Donna's expertise on solutions for ensuring that children have a safe and pleasant online experience is regularly sought after by the media, educators, policymakers, law enforcement authorities, and business executives. Her book, Kids Online: Protecting Your Children in Cyberspace (Revell, September 1998), was hailed as a powerful tool for parents by the media, parents' groups, business leaders, and Congress.
The book has been translated into Spanish and Korean in response to the international interest in the issue of Internet safety. Steve Case, the founder of America Online, commends Donna Rice Hughes for being a pioneer and successful champion for children's online safety. He credits her with helping to shape the Internet into something we can all be proud of.
Donna has been interviewed as an acknowledged authority on Internet safety concerns on the majority of the major national news shows. She has done over 3,000 media interviews and is a regular Internet safety analyst on CNN, Fox News, and MSNBC. Donna Rice Hughes has appeared on Dateline, The Today Show, Oprah, and 20/20, among other shows.
She co-wrote the script for Touched By An Angel's May 2000 season finale episode, which introduced the topic of Internet risks and online safety to prime time television and won the Nielson ratings for its time slot during the May sweeps period.
Her opinions have appeared in The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, The Washington Post, USA Today, The San Francisco Chronicle, The San Jose Mercury News, and People Magazine, among others. She has also written a number of essays and editorials that have appeared in USA Today, The Los Angeles Times, The Philadelphia Inquirer, and McCall's Magazine.
Donna has also given several presentations on Internet safety at universities and professional organizations around the country, including Johns Hopkins University, MIT, American University, the University of Houston Law School, The Freedom Forum, and The National Press Club. She has testified before both the House and Senate of the United States Congress on matters concerning Internet risks and safety remedies.
Andrew Oosterbaan, chief of the Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section, where Donna worked as the Department's only non-lawyer/non-law enforcement teacher, praised her presentation at the Federal Prosecutors' Obscenity Symposium as a "highlight" of the 2002 conference. Donna Rice Hughes served on the Child Online Protection Act (COPA) Commission, which was created to investigate technical options for protecting children online.
She co-chaired the COPA Hearings on filtering/ratings/labeling technology in July 2000.
The Commission suggested in its final report that Congress and the country take steps to “promote public understanding of technology and approaches available to protect children online.” Donna also supported the Japanese Ministry of Education in the development of online child safety initiatives and offered knowledge and resources for their report, Children and the Internet.
She won the National Law Center for Children and Families' Annual Appreciation Award in 2002, as well as the National Abstinence Clearinghouse's prestigious Protector of Children Award. She also received the National Abstinence Clearinghouse's 2004 Media Impact Award and WiredSafety.org's 2005 Lifetime Child Protector Award.
Donna worked as the Communications Director and Vice President of Enough Is Enough from 1994 to July 1999, where she was a pioneer in the national movement to make the Internet safe for children and families. In 2002, she was elected President of EIE.
Under Donna's direction, EIE promotes a three-pronged strategy in which the public, the technology sector, and law enforcement all share responsibility for protecting children on the Internet. Many corporate and government leaders have embraced this strategy. Donna Rice Hughes presently serves on the Congressional Internet Caucus Advisory Board, the GetNetWise program, and the National Cyber Security Alliance's advisory board.
Donna was instrumental in the creation of the National Cyber Security Alliances, Help Keep Kids Connected and Protected, in 2006, to educate parents and teachers on safe online behaviors for teens who use social networking sites, online forums, and chat rooms.
In December 1997, Donna worked on the steering group for the Internet Online Summit: Focus on Children and American Links Up. She advocated and spearheaded the Summit's approval of an industry ZERO Tolerance policy for child pornography, which was supported by the White House and the Justice Department. She now serves on the National House of Hope's board of directors.
Donna Rice Hughes graduated from the University of South Carolina with honors, including Magna Cum Laude and Phi Beta Kappa.
