[NLnet Press] NLnet launches contest for protection Internet users

[NLnet foundation press list]

NLnet launches contest for protection Internet users 
User itself to drive non-commercial security effort 

                                        Amsterdam, May 15, 2008

The Netherlands-based not-for-profit organization NLnet is launching a
international competition in which participants must bring together
tools to protect ordinary end users against cybercrime and privacy
leaks. The launch of the contest will take place on Thursday, May 15
during a security conference in Ede, The Netherlands. NLnet manages a
large private fund of some tens of millions, from which the foundation
annually invests significantly in social initiatives in the area of
open standards, open source, privacy and digital civil rights across
the globe. The contest is part of a longer running program to increase
privacy and security in the ICT field.

"Normal computer users  on the information superhighway all too easily
fall prey to external abuse," says Michiel Leenaars, Strategy
director of the foundation. "The same opportunities that have
transformed the Web into a form of social software have at the same
time created enormous vulnerabilities. We want to do something about
that, in cooperation with the users and professionals themselves".
NLnet works from the premise that security and privacy are too
important to merely outsource to individual commercial parties.

"We want to gather in a playful way knowledge about the best tools that
ordinary Internet users can use to protect themselves," says Leenaars.
That means next to security concerns a second emphasis is on usability,
because experience has shown that security that gets in the way of user
is quickly turned off or circumvented. The foundation is also looking
for ideas how to make available professional tools usable for novice
users without many technical skills. The main prize is 2,500 euros,
there are some other worthwile prices. The foundation intends to
process the results from the competition and bring the best tools
together to distribute through various channels. Deadline for
submission is August 15, 2008 at 12:00 CET. The results are to be
announced before 31 August 2008.

All entries are welcome: usersafety2008 at nlnet.nl. Participation is open
to all nationalities. Prices are paid in cash, winners are responsible
for any due taxes in their country of residence. Winners may also chose
to donate to an open source project of their choice tax free.


*** Note to editors

Please link your users to: 

           http://nlnet.nl/usersafety2008 

(available directly after official launch on May 15th).

More background information about the NLnet 2008 theme

http://www.nlnet.nl/themes/2008privacy/


Media contacts:

NLnet foundation
Director of Strategy NLnet
+31 6 27 050 947
m.leenaars at nlnet.nl

About NLnet Foundation

NLnet Foundation is a private charity fund supporting open standards
and open source worldwide, and has over the years actively contributed
to (internet) standards, open source projects and subsidiary or
enabling activities such as the development of GPLv3. NLnet foundation
is an independent organisation whose means came initially from interest
on a very substantial own capital formed in 1997 by the sale of the
first Dutch Internet Service Provider. Its private capital ensures an
absolute independent position. The articles of association for the
NLnet foundation state: "to promote the exchange of electronic
information and all that is related or beneficial to that purpose".
NLnet believes in open standards and open source. At the moment, dozens
of projects and organizations are supported financially. Amongst them:
research laboratory NLnet Labs, the Free Software Foundation,
OpenDoc Society, Intelligent Interactive Distributed Systems, and the
Internet Society.

More info: http://nlnet.nl