I'm a big believer in education as the answer to just about everything, so I was inspired to hear that Microsoft and others (including the Federal Trade Commission, Boys & Girls Clubs of America, and AARP) have begun a large scale "get educated" campaign on the Internet. This is not the first time industry and government organizations have partnered to promote Internet education, but it's the first time in a long time, and there have been lots of fits and starts. This new group is significant in both size and resources, and while they might have a bit of a Microsoft agenda when it comes to the tools, there are certainly a lot of Microsoft tool users who can use some safety help.

The Get Net Safe tour, as it's called, will travel the country offering sessions and materials designed to teach consumers (not just kids) how to keep safe from Internet threats. Everything from losing data, to spyware, phishing attacks, and sexual predators is addressed. Together, the partners created Stay Safe, a site that's filled with good information for a number of constituencies: kids, teens, parents, boomers. The Stay Safe tours will visit cities all over the U.S. and hold a variety of programs, including teacher trainings, Internet fairs, school assembly programs, and Chamber of Commerce events, all between now and December.

Some of the partner companies—AARP, The Geek Squad, the FTC, and iSafe—are good online destinations for people seeking more information on how to keep safe.

To launch the tour, Microsoft and partners commissioned some research I'll tell you about in my next post.