Incredible Internet is an online safety resource for parents, children and educators. The program was founded in 2004 by Denver-based communications and entertainment provider Qwest Communications. In 2005, the program expanded through a partnership with the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children

National Center for Missing & Exploited Children

The National Center for Missing and Exploited Children is a private, non-profit organization established in 1984 by the United States Congress.-Establishment and overview:...

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Incredible Internet’s stated intention is “To help people of all ages cut through the Internet’s clutter to improve their everyday lives, while keeping families safe online.”

Topics covered on Incredible Internet’s Web site include virtual worlds and Massively Multiplayer Online Games (MMOs), identity theft

Identity theft

Identity theft is a form of stealing another person's identity in which someone pretends to be someone else by assuming that person's identity, typically in order to access resources or obtain credit and other benefits in that person's name...

, cyberbullying and social networking. A downloadable parent guide entitled “Understanding a Child’s Virtual World” penned by Dr. Linda Young is also available on the site.

The program’s stable of experts include psychologist Dr. Linda Young and virtual world expert Dr. Nick Yee. Other contributors include NetSmartz411, Microsoft

Microsoft

Microsoft Corporation is an American public multinational corporation headquartered in Redmond, Washington, USA that develops, manufactures, licenses, and supports a wide range of products and services predominantly related to computing through its various product divisions...

 and TransUnion

TransUnion

TransUnion is the third largest credit bureau in the United States, which offers credit-related information to potential creditors. Like major competitors Equifax and Experian, TransUnion markets credit reports directly to consumers.- History :...

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Incredible Internet is included among Project Online Safety’s collection of online safety resources alongside those of AT&T

AT&T

AT&T Inc. is an American multinational telecommunications corporation headquartered in Whitacre Tower, Dallas, Texas, United States. It is the largest provider of mobile telephony and fixed telephony in the United States, and is also a provider of broadband and subscription television services...

, Comcast

Comcast

Comcast Corporation is the largest cable operator, home Internet service provider, and fourth largest home telephone service provider in the United States, providing cable television, broadband Internet, and telephone service to both residential and commercial customers in 39 states and the...

 and Time Warner

Time Warner

Time Warner is one of the world's largest media companies, headquartered in the Time Warner Center in New York City. Formerly two separate companies, Warner Communications, Inc...

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Partnership with NetSmartz411

Since 2007, the Qwest Foundation has funded NetSmartz411, a free Internet safety online-help desk and hotline provided by the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children. NetSmartz411 provides families with general information about social networking, instant messaging

Instant messaging

Instant Messaging is a form of real-time direct text-based chatting communication in push mode between two or more people using personal computers or other devices, along with shared clients. The user's text is conveyed over a network, such as the Internet...

, text messaging

Text messaging

Text messaging, or texting, refers to the exchange of brief written text messages between fixed-line phone or mobile phone and fixed or portable devices over a network...

 and online gaming

Online game

An online game is a game played over some form of computer network. This almost always means the Internet or equivalent technology, but games have always used whatever technology was current: modems before the Internet, and hard wired terminals before modems...

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Content from NetSmartz411 can be found on Incredible Internet.

Online Safety Coalition

In December 2006, the Incredible Internet program convened community, government and law enforcement leaders to address online safety issues and ways to reduce child exploitation. The group was named the Online Safety Coalition and is led by Shirley Bloomfield.

In April 2008, members of the coalition were honored in Washington, D.C.

Washington, D.C.

Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly referred to as Washington, "the District", or simply D.C., is the capital of the United States. On July 16, 1790, the United States Congress approved the creation of a permanent national capital as permitted by the U.S. Constitution....

, for their contributions to online safety awareness and education.

See also

• Cyberbullying
• Identity theft
  Identity theft
  Identity theft is a form of stealing another person's identity in which someone pretends to be someone else by assuming that person's identity, typically in order to access resources or obtain credit and other benefits in that person's name...
  
  
• Virtual worlds
• National Center for Missing & Exploited Children
  National Center for Missing & Exploited Children
  The National Center for Missing and Exploited Children is a private, non-profit organization established in 1984 by the United States Congress.-Establishment and overview:...
  
  

External links

• Incredible Internet
• Minors are often targets of identity theft if unmonitored
• Barbarians at the Game