BTOPENWORLD JOINS WITH SURFMONKEY TO OFFER LEADING INTERNET SAFETY SERVICE FOR CHILDREN
Campbell, Ca., November 6, 2001 – BTopenworld, BT’s mass marketing Internet division, has today announced it will work with SurfMonkey Inc., the family Internet technology company,* making BTopenworld the first ISP in Europe to offer this leading Internet browser and safety service for children.
(PRWEB) November 8, 2001
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
BTOPENWORLD JOINS WITH SURFMONKEY TO OFFER LEADING INTERNET SAFETY SERVICE FOR CHILDREN
Campbell, Ca., November 6, 2001 – BTopenworld, BT’s mass marketing Internet division, has today announced it will work with SurfMonkey Inc., the family Internet technology company,* making BTopenworld the first ISP in Europe to offer this leading Internet browser and safety service for children.
Free for one month, the SurfMonkey kids browser and safety service elevates the whole Internet experience for children, helping them explore the very best web content and connect with parent-approved friends through email, chat, bulletin boards, instant messaging and their own personalized videophone.
SurfMonkey's advanced safety controls allow parents to manage what their children see, who they talk to and which Internet applications they use. SurfMonkey gives parents of younger children the option to restrict access to a directory of more than 15,000 pre-approved sites. Parents of older children or more experienced surfers may allow them to explore the whole worldwide web. Each web page goes through several automated checks before it reaches the child so that pornography, violence, racial hatred and other inappropriate content is filtered out.**
The safety controls are not restricted to the SurfMonkey browser -- Internet Explorer, Netscape and other browsers are filtered in the same way. Although the child may contact a parent-approved list of CyberFriends, communication with strangers is blocked.
Available to BTopenworld members at www. btopenworld. com, parents can download the SurfMonkey browser for only £2.50*** per month (including VAT). A browser is then installed that is password protected. The browser itself is a fun tool for kids, with special effects that allow them to splash, slime and explode web pages.
“The Internet is a global library, rich of information readily available for the probing and inquisitive minds of children. We know that parents in the U. K. are concerned about their children being exposed to inappropriate content and contact with strangers online. SurfMonkey provides an introduction and stepping stone to the Internet, essentially opening the door to this library for children to surf, read and learn in a safer environment,” said Duncan Ingram, senior vice president of BTopenworld.
“We're delighted to be working with a respected company such as BT to open up the very best of the Internet to kids in the U. K. This association is an important step in our overall goal of making the Internet more accessible to children worldwide. We've made our safety service available in eight different languages in order to reach kids around the globe,” adds Charles Hart, chairman and CEO of SurfMonkey.
*Terms and conditions apply.
**While SurfMonkey offers leading security filtering, we cannot guarantee
Children will be insulated from all inappropriate content.
***Payment only by credit card.
About BTopenworld
BTopenworld, BTÂ’s mass-marketing Internet division, is one of the UKÂ’s leading Internet service providers delivering broadband and narrowband services to more than 1.5 million business and consumer customers in the UK through www. btopenworld. com. The company offers a wide range of Internet access packages and payment options to satisfy the changing needs of consumer and business customers. For narrowband customers, these range across Pay-as-you-go, BTopenworld for BT surf packages offering unmetered Internet access evenings and weekends, BTopenworld Anytime offering access to the Internet available 24/7 and BTopenworld Connect Anytime, a 24/7 package designed specifically for business customers. BTopenworldÂ’s broadband products covers a choice of download speeds, from 500kbps to up to 2Mbps, single or multi-user set-ups for PC or Mac, and static or dynamic IP addresses. BTopenworld also offers many other Internet services to support customerÂ’s online experience, including email services, SpeechMail (charged at NationalCall rates), Cyberpatrol, a WAP portal and more. The company also provides virtual ISP services to a network of corporate partners who reach an additional 1.1 million customers. Andy Green is the chief executive officer of BTopenworld and Ben Andradi is chief operating officer.
About SurfMonkey
SurfMonkey Inc., the leading family Internet technology company, provides the first comprehensive Internet platform designed to more safely open up the Internet as an educational, entertainment and communications resource for kids and families worldwide. SurfMonkeyÂ’s patent-pending technology package is uniquely designed to screen out unwanted sites and explicit language in a context sensitive manner. The SurfMonkey browser is available in English, Spanish, French, German, Japanese, Chinese and Korean. Founded in 1996, SurfMonkey Inc. is a privately held company located in Campbell, California. The company creates and integrates leading-edge technologies to provide a safer, easier environment for kids to learn, communicate and have fun on the Internet.
Over the past five years, SurfMonkey Inc. has deployed a world-class team of computer scientists and engineers to develop a unique and comprehensive platform that elevates the Internet experience for children and families worldwide. FamilyPC Magazine awarded SurfMonkey the highest rating among top family Internet sites this year. For more information, please visit the companyÂ’s website at www. surfmonkey. com.
For more information, contact:
Anna Perrin or Cheryl Gale at
Band & Brown Communications
020 7419 7000
Anna. perrin@bbpr. com or cheryl@bbpr. com
Cynthia Money
SurfMonkey Inc.
Campbell, California
408/558-9920 ext. 124
Cmoney@corp. surfmonkey. com
