Posted by Vint Cerf, Chief Internet
Evangelist
We know that technologies like the "v-chip" can be used
to keep kids from seeing inappropriate content on TV. And while
technology has an important role to play in protecting kids online,
it's as important that parents implant a symbolic
"v-chip" in their children's minds to guide them when
it comes to deciding what online content is and is not
appropriate.
That was one of the observations I shared this week at the
href="http://www.fosi.org/"
id="n4.j" >Family Online Safety Institute's conference in
Washington, D.C. The Internet provides an amazing opportunity for
young people to express themselves creatively and access immense
quantities of useful information. Kids are using geospatial, mobile
and social networking technologies, for example, to learn in new,
interactive ways. The Internet also provides unparalleled
opportunities for free expression, enabling kids and adults alike
to deliver tremendous benefit to society by voicing sometimes
unpopular, inconvenient, or controversial opinions.
At the same time, there is some online content and activity that is
unsuitable for younger users. Google is dedicated to supporting
parents' efforts to educate and protect their children when
they go online. We've invested in developing family safety
tools that empower parents to limit what online content their
children can discover. Our
href="http://www.google.com/help/customize.html#safe"
id="mr5-" >SafeSearch filter, which users can adjust to block
explicit content from their search results, is an example of this
type of technology.
On
id="f.y-" >YouTube, where we host user-generated content, we aim
to offer a community for free expression that is suitable for
children and protects them from exploitation. Our work to keep
YouTube safe for children includes
href="http://www.youtube.com/t/community_guidelines"
id="e886" >clear policies about what is and is not acceptable on
the site; robust mechanisms to enforce these policies, such as easy
tools for users to police the content by flagging inappropriate
videos; innovative product features that enable safe behavior; and
YouTube
href="http://www.youtube.com/t/safety" id="emco" >safety
tips.
We've also partnered with child safety organizations, including
href="http://www.commonsensemedia.org/" id="fu1r" >CommonSense
Media,
id="x1md" >i-Safe,
href="http://www.ikeepsafe.org/" id="iliq" >iKeepSafe,
href="http://www.netfamilynews.org/"
id="rc.q" >NetFamilyNews, and, of course, the Family Online
Safety Institute to increase awareness about online child safety.
In addition, we cooperate with law enforcement and industry
partners to combat child exploitation and help minimize the
uploading of illegal content, offering training and technical
assistance to law enforcement officials and providing groups like
the National Center For Missing and Exploited Children with
technology tools to help them be more effective in their
work.
Keeping children safe on the Web is the shared responsibility of
parents and families, educators, industry, and government. We have
a shared responsibility to help teach children the media literacy
skills they need to become savvy online and offline information
consumers and, working together, we believe this goal is
attainable.
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