NET CETERA

OnGuardOnline.gov’s Internet

Safety Campaign for Children

FEDERAL TRADE COMMISSION

Jon Leibowitz, Chairman

Pamela Jones Harbour, Commissioner

William E. Kovacic, Commissioner

J. Thomas Rosch, Commissioner

A Report to Congress

March 2010
Contents

Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1

OnGuardOnline.gov . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2

Net Cetera . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6

Using Net Cetera . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8

Promotion and Distribution . . . . . . . . . . . 10

Next steps . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15

Endnotes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17
1

Introduction

In September 2008, Congress passed the Broadband 

Data Improvement Act, which directed the Federal Trade 

Commission (FTC) to “carry out a nationwide program 

to increase public awareness and provide education 

regarding strategies to promote the safe use of the Internet 

by children,” and to submit a report to Congress that 

describes the activities implemented by the agency during 

the preceding calendar year.1 This report outlines how the 

FTC used its prior experience in online safety education to 

develop a program specifically for parents and children, and 

how the FTC is working with various partners to distribute 

this information nationally. 
Net Cetera: OnGuardOnline.gov’s Internet Safety Campaign for Children 3

OnGuardOnline.gov

The FTC has extensive experience developing and 

implementing national consumer education campaigns. 

Consumer education is integral to all major law enforcement 

initiatives and raises awareness of emerging consumer 

protection issues. The FTC writes consumer education 

material in a practical, plain-language style and presents it 

in an accessible, attractive way. Collaborations with public 

and private sector partners extend the reach of the agency’s 

consumer protection messages and advance its education goals.

The FTC developed and manages OnGuardOnline.gov, 

a project of the federal government and the technology 

community to help people 

guard against Internet fraud, 

secure their computers, 

and protect their privacy. 

OnGuardOnline.gov is 

a multifaceted campaign 

that began with and 

still centers on a website of the same name. Since the 

launch of OnGuardOnline.gov and AlertaenLínea.gov, its 

Spanish-language counterpart, in September 2005, almost 11 

million visitors have accessed these sites for information about 

computer security.

The FTC created OnGuardOnline.gov with input from 

consumer advocates, security experts, and federal officials 

from a variety of agencies. These groups remain critical 

to the campaign’s success. They promote the website and 

provide substantive content and feedback. As a result, 

OnGuardOnline.gov is comprehensive and up-to-date. 

This flexibility and emphasis on working with 

partners has encouraged more than 30 nonprofit 

organizations, industry groups, and government agencies 

to join the campaign.2 To date, 13 federal agencies are 

OnGuardOnline.gov partners: 

z Army Criminal Investigation Command 

z Commodity Futures Trading Commission

z Department of Commerce

z Department of Education

z Department of Homeland Security

z Department of Justice, Office of Justice Programs

z Federal Communications Commission

z Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation

z Federal Trade Commission

z Internal Revenue Service

z Naval Criminal Investigative Service

z Securities and Exchange Commission

z United States Postal Inspection Service

Representatives from most of these offices and other 

interested federal agencies met in December 2009 to 

discuss OnGuardOnline.gov, ideas for publicizing and 

contributing to its content, and how to collaborate with 
Net Cetera: OnGuardOnline.gov’s Internet Safety Campaign for Children 5

one another. This and other recent events bode well for the 

continued and increased participation of federal agencies: The 

Department of Education and the Federal Communications 

Commission became OnGuardOnline.gov partners in 2009, 

and in October 2009, President Obama directed people to 

OnGuardOnline.gov in a presidential proclamation3 and video 

on the White House blog4 about National Cyber Security 

Awareness Month.

Beyond using its roster of official partners, the 

OnGuardOnline.gov campaign depends on schools, 

community groups, businesses, and other organizations and 

individuals to spread the word about staying safe online. In this 

way, the practical information available on the site reaches many 

more people than it would if the FTC acted alone. 

The design of the site and the quality of the resources 

it hosts encourage and facilitate these partnerships. An 

update in September 2008 made the information on 

OnGuardOnline.gov

and AlertaenLínea.gov

even more interactive 

and easy to share. 

