The Federal Trade Commission and a partnership including cybersecurity experts, online marketers, consumer advocates, and federal officials have launched a new multimedia, interactive consumer education campaign to help consumers stay safe online. A comprehensive OnGuardOnline.gov Web site has tips, articles, videos, and interactive activities that will address topics such as:
The partnership also has developed an OnGuard Online brochure.
Using straightforward, plain-language materials, the initiative aims to help computer users be on guard against Internet fraud, secure their computers, and protect their personal information.
“Consumer education is critical to our success in securing the Web against hackers, viruses, spam, and spyware. Education truly is the first line of defense for computer users against fraud and deception online,” said Deborah Platt Majoras, Chairman of the FTC. “An aware computer user is more likely to recognize a phishing e-mail, more likely to download a spyware detector, and far less likely to disclose, expose, or unwittingly share personal information,” she said.
Majoras said that partnership efforts to develop and promote the OnGuard Online message include:
The OnGuard Online Web site is at www.OnGuardOnline.gov.
Copies of OnGuard Online materials are available from the FTC’s Web site at http://www.onguardonline.gov and also from the FTC’s Consumer Response Center, Room 130, 600 Pennsylvania Avenue, N.W., Washington, D.C. 20580. OnGuard Online provides practical tips from the federal government and the technology industry to help you be on guard against Internet fraud, secure your computer, and protect your personal information. The FTC works for the consumer to prevent fraudulent, deceptive, and unfair business practices in the marketplace and to provide information to help consumers spot, stop, and avoid them. To file a complaint in English or Spanish (bilingual counselors are available to take complaints), or to get free information on any of 150 consumer topics, call toll-free, 1-877-FTC-HELP (1-877-382-4357), or use the complaint form at http://www.ftc.gov. The FTC enters Internet, telemarketing, identity theft, and other fraud-related complaints into Consumer Sentinel, a secure, online database available to hundreds of civil and criminal law enforcement agencies in the U.S. and abroad.