Safe Surfer

Type| Private company
Industry| Information technology
Founded| 7 May 2018; 8 years ago (2018-05-07) in Tauranga, New Zealand
Founders|

* Rory Birkbeck
* Aaron Sinclair

Headquarters|

Tauranga

New Zealand

Area served

| Worldwide

Key people

* Rory Birkbeck
(Co-founder and CEO)
* Mathias Ronimus
(CTO)

Owners| Safe Surfer Charitable Trust (52.63%)[1]
Website| safesurfer.io

Safe Surfer is an internet filter software company headquartered in Tauranga, New Zealand. Working with modern technologies,[lower-alpha 1] it provides "filtering for hundreds of thousands of devices in more than 120 countries across the world".[3] In 2018, Safe Surfer won Technology Innovator of the Year at TechSoup's New Zealand Charities Technology Awards.[4] As of 2019, over 400,000 devices use the service.[5]

## Contents

* 1 History
* 2 Notes
* 3 References
* 4 External links

## History

In 2014, New Zealand IT professional Rory Birkbeck was employed by a national childcare provider to deploy iPad tablet computers. During the deployment, Birkbeck observed "a market for an easy solution to protect children online."[5]

In early 2016, Birkbeck and his colleague Aaron Sinclair began developing a new cloud-based internet filter service to protect children from pornography and malicious software. Sinclair, finding a lack of options on the market for a simple internet filter to protect his children, decided to design a router-based filter, with Birkbeck aiding in the development of "an online cloud version".[6]

In 2017, Safe Surfer was given a $15,000 NZD grant by BayTrust, a local community grant organisation, to promote the service. By this stage, Safe Surfer had the ability to enforce Google SafeSearch for devices using the service, along with providing parental options for YouTube Restricted Mode.[7] Later in 2017, Safe Surfer was interviewed during a controversy surrounding Rotorua primary school children "being allowed to watch pornography and violent movies in class".[8]

## Notes

1. ↑ For example, DNS over HTTPS and DNS over TLS.[2]

## References

1. ↑ "Shareholdings". https://app.companiesoffice.govt.nz/companies/app/ui/pages/companies/6833516/shareholdings.
2. ↑ "Safe Surfer for Business". https://safesurfer.io/for-business/.
3. ↑ "About Us". https://safesurfer.io/about/.
4. ↑ "Tauranga duo named 'Tech Innovator of the Year'". Bay of Plenty Times. April 5, 2018. https://www.nzherald.co.nz/bay-of-plenty-times/news/tauranga-duo-named-tech-innovator-of-the-year/TSQLCOJ73FNBPCEBAHRPZS5WSQ/.
5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 Gibbs, Carly (June 16, 2019). "Rory Birkbeck: the 'lifesaver' who's child-proofing the internet". The New Zealand Herald. https://www.nzherald.co.nz/bay-of-plenty-times/news/rory-birkbeck-the-lifesaver-whos-child-proofing-the-internet/ECGR5KMQFGAI3CQTLQ4ZG54GSY/.
6. ↑ Edmonds, Josephine (July 10, 2016). "Experts create filter to keep online porn from kids". Bay of Plenty Times. https://www.nzherald.co.nz/bay-of-plenty-times/news/experts-create-filter-to-keep-online-porn-from-kids/CEM72TJWKFMKRUHXNE2DBM63FA/.
7. ↑ "$15,000 for Tauranga's Safe Surfer to protect kids from porn". Bay of Plenty Times. May 22, 2017. https://www.nzherald.co.nz/bay-of-plenty-times/news/15000-for-taurangas-safe-surfer-to-protect-kids-from-porn/SDM72IMM2KPCZ66XAZ3RA5PEHY/.
8. ↑ Collins, Simon (July 5, 2017). "School let 8-year-old children watch porn, charges parent". The New Zealand Herald. https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/school-let-8-year-old-children-watch-porn-charges-parent/BTF2SOCKKLKX5A6ZZF4LYJ7PE4/.

## External links

* Official website

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