fragFINN e.V. is a non-profit association in Germany which aims at establishing a secure place in the Internet that allows children aged 6 to 12 years of age to surf the Web without any risk of them finding harmful content. The search engine for children www.fragFINN.de is based on a whitelist providing a huge surfing environment now comprising 11,000 domains, which have been checked by media educators to ensure that they are secure for children.

fragFINN is funded and run by telecommunications and online media companies and industry associations and is part of the initiative “A Net for Children” launched by the Federal Government Commissioner for Culture and the Media and the Federal Ministry for Family Affairs, Senior Citizens, Women and Youth in Germany.

POSCON Network Member: Lidia de Reese, fragFINN e.V.

What is your / your institution´s interest /objective for being part of POSCON?

Building up a whitelist and secure search engine for children fragFINN is promoting the positive diversity of the internet for children, so far mainly focusing on the German language and cultural context. POSCON is bringing together experts from all over Europe working towards positive online experiences for children. We want to share our expertise on how to evaluate positive content for children and learn about challenges and solutions throughout Europe in order to strengthen the internet landscape for children in a European context. Also we want to contribute to developing a collection of existing positive content all over Europe for the first time to offer all European children the possibility to gain online experiences in a safe environment.

What is your / your institution´s interest regarding positive content in general?

With the fragFINN whitelist of positive content we want to create an environment on the internet providing content for children which is harmless and child-friendly on the one hand and allowing easy access to interesting and multifaceted websites on the other hand. Especially web content which has been created specifically for children needs to be promoted and made more visible. This is why websites addressing children are shown first in the search results of fragFINN.de. At the same time, this environment ensures that children do not come across inappropriate online content. Through this gateway children are enabled to pursue their interests over the full length and breadth of the internet and learn how to use the medium responsibly and on their own.

What are your wishes regarding positive content and services for children?

The creation and maintenance of positive online content and services is elaborate, complex and often expensive. We hope that POSCON will offer producers and providers helpful, inspiring and concrete recommendations on how to create safe, entertaining and most importantly sustainable online content and services for children. Also we want to promote the topic of online safety throughout Europe to provide a basis for a bigger, more colorful and diverse internet landscape for children all over Europe.