Visitors can search 

for a particular topic, 

“grab” games and 

videos for use on 

their own sites, find 

free publications and 

information on how to order, and download web buttons 

and banners. Articles on more than 20 topics — from 

email scams to social networking to spyware, links to the 

OnGuardOnline.gov partners, and suggestions for using 

OnGuardOnline.gov materials to promote online safety are 

among the features on the site. Because these resources are 

in the public domain, OnGuardOnline.gov is a program that 

other organizations — including some international groups 

— can, and do, make their own.

In August 2009, the FTC began surveying visitors to 

OnGuardOnline.gov to measure satisfaction with the site 

and learn where and how the site could be improved. The 

feedback has been very positive: For October through 

December 2009, the site scored a 76 in overall customer 

satisfaction, compared with an average score of 72 for all 

websites that use this survey, 73 for all public sector websites, 

and 74 for all federal websites.5 A comment from the survey 

highlights the value of making these resources available to 

outside groups: “A District Attorney’s office employee spoke at 

our local Senior Center Computer Club meeting recently. He 

gave everyone information on your valuable site. This site is very 

informative and will make us all wiser about e-mail scams and 

identity theft. Keep up your wonderful work!” 
Net Cetera: OnGuardOnline.gov’s Internet Safety Campaign for Children 7

“‘Net Cetera: Chatting With Kids About 

Being Online’ is probably the single best 

resource I’ve ever seen regarding online 

safety. This exhaustive, 54-page PDF has 

information for teachers, kids and parents 

alike, is well-written, visually pleasing, dead 

accurate, easy-to-understand, and suitable 

for printing in sections and distributing 

in classrooms or at meetings. It’s a 

guidebook that can help everyone develop 

safe online habits.”

Kevin Jarrett

K-4 Computer Teacher & Technology Facilitator

Northfield Community School, Northfield, NJ 

Net Cetera

The most recent addition to the OnGuardOnline.gov

campaign is Net Cetera: Chatting with Kids About Being 

Online. The FTC created this new guide for parents in 

response to Congress’s call for “a nationwide program to 

increase public awareness and provide education regarding 

strategies to promote the safe use of the Internet by 

children.”

The FTC chose 

to create a guide for 

parents because research 

suggests that when 

children want important 

information, most rely 

on their parents. The 

booklet, which is available 

in English and Spanish, 

emphasizes that the best 

way to keep children safe 

online is to talk to them, 

and it gives parents the 

information they need to have productive conversations 

with their kids. By discussing responsible socializing and 

communicating, parents — regardless of whether they are 

technologically savvy — can help their kids make better 

decisions about online behavior. 

 

 

NET CETERA

Chatting with Kids About Being Online

O l n p ov des p a tical tips fr 

g mu it to help y 

guard agai n ud, 

t t our vac

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The FTC wrote Net Cetera with input from groups that 

work regularly with parents and children in this space, such 

as ConnectSafely.org and the Internet Keep Safe Coalition, 

and from groups devoted to finding out how Americans use 

the Internet, such as the Pew Research Center’s Internet & 

American Life Project. Drawing on their expertise, as well as 

its own experience managing OnGuardOnline.gov, the FTC 

wrote a comprehensive guide with practical information 

about online safety topics that are most relevant for today’s 

parents, including social networking, cyberbullying, sexting, 

and mobile phones.
Net Cetera: OnGuardOnline.gov’s Internet Safety Campaign for Children 9

“The FTC and all the other agencies 

and organizations involved in creating 

the Net Cetera report deserve high 

praise for what they’ve done here. 

Absolutely outstanding work.”

Adam Thierer

President

The Progress & Freedom Foundation 

“I love the new guide and it’s VERY 

useful! I also appreciate that we can 

provide it to our communities for free.” 

Stephanie Lister

Assistant US Attorney

Eastern District of Washington

Using Net Cetera

Following the successful outreach model of its 

other consumer education campaigns — including 

OnGuardOnline.gov — the FTC is working with outside 

groups to promote and distribute the guide. For groups 

and individuals who want to share it with their families, 

friends, and communities, Net Cetera is available at 

OnGuardOnline.gov and in Spanish at AlertaenLínea.gov. 

