Loopt®, a revolutionary social-mapping and communication service, announced that its interoperable service will be available beginning today to Apple iPhone users for free via the iPhone App Store www.itunes.com/appstore/

“We are thrilled to be a part of the launch of the new Apple App Store. The iPhone OS platform is amazingly easy to work in and has provided us the opportunity to build a truly phenomenal Loopt experience for users,” said Sam Altman, chief executive officer and co-founder of Loopt. “We are delighted to offer users an integrated and powerful set of features to navigate their mobile lifestyle and stay connected to people and places on the go. With Loopt on your iPhone, you’ll never be lonely, bored or hungry again!”

Loopt uses location technology to connect users to the world around them like never before. People can pinch, tap and drag an interactive map to find where their friends are and what they are doing. Users can connect on the go and instantly share photos and comments with friends and communities like Facebook® and others. It is also easy to discover and explore nearby places and events recommended by friends and popular local services such as Yelp®. As always, users can always change their privacy settings if they do not want to be found.

Loopt offers the most intuitive and effective privacy controls and security features for end users. Loopt is 100 percent permission-based and users share location information only with their selected friends, communities and services. Users can easily turn location-sharing on or off at any time. Loopt regularly works with organizations such as the Family Online Safety Institute, ConnectSafely.org, the Center for Democracy & Technology, Progress & Freedom Foundation’s Center for Digital Media Freedom, and the Internet Safety Task Force.

Loopt is available free for use in the United States beginning today from the Apple App Store at www.itunes.com/appstore/

About Loopt

Loopt, based in Silicon-Valley and backed by leading venture capital firms Sequoia Capital and New Enterprise Associates, has created a truly interoperable and accessible social-mapping service that is available across multiple carrier networks and supported on over 80 mobile devices. Leveraging the latest location technology, Loopt changes the way people connect, share and explore in the real world. Loopt was designed with privacy considerations at its core and offers a variety of effective and easy-to-use privacy controls for subscribers. Loopt works with leading mobile, social networking, and online privacy and security organizations such as the Center for Democracy & Technology, Family Online Safety Institute, Cyber Safe California, ConnectSafely.org, Congressional Internet Caucus Advisory Committee, Progress & Freedom Foundation’s Center for Digital Media Freedom, and the Internet Safety Task Force. Loopt is also TRUSTe certified. For more information, please visit www.loopt.com

Contact

Amanda Sanyal
SutherlandGold Group for Loopt
650-520-5419
amanda@sutherlandgold.com

Loopt®, a revolutionary social-mapping and communication service, today announced that it has joined Facebook Connect to allow users to “connect” their Facebook® identity, friends, and privacy settings to the Loopt service.

Working with Facebook Connect will allow Loopt users to share and discover recommendations for nearby businesses, integrate location awareness into their Facebook feeds, and easily find and connect with Facebook friends both on and offline in a manner consistent with their Facebook privacy settings.

“Working with Facebook Connect widens the circle of friends Loopt users can interact with, combining the power of Loopt’s social-mapping service with an established network of Facebook friends,” said Evan Tana, the Director of Product Management & Marketing of Loopt. “Loopt users will be able to receive an alert whenever Facebook friends are nearby, discover restaurants and bars recommended by their Facebook friends, and integrate their location into their Facebook feed.”

Facebook gives everyone the power to share with the people they care about making the world more open and transparent. Facebook users communicate through the social graph, the network of connections and relationships that exist in the world between people. With more than 90 million active users, Facebook is the fourth-most trafficked website in the world.

Facebook launched Facebook Connect to allow users to take their identity and friends with them around the Web, while being able to trust that their information is always up to date and always protected by their privacy settings.

Loopt offers the most intuitive and effective privacy controls and security features for end users. Loopt is 100 percent permission-based and users share location information only with their selected friends, communities and services. Users can easily turn location-sharing on or off at any time. Loopt regularly works with organizations such as the Family Online Safety Institute, ConnectSafely.org, Progress & Freedom Foundation’s Center for Digital Media Freedom, and the Internet Safety Task Force.

The enhanced capabilities will roll out to consumers in late summer and will initially be available to Loopt users via the iPhone App Store. Shortly thereafter the features will be made available on BlackBerry and feature phones across Verizon, Sprint Nextel and Boost Mobile. For more information please visit www.loopt.com

Facebook® is a registered trademark of Facebook Inc.

About Loopt

Loopt, based in Silicon-Valley and backed by leading venture capital firms Sequoia Capital and New Enterprise Associates, has created a truly interoperable and accessible social-mapping service that is available across multiple carrier networks and supported on over 80 mobile devices. Leveraging the latest location technology, Loopt changes the way people connect, share and explore in the real world. Loopt was designed with privacy considerations at its core and offers a variety of effective and easy-to-use privacy controls for subscribers. Loopt works with leading mobile, social networking, and online privacy and security organizations such as the Family Online Safety Institute, Cyber Safe California, ConnectSafely.org, Congressional Internet Caucus Advisory Committee, Progress & Freedom Foundation’s Center for Digital Media Freedom, and the Internet Safety Task Force. Loopt is also TRUSTe certified. For more information, please visit www.loopt.com

The Berkman Center for Internet & Society at Harvard Law School today announced that it will head a newly formed Internet Safety Technical Task Force. The Task Force, comprised of leading Internet businesses and organizations, will focus on identifying effective online safety tools and technologies that can be used by many companies across multiple platforms.

