I’ve spent the past four years implementing safety, security, and privacy features and programs at MySpace – 150 of them total – many of which other social media sites have started to adopt. I also had the challenge, and pleasure, of closing an agreement with 49 Attorneys General to set basic safety standards for all social networking sites.
More and more, leaders from other online companies and government institutions have called me up to ask my thoughts on handling particular challenges that threaten their users and citizens. The leadership at News Corp, MySpace, and Fox Interactive Media has given me the freedom to pursue these instances, taking the view that a strong, protected, online community is the best thing for all of us.
As MySpace and its sister companies at News Corp have gotten safer and more secure, and as inquiries from other companies have increased, it now makes sense for me to transition to a broader advisory role, while keeping a strong hand in what I’ve started and built at News Corp.
That’s why I’m excited to announce SSP Blue, a new company I’ve founded that will allow me to work with clients large and small and help them protect their online users. I’m particularly excited about this new role as it will give me the chance to flex different aspects of my experience as a Los Angeles County prosecutor, a federal prosecutor, vice president of worldwide Internet enforcement at the MPAA, director of child safe computing at Microsoft, and head of online safety, security, and privacy at News Corp and MySpace. And I’m thrilled to be working with some cutting edge companies out of the gate including GOGII, Tagged, SafetyWeb, and Weplay.
I’ll also continue to work with my colleagues at News Corp under the title Security Advisor. News Corp continues to live out a vision for being an online innovator, in terms of both user offerings and product safety, and has many exciting things on the horizon that I’m happy to continue supporting.
Another great aspect of my new role is that I’ll have the chance to blog more, right here, discussing the issues I’m seeing everyday and how best to approach them. I hope in a small way that sharing these insights with you can help protect more people, especially children and teens online.
I’ll also be publicly speaking more to media and to groups facing and tackling safety challenges, so check out my Speakers Bureau page to keep up with my travels.
It’s an exciting time to grow online protection standards and create new solutions as the capacity of the inter-connected space, and the services offered through it, continues to expand exponentially. SSP Blue is positioned to help companies embrace it with a Blueprint for the Safety, Security, and Privacy of their users.
-Hemu