Recognizing their social responsibility to children, Microsoft Latin America and the Ricky Martin Foundation are joining forces to promote online child safety.

Together, both organizations will work to develop educational strategies and activities for Internet safety that will help protect children in Latin American and Caribbean countries, and invite other companies and entities to participate in this effort.

Felipe Lemaitre, Director of Consumer Security Initiatives, Microsoft Latinoamerica; Ricky Martin, President and Founder, Ricky Martin Foundation and Angel Saltos, Executive Director, Ricky Martin Foundation, in the moment of the agreement to join efforts to offer Latinamerica children a safe environment in the internet.

The Internet is an extraordinary learning and entertainment tool, but along with these benefits also come challenges. As a result of these challenges and as part of Microsoft's commitment to promoting security, Microsoft recognizes the importance of promoting online child safety, and that it requires that families, educators, governments, and organizations like the Ricky Martin Foundation join and cooperate with this effort.

“It is an honor for Microsoft Latin America to count on the participation of the Ricky Martin Foundation to reach out to the community about this important issue,” said Felipe Lemaitre Carabias, Director of Consumer Security Initiatives for Microsoft Latin America.Without a doubt, this partnership will help us reach our goal: to offer children a safe environment when using the Internet.”

Microsoft's commitment to children's online safety is underscored in three major ways that include education, technology, and government partnerships. Through education we provide practical tips to adults, educators, and community leaders; and we train law enforcers on how to pursue online criminals.

With technology, we develop software and online tools to help protect children from potentially harmful content. Through government partnerships - in addition to training law enforcement, we actively cooperate with investigations against online child abuse and we support legislation to create tough penalties for them in conjunction with non-profit organizations.

“We are very proud to join efforts towards such a noble campaign that has as a goal to protect children in this online era. We've found Microsoft to be an active partner and we are sure that, together, we'll take great strides to protect our most vulnerable population, children”, assured Ricky Martin, president of the organization that holds his name.

The Ricky Martin Foundation commits its efforts to improve the quality of life for children and their families through diverse programs and projects of social interest that include three program areas: social justice, education, and health.