NetSTAR

TOKYO April 23th, 2008
DeNA Co., Ltd.
NetSTAR, Inc.
Microsoft Co., Ltd.
Yahoo Japan Corporation
Rakuten, Inc.

DeNA Co. Ltd., NetSTAR, Inc., Microsoft Co., Ltd., Yahoo Japan Corporation, and Rakuten, Inc. hereby announce the launch of their collaborative effort to make Internet safer for children.

The five Internet businesses will actively exchange ideas with parents (guardians) and educators, such as those involved in the National Federation of High School Parent-Teacher Associations, so as to conduct researches and produce educational materials that will contribute to a safer Internet environment for children and to the advancement of information literacy. Our findings will also be used to make policy recommendations to national and local governments, for the betterment of a wider community.

Japanese political parties are currently considering various bills regarding children and their use of the Internet. Some of the proposed articles make it compulsory to incorporate systems incapable of accommodating the versatile needs of the parents, and others cast regulations that will likely do much harm while doing little good. We are against such propositions. Legal regulations should be reserved as the last resort. We would instead like to propose that advances be made upon the actions already being taken by the private sector.

There is undisputedly a need to foster a safe Internet environment for children, and we have each put in much effort for its realization. We would like to continue working with the children and their parents to reach the best decisions. It would not be beneficial for anyone to have the government force seemingly ineffective methods that are undesirable to the children who the law is supposed to be protecting, as well as to the parents.

<Proposed Actions>
(1)Collaborate with parents and educators to prepare and provide educational materials that are easy for the parents to understand, allowing them to teach their children about the safe use of the Internet, as well as improve the children’s information literacy.
(2)Under a partnership with parents and educators, send instructors to conduct study sessions for parents. Periodically provide information regarding Internet use by children.
(3)Provide information to parents to alleviate situations in which the children are more knowledgeable than their parents, thus assisting the parents in supervising their children.

Translation provided by NetSTAR