Ricky Martin tapes videos for Internet Safety Educational campaign.

Ricky Martin stars in videos for the Navega Protegido campaign, a regional effort to promote online safety for children, sponsored by Microsoft Latin America and the Ricky Martin Foundation.

As part of this historic partnership, called Navega Protegido, the Goodwill Ambassador to UNICEF, taped three educational multimedia videos (each one in English, Spanish and Portuguese). The videos aim to provide minors, parents and teachers useful tools to protect themselves against sexual predators, identity theft, child pornography and violent content, among other risks in the Internet.

This high-impact regional partnership unites Martin’s humanitarian work, advocating for children’s rights globally through his Foundation, and Microsoft, a company with a history of corporate social responsibility, to jointly provide protection for children in Latin America and the Caribbean against the imminent dangers of cyberspace.

“The three educational videos are a practical prevention tool to make the Internet a safer space for children. By educating parents, teachers and minors about the risks of the Internet, we can prevent abuses against children. The effort begins in Latin America, but our goal is to globalize it,” said Ricky Martin, who is currently on a musical tour throughout Europe.

Meanwhile, Felipe Lemaitre Carabias, Director of Security Initiatives in Latin America, pointed out that the videos will be ready in August or September. “Microsoft Latin America is pleased to share one of the first steps we have taken as part of our partnership to help reach our objective: providing a trustworthy environment while surfing the Internet. We encourage the private sector, governments, international organizations and non-profit organizations to become action partners to prevent the dangers and potential crimes children face online.”

These three videos will also be complemented by additional educational materials that will be developed by the Foundation and Microsoft Latin America to raise awareness. The three videos will be distributed through the Internet, at campaign events, and through a DVD that will be distributed to millions of children throughout Latin America. The two children videos address children seven to 11 years old. The adult video addresses parents, teachers and family mentors. A key element of this campaign is the website, where users can find more information about Internet safety at www.navegaprotegido.org.

Through Navega Protegido, Microsoft and the Ricky Martin Foundation seek to educate users on Internet safety, a topic whose importance is reflected in these alarming statistics:

— Since 1988, images of child pornography on the Internet have increased 1500%
— Out of four million children surfing the web, ages 7 to 17, 29% said they would give their home address freely,
–Officials estimate that nearly 50,000 sexual predators are online at any given moment.