Greetings from SurfSafely.com! If you enjoy reading this newsletter as much as I do writing it, pass it on to all your friends and family but please respect their privacy. Place the addresses of those you send it to in the BCC: field rather than To: or CC:. And as always, this newsletter is opt-in only. If you feel you've received it in error, reliable removal instructions are at the bottom. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ In this issue: 1. Keep your guard up 2. SurfSafely.com acquires corporate sponsor Rackspace ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 1. Keep your guard up ===================== By way of a reminder, even though some of these may seem like old news, the moment people start to let their guard down, email worms start to make their rounds again. Case in point, W32/BadTrans@MM. Fortunately this one is east to spot. If you get an email with an attachment whose return address begins with the _ character (like this: _username@somedomain.com) Erase the file, then delete the message. The poor sap who sent it to you has no idea his computer is infected. If you want to let him know just drop the leading _ in his email address when you reply and you will have his valid email address. Another one making it's rounds again is W32/SirCam@MM. If you get an email with a message body that reads: Hi! How are you? I send you this file in order to have your advice See you later. Thanks Get rid of it or you could become the next person that someone else referrs to as a poor sap. And please don't keep this informaiton to yourself. If you have children who get email on your computer, it's your responsibility to teach them what to look for and avoid it. If you don't you'll have only yourself to blame if a virus trashes your machine. It can be very serious business. Make sure they too understand the importance of keeping your guard up. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 2. SurfSafely.com acquires corporate sponsor Rackspace ====================================================== I've been sitting on this news long enough. This press release goes out later tonight but I wanted you to be the first to know. Rackspace has been kind enough to donate a fully dedicated server to us to help secure the future of SurfSafely.com. Please join me in thanking Rackspace for their generousity. FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Rackspace sponsors SurfSafely.com SurfSafely.com, the creation of Mark Brasche, CEO of New England Webmasters, began it's life in March of 1999 as a web site providing parents a resource to find information relative to online safety. It had links to other well recognized online safety organizations and a forum for parents and teachers to write in, co-moderated by Brooke Jones, national media director for Ribbon of Promise, a non-profit organization that provides disaster support services to schools touched by violence. Just as Mark was placing the finishing touches on his book "Child Safety-Net: How to protect your children from harm online", then came the fateful day of April 20, 1999 and the senseless shootings at Columbine. They were shots heard around the world. Because so many of the clues to this tragedy led to the web, Mark realized there was a desperate need to get parents involved with their children's online activities and help them to become aware of danger signals. There was also a need to get other web developers to again embrace the concept of voluntary content labeling which would allow parents to take control of content being brought into their homes via the web using the free tools already bundled with most major browsers. In that very moment SurfSafely.com was reborn. Mark realized that, for web developers to label, there had to be a dollar sign attached to it. The concept, create a searchable Family Friendly Directory of only PICS labeled web sites. If enough people used it, for web developers the issue would become simple economics. Omit rating and lose market share. Make that market share great enough and they would lose revenue. People listen when money talks. Funded entirely out of pocket, in September of 1999 SurfSafely.com was redeployed as an exclusive directory for PICS labeled web sites only. Today the directory boasts more than 21,000 listings and draws more than 100,000 unique visitors per month from around the globe. It has earned the wholehearted support of SafeSurf, one of the two primary labeling authorities with very high profile links from the SafeSurf web site. Following this trend and renewed interest in voluntary labeling, Yahoo!, MSN and AOL have all begun to label their portals with PICS compliant labels as well. Listings in, and visits to SurfSafely.com continued to grow at an exponential pace, so much so that SurfSafely.com was forced to look for a new web host. The existing provider simply could not handle the load effectively and deliver the performance users needed at a price that Mark could afford. With no outside funding SurfSafely.com was in danger of total collapse. Rackspace to the rescue. By offering to host SurfSafely.com, Rackspace has assured that families and schools will continue to enjoy the many benefits of a directory open only to voluntarily labeled content for a very long time to come. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ That's news for now. Be informed, Be involved, Be well. Sincerely, Mark Brasche Founder and CEO, SurfSafely.com ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ::Keep your guard up