“The safety concerns posed by the Internet are part and parcel of the safety concerns that arise in human interactions in the physical world. These concerns are not unique to any one service or technology platform; they are shared by the companies that provide Internet services and the individuals who use these services. We should work together – private firms, technologists, experts from the non-profit world, and leaders in government – to solve online safety issues as a joint effort,’ said John Palfrey, Executive Director of The Berkman Center for Internet & Society at Harvard Law School. “We are honored to assume the leadership of this Task Force and excited to convene the broad array of interests represented by the group.”

The Task Force will evaluate a broad range of existing and state-of-the-art online safety technologies, including a review of identity authentication tools to help sites enforce minimum age requirements. The Task Force is a central element of the Joint Statement on Key Principles of Social Networking Safety announced in January 2008 by MySpace and the Attorneys General Multi-State Working Group on Social Networking. Fifty Attorneys General adopted the “Joint Statement” with the goal of improving online safety standards industry-wide.

“The Berkman Center’s impressive research on the challenges and opportunities offered by the Internet makes them the ideal leader for the Task Force,” said Hemanshu Nigam, Chief Security Officer for Fox Interactive Media and MySpace. “We look forward to partnering with The Berkman Center and the Task Force to identify the technologies and tools that will be available industry-wide to provide a safer online experience for all Internet users.”

The Task Force will be led by Berkman Center Executive Director John Palfrey, along with co-directors danah boyd and Dena Sacco, with support from the Berkman Center’s Digital Natives project team and Cyberlaw Clinic. Members of the Task Force include industry-leading Internet businesses, non-profit organizations, and technology companies.

Organizations that have joined the Task Force include:

• AOL
• Aristotle
• AT&T
• Bebo
• Berkman Center
• Center for Democracy & Technology
• Connectsafely.org
• Comcast
• Enough is Enough
• Facebook
• Google
• Family Online Safety Institute
• WiredSafety.org
• Xanga
• iKeepSafe
• Institue for Policy Innovation
• Linden Lab
• Loopt
• IDology
• Microsoft
• MySpace
• NCMEC
• Progress and Freedom Foundation
• Sentinel Tech
• Symantec
• Verizon
• Yahoo!

“We believe in the power of technology, that is why we are so enthusiastic about the new Internet Safety Technical Task Force,” said Ernie Allen, President and Chief Executive of the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children. “We are hopeful that together we can explore and find solutions through technology that enable the expansive use of the marvelous tools and resources available, while more effectively protecting the children and young people who use them in such large numbers.”

“AOL remains a leader in developing innovative technologies – such as AOL’s parental controls – to protect children’s online experience and empower their parents,” said Charles Curran, AOL’s Chief Counsel for Policy & Regulatory. “The Berkman Center’s policy expertise will be invaluable to the Task Force’s evaluation of new online security tools and we look forward to working with them to promote effective solutions for child safety”.

The Task Force will prepare quarterly reports with their findings and present a final report at the end of the year.

About the Berkman Center

The Berkman Center for Internet & Society at Harvard Law School is proud to celebrate its tenth year as a research program founded to explore cyberspace, share in its study, and help pioneer its development. Founded in 1997, through a generous gift from Jack N. and Lillian R. Berkman, the Center is now home to an ever-growing community of faculty, fellows, staff, and affiliates working on projects that span the broad range of intersections between cyberspace, technology, and society. More information can be found at http://cyber.law.harvard.edu

Contact:

Seth Young
617.384.9135
syoung@cyber.law.harvard.edu
415.848.7172

Verizon Wireless, the nation’s leading wireless service provider, and Loopt, a revolutionary social-mapping service, announced today Loopt will be available next month on select Verizon Wireless phones.

With Loopt, Verizon Wireless customers can leverage their phones location-based services capabilities to share location information, status messages and geo-tagged photos with their community of friends. Loopt users can view where friends in their private network are located via a map displayed on their mobile phones and connect and share their locations with anyone in their address books or AIM buddy lists. Detailed Loopt maps that show Verizon Wireless users where friends are, what they are doing, and how to meet up with them, transform their Verizon Wireless phones into active social tools to connect, share and explore the real world.

“Loopt offers Verizon Wireless customers a fun, unique and powerful way to connect with friends and share information,” said Ryan Hughes, vice president of digital media programming for Verizon. “Loopt enhances the mobile experience by letting friends stay in touch with and informed of their friends’ lives wherever they go.”

“Location is the redefining element of mobile communication and the consumer experience. Location interoperability and accessibility is the gateway that extends the reach, value and power of mobile devices for all consumers,” said Sam Altman, chief executive officer and co-founder of Loopt. “In co-operation with Verizon Wireless, we are laying the foundation for mass consumer awareness and adoption of Loopt location-based services with a focus on user privacy and security.”

