Do the YouTube and Google search fans at your house know about SafeSearch and Safety Mode? Google made these safety tools available starting a few years ago (see my 2009 post about the former here), but software engineer Matthias Heiler just posted a heads-up about them for users who might be a little more active online during summer vacation. Even before summer was in full swing, 182 million … [Read more...] about Safety tools for summer video viewing & search
SafeSearch
Google’s new Family Safety Center
The search giant and parent of YouTube, Picasa, Buzz, etc. today launched its new "one-stop shop" for online and on-phone safety for parents. The two things I like about the Family Safety Center most are 1) the video that pulls together good ideas about kid safety from parents at Google, including CEO Eric Schmidt (on the Safety Center's main page) and the way the FAQ puts safety info for all key … [Read more...] about Google’s new Family Safety Center
New tool for keeping Web searches safe
A few simple household rules can help kids at your house avoid stumbling upon inappropriate Web content: If you're not absolutely sure of a URL, don't just type it into the browser window. Use a search engine. Use only "our family's search-engine pick" (pick one that offers filtered search, e.g., Google or Bing). Nobody changes the settings or preferences in the search engine. We've had … [Read more...] about New tool for keeping Web searches safe
Bing’s better
Microsoft's new search engine, Bing, got off to a rocky start where porn filtering was concerned. It got rave reviews except for the way it allowed people to bypass its SafeSearch filter even after set to "strict filtering," which my ConnectSafely co-director Larry Magid wrote about at CNET. Microsoft quickly made two changes that pretty much solve the problem if parents have filtering software … [Read more...] about Bing’s better