People also can order free copies through the FTC’s bulk 

order site, bulkorder.ftc.gov.

6

 Like all the FTC’s consumer 

education materials, Net Cetera is free and in the public 

domain. The FTC encourages groups and individuals to 

order as many copies as they can use, include excerpts in 

their newsletters and blogs, and “grab” the web button from 

OnGuardOnline.gov for use on their own websites. 

There is space on the back for a group to affix its own 

sticker with a logo or information. 

The FTC has developed additional resources for those 

who wish to use Net Cetera in their communities, including 

a bookmark with tips for starting the conversation with kids, 

and a PowerPoint presentation at OnGuardOnline.gov to 

introduce an audience to the information in Net Cetera.

Finally, the guide is practical, plain-language, and 

value-neutral — it encourages parents to communicate their 

own values — so almost every parent can use it with their 

children. A variety of groups have used Net Cetera in their 

online safety programs already, and have promoted it in 

their blogs and newsletters, including the Better Business 

Bureau,7 the National Association of Attorneys General,8

The Progress & Freedom Foundation,9 the website News 

and Views from the Christian Right,10 and school districts 

across the country.11
Net Cetera: OnGuardOnline.gov’s Internet Safety Campaign for Children 11

“On behalf of the entire Wilson Tiger community 

of 1520 students and 180 faculty and staff, I 

want to say thanks! The online safety booklets 

were enthusiastically well received by the 

majority of teachers and students. Every 

student received a copy in their second period 

class and we had a series of discussion prompts 

for teachers to use. Students were encouraged 

to continue the discussions with parents and to 

share the booklet with their parents. Thanks for 

letting us receive the online safety booklets so 

hot off the press. Please consider us for future 

teen related FTC products.” 

Alex Wilson

Director, Office of Academic Development

Woodrow Wilson Senior High School, Washington, DC

Promotion and Distribution

Given the importance of children’s safety 

online, the FTC recommends that schools use both 

OnGuardOnline.gov and Net Cetera as part of their 

online safety programs. Schools are uniquely able to 

reach children and their parents. And because so much 

computer and other media use takes place in the home, 

pairing teachers and parents in these efforts more fully 

encourages safe and responsible online behavior, and 

reinforces consistent messaging.

To reach schools as well as parents and other adult 

mentors across the country, the FTC is working through 

school districts, state PTAs, law enforcement agencies, 

national nonprofits, parenting and education blogs, and 

members of groups like the Online Safety and Technology 

Working Group.12

Net Cetera has been available to the public since 

October 21, 2009. Between then and February 28, 2010, 

the FTC distributed over 1,550,000 copies of the guide. 

In 2009, the FTC sent out 464,000 copies of the guide in 

English and 32,850 copies in Spanish. 

Distribution highlights since publication include:

z Schools or school systems in 49 states and the 

District of Columbia have ordered copies of Net 

Cetera. 

z Police and sheriff departments in more than 30 states 

have ordered copies of the guide.

z State PTAs in Illinois, Kansas, Minnesota, and 

New York ordered copies, as did 14 state attorneys 
Net Cetera: OnGuardOnline.gov’s Internet Safety Campaign for Children 13

During the week of January 10, 2010, the Cobb 

County School District (suburban Atlanta) 

distributed 120,000 copies of Net Cetera — one 

to every family in the district. Cobb County is 

the second largest school district in Georgia. 

The district also sent a letter to each principal 

explaining Net Cetera and how to share it with 

families in their schools, and highlighted the 

guide on its website.13

general. The National Association of Attorneys 

General included an article about Net Cetera in its 

September-October 2009 Cybercrime Newsletter. 

z Representatives Melissa Bean and Frank Wolf and 

Senators Jay Rockefeller, Kay Bailey Hutchison, 

Mark Pryor, and Roger Wicker signed and circulated 

letters about Net Cetera to their Hill colleagues, 

encouraging them to use the guide in their districts 

and to link to it from their websites. The FTC sent 

copies of the booklet to district offices as well, and 

will continue to work with Congress to spread the 

word about online safety. 

