Parry Aftab

Parry Aftab
Aftab in 2011
Occupation	Lawyer, author
Website
aftab.com

Parry Aftab is an American lawyer and Internet safety expert^[1] who founded the Internet safety organization WiredSafety and the consulting firm WiredTrust.

Career

Aftab became the chief of the U.S. National Action Committee for UNESCO's World Citizen's Committee on Protecting Innocence in Danger group in 1999.^[2] She became a member of the Board of Directors for the non-profit, TRUSTe in 2003.^[3] In 2005, the United States Congress issued a resolution that recognized her efforts to combat cyberbullying as Executive Director of StopCyberbullying and WiredSafety.^[4]

Her organization, WiredSafety, became a member of Facebook's Safety Advisory Board in 2009^[5] and in April, Aftab appeared on Good Morning America for its Town Hall Meeting on sexting.^[1] In 2010 she received the FBI Director's Community Leadership Award and^[6][7] was one of 28 members in the Online Safety and Technology Working Group of the National Telecommunications and Information Administration.^[8]

She was the co-recipient of the RCMP's Child Recovery Award in 2011.^[9] Aftab was one of the organizers for a 2015 anti-cyberbullying event in Ireland,^[10] and has been a member of the advisory boards for MTV's A Thin Line,^[11] Fair Play, Sesame Street Online and the Ad Council.^[12] Her clients have included Facebook, Disney and Nickelodeon.^[13]

Reception

Members of radical Internet groups who disagree with her anti-cyberbullying campaigns have "launched a massive Internet harassment campaign" against her.^[14] In July 2011 her detractors incited a swatting incident at her home when they contacted police claiming her house was the site of murders and hostages. Aftab was on vacation at the time and a local police swat team investigated the false claims.^[14][15]

According to the British blogger Katie Jones, Aftab tried to coerce her into releasing control of the domain, Katie.com, which was also the name of a newly published book. Jones refused and wrote about the incident on her website.^[16]

Publications

• Child Abuse on the Internet. Ending the Silence, Carlos A. Arnaldo, Ed., Chapter 21: "The Technical Response: Blocking, Filtering and Rating the Internet", pp. 135–140 (2001) ISBN 92-3-103728-5 ISBN 978-9231037283
• Inocencia en Peligro : Conviva con sus Hijos y Protéjalos Cuando Naveguen por Internet (2001) ISBN 970-10-3297-7 ISBN 978-9701032978
• The Parent's Guide to Protecting Your Children in Cyberspace (1999) ISBN 0-07-135752-1 ISBN 978-0071357524
• Parents Guide to the Internet: And How to Protect Your Children in Cyberspace (1997) ISBN 0-9660491-0-1 ISBN 978-0966049107

References

1. Kazdin, Cole and Imaeyen Ibanga (April 15, 2009). "The Truth About Teens Sexting; 'GMA' Holds a Town Hall Meeting to Discuss the Growing Teen Trend". Good Morning America. WABC. Retrieved May 31, 2010.
2. UNESCO launches campaign to fight Internet pedophilia. CNN (June 15, 1999). Retrieved on 2015-12-28.
3. Execs and Accounts for February 14, 2003. ClickZ (February 14, 2003). Retrieved on 2015-12-28.
4. Congressional Record, Volume 151, Part 8, May 19, 2005 to June 6, 2005. Government Printing Office. pp. 870–.
5. El-Rahman, Minara. "Facebook Safety". Find Law. Retrieved Dec 16, 2015.
6. Travers, Bryan L. (November 22, 2010). "Child Safety Advocate and Cyber Law Legal Expert to Be Honored by FBI Director". FBI Press Release. Retrieved November 26, 2010.
7. "Children’s cyber protector Parry Aftab of Bergen honored by FBI". Cliffview Pilot. Retrieved December 23, 2015.
8. (June 4, 2010) OSTWG Final Report, accessed December 22, 2015
9. Forberg, Sigrid (2011). "Finding missing children with Facebook" (PDF). Gazette 73 (2): 11.
10. Danaher, Dan (April 27, 2015). "Experts to draft plan on online bullying". Irish Examiner.
11. "About Us: A THIN LINE, MTV’s sexting, cyberbullying, digital dating abuse campaign : www.athinline.org". Retrieved December 23, 2015.
12. "Parry Aftab: Executive Profile & Biography – Businessweek". Businessweek.com. Retrieved December 23, 2015.
13. Berger, Rod (December 24, 2013). "Cyberlaw & Education Profiled with Parry Aftab". EdTechReview.
14. Chen, Adrian (July 25, 2011). "Internet Prankster Sends SWAT Team to Cyberbullying Expert’s House". Gawker. Retrieved July 26, 2011.
15. Glynn, Casey (July 26, 2011). "Cyber expert Parry Aftab's N.J. home targeted in hostage hoax". CBS News. Retrieved January 13, 2016.
16. Rustad, Jr., Roger E. (August 6, 2004). "Interview with Katie Jones of (the Real) Katie.com". GrepLaw.org. Berkman Center for Internet & Society at Harvard University. Retrieved April 3, 2010.

External links

• Aftab's web site