate.

Discontinuation

In October 2010, the ICRA labeling engine was discontinued by FOSI. FOSI has withdrawn all support for the ICRA rating system and taken down all documentation for labeling websites with ICRA ratings.