Virtual World Computing, developer of the Cocoon online privacy solution, is announcing a new collaboration with child-safety advocate Marc Klaas’KlaasKids Foundation that aims to harness the power of social networking to protect children from predators and abusive marketers alike.
While immediately giving parents a tool to manage which websites their kids can access, a top priority of the collaboration will be the creation of a parent-sourced “white list” of recommended websites. This tool will join Cocoon’s other online security and privacy tools which include eliminating corporate tracking of children, protecting the family computer from harmful downloads of viruses and malware, and helping parents manage their family’s online lifestyle.
“We are proud to announce this collaboration in large part because, since KlaasKids began in 1994, it has always been about social solutions and distribution of information,” said Jeff Bermant, co-founder and Executive Chairman of Virtual World Computing.
Marc Klaas, who became a missing person’s advocate after his daughter Polly Hannah Klaas was kidnapped and murdered in a high-profile 1993 case, said the collaboration offers a chance to advance the KlaasKids mission.
“The predators out there have certainly embraced new technology,” Klaas said. “They might understand your child’s iPhone better than you do and much of this new location-identifying technology should really give us pause. Cocoon’s solutions offer an immediate chance to address some of those threats while protecting from marketers who might be unduly targeting our kids.”
In addition to its collaboration with KlaasKids, Virtual World Computing works with the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children to implement an automated “blacklist” updated daily to help assure that the Cocoon service is off limits to online child predators.
