Google Launches Family Safety Center for Parents

Google is launching a new Family Safety Center, a repository of good practices and advice on how to educate your kids about the dangers online and how to use the tools Google and others provide to keep them safe.

"[W]hile most of us remember being taught to cross the road and not talk to strangers, we probably weren’t taught how much personal information we should share online or how to handle cyberbullies," Kate Hammond, a Marketing Manager at Google, wrote.

"Today, we’re launching our new Family Safety Center; a one-stop shop about staying safe online," she announced.

"We’ve included advice from leading child safety organizations around the world, tips and ideas from parents here at Google, as well as information on how to use the safety tools and controls built into Google products," she added.

Google enlisted the help of child safety organizations but also real parents at the company to come up with ideas and guides for those looking for ways to efficiently protect their children online.

Google lists the advice of some well known organizations from around the world, like the OnGuard Online initiative, the Canadian Centre for Child Protection, the Australian Communications and Media Authority, U.K.’s ChildNet and New Zealand’s NetSafe.

These offer their opinions and guides regarding inappropriate material online, protecting children from strangers they may meet online, instructing them not to give out too much personal information online, and other threats, even malware.

There is also a YouTube channel with videos by Google employees, including CEO Eric Schmidt and VP of engineering Vic Gundotra, offering their experience as parents and what they've done to make sure that their kids are safe on the web.

The Family Safety Center also details some of the tools Google provides for parents such as Google Safe Search and Save Search Lock, and YouTube Safety Mode.