US Secretary of Education 

Arne Duncan, Federal 

Communications Commission 

Chairman Julius Genachowski, 

and Federal Trade Commission 

Chairman Jon Leibowitz 

officially launched Net Cetera

on December 16, 2009, at 

Jefferson Middle School in Washington, DC. 

At the middle school, which is known for its 

emphasis on science and technology, the officials 

met with students and teachers to discuss online 

safety. Chairman Leibowitz summed up the guide, 

saying, “The conversations that make kids good 

digital citizens aren’t about the technology; they’re 

about communicating your values as a parent. 

Teaching kids to treat others as they’d like to be 

treated online is key. Net Cetera tells you how to 

start those conversations — even if you think your 

kids are more tech-savvy than you are.”

Secretary Duncan

Chairman Leibowitz
Net Cetera: OnGuardOnline.gov’s Internet Safety Campaign for Children 15

Through January 31, 2010, the FTC distributed 

over 100,000 copies of the booklet in Spanish. 

During this time, Net Cétera: Cómo charlar 

con sus hijos sobre su comportamiento en 

línea went to schools or school systems in 42 

states and the District of Columbia; community 

groups, libraries, and police departments; 

and organizations that serve Hispanics, such 

as United Migrant Opportunity Services in 

Wisconsin and Centro Paraguayo de Palm 

Beach in Florida. Spanish-language media 

coverage of the guide includes impre.com14 and 

Tecnopadres.com, an AOL website.15

z Nonprofits such as the Boys and Girls Clubs of 

America and the Internet Keep Safe Coalition are 

distributing the guide at events across the country. 

z Companies such as Facebook, MySpace, Ning, and 

Sprint are linking to Net Cetera from their safety or 

resources pages. 

z The Christian Science Monitor,

16 Atlanta 

Journal-Constitution,

17 and Miami Herald18 have run 

stories about the guide.

z 22 shopping malls in 6 states (Alabama, Georgia, 

Illinois, Massachusetts, Michigan, and New York) 

gave out the Net Cetera bookmark at their Santa 

displays.

z Net Cetera was the USA.gov featured publication 

for January 2010 and is in the Jump$tart Coalition 

Clearinghouse database.

Next steps

The FTC will continue promoting Net Cetera and 

OnGuardOnline.gov in a variety of ways:

z To encourage individuals and communities to use 

and spread this information, the FTC is developing 

a community outreach toolkit, which will include 

PowerPoint presentations, videos, handouts for 

parents, and materials for children highlighting 

important messages from the guide.

z OnGuardOnline.gov is exploring entering the social 

networking space with a Facebook page, and will be 

able to use that venue to promote Net Cetera.

z The FTC aims to use the momentum from recent 

events with other federal agencies — such as the Net 

Cetera launch — to recruit more federal partners for 

the OnGuardOnline.gov campaign.
Net Cetera: OnGuardOnline.gov’s Internet Safety Campaign for Children 17

z The Naval Criminal Investigative Service, an 

OnGuardOnline.gov partner, is planning to 

distribute Net Cetera and other OnGuardOnline.gov

materials to every Navy and Marine installation 

around the world in late 2010 or early 2011.

z The FTC recently joined the National School Safety 

Coalition, a Consumers Union-led initiative that 

brings together education, government, health, and 

parent groups to disseminate consumer information 

and improve child safety. The FTC will work with 

other members of the Coalition to distribute Net 

Cetera. 

z The FTC will continue to work with state 

departments of education, school districts, 

and individual schools to get Net Cetera and 

OnGuardOnline.gov to parents and educators. 

Additionally, the FTC will reach out to other groups 

that work with kids, such as summer camps, state 

education technology associations, and scouting 

organizations. Finally, the FTC will promote its 

online safety materials at conferences that target 

community leaders and educators, including the 

Teachers of English to Speakers of Other Languages 

(TESOL) Annual Convention, the National School 

Public Relations Association (NSPRA) National 

Seminar, and the American Library Association 

(ALA) Annual Conference.

