PHILADELPHIA, Oct. 5, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Today,
David L. Cohen, Comcast
Corporation's Senior Executive Vice President and Chief Diversity
Officer; Pennsylvania Attorney
General Josh Shapiro; Philadelphia Mayor James Kenney; and Ric
Harris, President and General Manager of NBC10 and
Telemundo62 announced a new Internet Essentials partnership to
educate seniors, parents, and children across the Commonwealth
about how to stay safe online. This innovative,
multi-dimensional effort will combine public service announcements,
free in-person training programs, and free educational resources
including videos, brochures, and booklets that will also be made
available online.
"Protecting Pennsylvania consumers is a top priority of the
Office of Attorney General," Attorney General Shapiro said.
"With this partnership, we're doubling our efforts to educate
seniors on Internet safety and do more to protect Pennsylvanians
from the scams, fraud, identify theft, and financial exploitation
that is costing America's seniors $3
billion every year."
Pennsylvania has the fifth most
seniors of any state, with 2.2 million residents over the age of
65. That number is only expected to increase over the next
several years. According to a Pew Research Center study, 64 percent
of seniors regularly use the internet, with more seniors coming
online every day.
"As a media and technology company, Comcast is uniquely
positioned to contribute to this effort," added Cohen. "We
also know that one of the major reasons why low-income households,
and especially seniors, don't purchase internet service at home is
because they're afraid of it. They're afraid of online scams
and of being taken advantage of. Fortunately, as part of our
Internet Essentials program, we have an outstanding network of
nonprofit partners in whom we can invest to teach more seniors,
adults, and students that the internet can be perfectly safe once
you know how to use it and what to watch out for."
Since 2011, Internet Essentials, Comcast's signature community
investment program and the nation's largest and most successful
broadband adoption initiative for low-income families, has
connected more than four million low-income Americans, living in
more than one million households, to the Internet. The number
includes 272,000 residents across the state of Pennsylvania, which makes it the fourth most
successful state in terms of participation in the program with
nearly 125,000 from the city of Philadelphia alone.
"I want to commend Comcast and the Office of the Attorney
General for their partnership to help protect Philadelphia's residents when they are
online," said Philadelphia Mayor
James Kenney. "The internet is
an amazing resource, but our citizens need to be aware of and
educated about what they can do to be safe online. This
effort will go a long way to reinvigorate that dialogue."
Attorney General Shapiro pledged to expand senior education
efforts by increasing his Office of Public Engagement's outreach on
Internet safety and producing new educational content including
videos, brochures, and public service announcements. Through
partnerships with Comcast, nonprofits, and other advocates, the
Office of Public Engagement will double the number of seniors it
educates about Internet safety from an estimated 25,000 in 2016 to
at least 50,000 in 2018.
At the event today, Cohen announced Comcast would provide
in-kind contributions to support a Public Service Announcement
across Pennsylvania that will
reach millions of residents and help raise awareness about Internet
safety issues for seniors, families, and their children. He
also said it is making three investments in nonprofit partners
including: Philadelphia Corporation for Aging in Philadelphia; Steelton Senior Center in
Harrisburg; and Vintage, Inc. in
Pittsburgh, to support Internet
safety training classes for low-income parents and seniors, along
with laptop donations to each organization.
In addition, Comcast announced it would print and distribute for
free 10,000 copies of "A Senior's Guide to Online Safety," written
by Larry Magid, president and CEO of
ConnectSafely.org and founder of SafeKids.com. The senior
guide was developed and released last year at an Internet
Essentials event for seniors in San
Francisco. The Company will also add new content to
and links from its online Internet Essentials Learning Portal,
www.InternetEssentials.com/Learning, where seniors and adults can
find and access all of these internet safety materials and
more.
Ric Harris, President and General
Manager of NBC10 and Telemundo62, also announced that his TV
stations would produce a series of free educational videos, using
its anchors and on-air talent, to address a variety of internet
safety and security topics for seniors, parents, and
students. The videos will be made in both English and in
Spanish.
"NBC 10 and Telemundo62 are thrilled to bring our talent and
production resources to this partnership," said Harris.
"Accessible and engaging content from a trusted news station
can go a long way to raise awareness and keep seniors and families
safe online. Our goal will be to tackle a variety of internet
safety topics like online scams to watch out for, how to create
strong passwords, how to protect your privacy online, how to deal
with cyberbullying, and more. We'll break these topics down
into simple and informative video content, which is exactly what
our news teams do best."
"Since January, our Office of Public Engagement has delivered
more than 800 interactive presentations and reached more than
100,000 Pennsylvanians," Attorney General Shapiro said. "By
further expanding and targeting our outreach next year, my Office
is focused on educating seniors and protecting them from the scams
and fraud being perpetrated online."
Anyone interested in scheduling a free presentation with the
Office of Public Engagement should contact the Pennsylvania Office
of Attorney General at 717-772-2424 or
seniors@attorneygeneral.gov.
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SOURCE Comcast Cable