Google Continues Its Efforts In Child Safety

Recently, a conference of experts convened in New York to ask the question “Does The Internet Change Everything?” in regards to how information is presented to children in the ever-evolving digital age. Just how dangerous an environment is the Internet, and what are practical solutions to make it safer for children?

First let me say, I don’t have any children. As a 28 year-old single male, the idea of keeping the Internet safe for children isn’t exactly the first thought that pops into my mind whenever I sit down to do my daily web surfing.

When I’m forced to consider the prospect, however, I find that if I did have children, I probably wouldn’t want them using the Internet at all.

We’ve become numb to the barrage of pornographic spam and stories of child predators anymore; these aspects of the Internet have been accepted as “part of the territory” when it comes to cyberspace.

As adults, most of us have the capacity to shut out the explicit imagery, ignore the random MySpace messages from someone seeking to proposition us for an adult encounter, and weed our way through the spam in order to get where we are going.

Children, however, have the natural tendency to accept and embrace what they see. They believe in Santa Claus, the Easter Bunny, and the outlines what he believes are four specific scenarios that occur when children search for content on the Internet, and the appropriate response for each:

· When a child isn't actively seeking objectionable content online, and doesn't encounter any, no action is needed.

· When a child isn't seeking objectionable content, but comes across it inadvertently, ISPs and other online services, like Google, and child safety organizations can provide tools and resources to help families effectively monitor their child's online interactions.

· When a child is actively seeking out objectionable content online and finds it, parents are primarily responsible for devising a solution.

· When a child isn't seeking out objectionable content, but someone deliberately forces such content on them, this amounts to exploitation -- and requires government involvement and cooperation by ISPs and other online services.
According to SafeSearch, a filter that uses advanced technology to block pornographic and explicit content from Google search results. We've also partnered with child safety organizations to educate families about ways to use the Internet and other types of media safely.

These efforts include joining forces with CommonSense Media to provide i-Safe and National Center of Missing and Exploited Children, or NCMEC.

We also respond to hundreds of child safety-related law enforcement requests each year, in addition to requests to preserve data related to these cases. Lastly, we donate hardware and software to improve NCMEC's ability to manage incoming reports of child exploitation and assist NCMEC in promoting its Del.icio.us | Digg | Reddit | Furl