Endnotes

1. 15 U.S.C. §§ 6552-6553.

2. Non-profit and industry partners include GetNetWise.org, 

the National Cyber Security Alliance, the Anti-Phishing 

Working Group, i-SAFE, AARP, the National Consumers 

League, the Direct Marketing Association, WiredSafety.org, 

the SANS Institute, the National Association of Attorneys 

General, the Better Business Bureau, NetFamilyNews, 

the Computing Technology Industry Association 

(CompTIA), the National Crime Prevention Council, the 

Association of College Unions International, Latinos in 

Information Sciences and Technology Association (LISTA), 

StopBadware.org, and iKeepSafe.org.

3. See http://www.whitehouse.gov/the_press_office/

Presidential-Proclamation-National-CybersecurityAwareness-Month/.

4. See http://www.whitehouse.gov/blog/Protecting-yourselfonline/.

5. A wide variety of businesses, as well as more than 100 

different federal agencies, use this survey — the American 

Customer Satisfaction Index (ACSI) — to measure website 

satisfaction.

6. Consumers can use bulkorder.ftc.gov to order bulk quantities 

— usually more than 50 copies — of free FTC education 

materials on topics ranging from online safety to job scams 

to identity theft. The bulk order site receives about 12,000 

orders every year, and the FTC’s warehouse in Pueblo, 

Colorado ships about 12 million publications every year.

7. See http://www.bbb.org/us/post/ftc-releases-guide-to-helpparents-reduce-online-risks-for-children-1080.
Net Cetera: OnGuardOnline.gov’s Internet Safety Campaign for Children 19

8. See http://naag.org/assets/files/pdf/cybercrime_SeptemberOctober_2009%20Cybercrime.pdf.

9. See http://blog.pff.org/archives/2009/10/net_cetera_an_

outstanding_new_government_online_sa.html.

10. See http://christianright.us/?p=106&bcsi_scan_DA3493EE

5FC9D524=blmIxT4azwAJ19ftaKVJaC4AAAD/sIgQ.

11. For example, the Magnolia Independent School District in 

Texas (http://www.magnoliaisd.org/education/components/

scrapbook/default.php?sectiondetailid=18370&&PHPSESS

ID=ffd4570a6dec61cce797c61cdfbd845e), the North Platte 

Public School District in Nebraska (http://www.nppsd.org/

vnews/display.v/ART/4b57784e7f651), and Orange County 

Public Schools in Florida (https://www.ocps.net/cs/services/

student/SAFE/Pages/ParentResources.aspx). 

12. The Online Safety and Technology Working Group 

(OSTWG) was also created in accordance with the 

Broadband Data Improvement Act. Participants, including 

online safety educators, industry representatives, and 

federal agencies, are evaluating industry efforts and making 

recommendations to promote online safety for children 

through education, labeling, and parental control technology. 

The Working Group is also evaluating and making 

recommendations on industry efforts to prevent and respond 

to criminal activity involving children and the Internet.

13. See http://www.cobbk12.org/centraloffice/communications/

news/2010/20100111_NetCetera.aspx.

14. See http://www.impre.com/educacion/2009/12/17/evitaque-tus-hijos-corran-rie-164127-1.html.

15. See http://www.tecnopadres.com/2009/12/21/hablandocon-tus-hijos-conectados-en-linea/.

16. See http://www.csmonitor.com/USA/Society/2009/1216/

How-to-keep-your-teen-safe-on-the-Internet.

17. See http://www.ajc.com/news/cobb-schools-partners-with280236.html.

18. See http://www.miamiherald.com/news/action-line/

story/1438066.html.
OnGuardOnline.gov provides practical tips from the 

federal government and the technology community 

to help you guard against internet fraud, secure your 

computers, and protect your privacy.

NET CETERA

Chatting with Kids About Being Online

Net Cetera: Chatting with Kids About Being Online

is a free guide from OnGuardOnline.gov with 

practical tips to help parents help their kids navigate 

the online world.

To order free copies of Net Cetera, visit bulkorder.ftc.gov.