WASHINGTON D.C. - Adam Thierer, Senior Fellow and Director of the Center for Digital Media Freedom at The Progress & Freedom Foundation, has been asked to participate in the Internet Safety Technical Task Force to study online child safety protection on social networking websites. The task force, proposed in the social networking safety agreement earlier this year between MySpace and 49 state Attorneys General, will offer a report to the AGs with their findings and recommendations. The group will be chaired by John Palfrey, Executive Director of The Berkman Center for Internet & Society at Harvard Law School, and will be comprised of respected child safety experts from academia, industry and non-profit organizations.

"I am thrilled to have been asked to contribute to the task force," stated Thierer. "The experts assembled will do much to contribute to the ongoing discussion of online child safety and Internet best practices. I look forward to working with the other distinguished members of the task force on these important issues."

Thierer is the author of many papers and studies on online child protection, including his recent book, " Parental Controls and Online Protection: A Survey of Tools and Methods."

Thierer has also produced an extensive collection of work specifically on topics of social networking and online age verification. Some of his writings include, "Social Networking and Age Verification: Many Hard Questions; No Easy Solutions," a discussion of the policy and technical issues of online age verification and the short paper, "Social Networking Websites & Child Protection: Toward a Rational Dialogue." Recently, along with John Morris of the Center for Democracy & Technology, Thierer released a comprehensive legislative index of all legislation currently pending in Congress dealing with online child safety. These and other publications are available on the PFF website.

The Progress & Freedom Foundation is a market-oriented think tank that studies the digital revolution and its implications for public policy. It is a 501(c)(3) research & educational organization.