Loopt, the social mapping industry leader, offers the most intuitive and effective privacy controls and security features for end users. Loopt is 100 percent permission-based and users share location information only with their known friends via private networks. In addition, Loopt users can easily turn location-sharing on or off at any time on a friend-by-friend basis or for all friends at once. Loopt regularly works with organizations such as the Family Online Safety Institute, ConnectSafely.org, the Center for Democracy & Technology, and is TRUSTe certified.

Verizon Wireless customers will be able to purchase Loopt beginning in April in the Tools on the Go and Featured Applications shopping aisle in the Get It Now virtual store. Loopt will be available for $3.99 monthly access. Verizon Wireless customers will be able to get Loopt on more than 20 popular Get It Now-capable phones, including the Chocolate by LG, the MOTORIZR  Z6tv and Verizon Wireless G zOne Type-S. Download charges for Get It Now applications vary and airtime or megabyte charges may apply when browsing, downloading and using certain applications, and standard text messaging rates apply. Customers need a Get It Now-enabled handset and Verizon Wireless digital service to access the Get It Now virtual store.

For more information on Verizon Wireless products and services, customers can visit a Verizon Wireless Communications Store, call 1-800-2 JOIN IN or visit www.verizonwireless.com.

About Verizon Wireless

Verizon Wireless operates the nation’s most reliable wireless voice and data network, serving 65.7 million customers. Headquartered in Basking Ridge, N.J., with 69,000 employees nationwide, Verizon Wireless is a joint venture of Verizon Communications (NYSE: VZ) and Vodafone (NYSE and LSE: VOD). For more information, go to: www.verizonwireless.com. To preview and request broadcast-quality video footage and high-resolution stills of Verizon Wireless operations, log on to the Verizon Wireless Multimedia Library at www.verizonwireless.com/multimedia.

About Loopt

Loopt, based in Silicon-Valley and backed by leading venture capital firms Sequoia Capital and New Enterprise Associates, has created a revolutionary social-mapping service that changes the way friends connect, share and explore in the mobile environment. Leveraging the latest location-based technologies, Loopt automatically updates and delivers friend location maps, messages and alerts on mobile handsets and the Web. Loopt was designed with privacy considerations at its core and offers a variety of effective and easy-to-use privacy controls for subscribers. Loopt works with leading mobile, social networking, and online privacy and security organizations such as the Center for Democracy & Technology, Family Online Safety Institute (member, board of directors), Cyber Safe California (member, advisory board), ConnectSafely.org, Congressional Internet Caucus Advisory Committee, and Ponemon Institute. Loopt is also TRUSTe certified. For more information, please visit www.loopt.com.

Contacts:

Jeffrey Nelson
Verizon Wireless
jeffrey.nelson@verizonwireless.com
908.559.7519

Amanda Sanyal
SutherlandGold Group for Loopt
amanda@sutherlandgold.com
650.520.5419

Loopt®, a revolutionary social-mapping and communication service, announced today that the location-based service is now available for free to BlackBerry users on the Sprint, Alltel, T-Mobile and AT&T networks.

BlackBerry users can now share their location information with friends across multiple devices and carrier networks.

According to a recent report from IDC, BlackBerry handsets lead the industry in smartphone sales with 44.5% of the market, largely due to the new consumer-friendly phones they now offer like the Curve and Pearl.

“Smartphones have become increasingly popular with young consumers and we are confident that users will be delighted with the Loopt user experience on the Blackberry,” said Sam Altman, CEO of Loopt. “Loopt continues to deliver on the promise of a truly interoperable and accessible location-based service available across multiple carriers and devices.”

Loopt shows users where friends are located and what they are doing via detailed, interactive maps on their mobile phones. Loopt helps friends connect on the go and navigate their social lives by orienting them to people, places and events. Users can also share location updates, geo-tagged photos and comments with friends in their mobile address book or on online social networks, communities and blogs.

Loopt was designed with user privacy at its core and offers a variety of effective and intuitive privacy controls. For more information about Loopt or to download Loopt for your Blackberry please visit www.loopt.com. Loopt for Blackberry is free to download and use. However, a data plan is required and standard data and messaging charges from your carrier may apply.

About Loopt

Loopt, based in Silicon-Valley and backed by leading venture capital firms Sequoia Capital and New Enterprise Associates, has created a revolutionary social-mapping service that changes the way friends connect, share and explore in the mobile environment. Leveraging the latest location-based technologies, Loopt automatically updates and delivers friend location maps, messages and alerts on mobile handsets and the Web. Loopt was designed with privacy considerations at its core and offers a variety of effective and easy-to-use privacy controls for subscribers. Loopt works with leading mobile, social networking, and online privacy and security organizations such as the Center for Democracy & Technology, Family Online Safety Institute, Cyber Safe California, ConnectSafely.org, Congressional Internet Caucus Advisory Committee, and the Progress & Freedom Foundation’s Center for Digital Media Freedom, and the Internet Safety Task Force. Loopt is also TRUSTe certified. For more information, please visit www.loopt.com

Contacts:

Amanda Sanyal
SutherlandGold Group
amanda@sutherlandgold.com
650.520.5419