Why Doesn't 'Google Kids' Exist? 561
theodp writes "Slate's Michael Agger wishes there was a website his 6-year-old son could visit on his own to watch amateur Star Wars Lego movies and other stuff he's curious about. 'But I don't leave him alone on YouTube,' he laments, 'because I never know if some strange-ass video will appear in the 'Related Videos' section.' Agger suggests that Google should create Google Kids, a search engine that filters the Web for children. 'Think back to when you were a kid and your parents dropped you off at the library,' explains Agger. 'In the children's section, the only "inappropriate" stuff to be found was Judy Blume's Forever, which someone's older sister had usually already checked out anyway. Similarly, Google Kids would be a sort of children's section of the Web, focused on providing high-quality results based on age.'"
Re:Supervise your own kid (Score:4, Interesting)
I'm curious, do people who cover up outlets disgusts you? How about those who make sure there's a childproof fence around the pool? Or the ones who put a lock on the liquor cabinet?
Watching your child every second of every day is an equally dangerous proposition, in terms of their intellectual and emotional growth, as not watching them at all. They NEED to learn to think and operate independently, and being able to designate a subset of the Internet not filled with bomb instructions and donkey porn would be an excellent service to help them do that in relative safety.
Re:Why aren't parents actually being parents? (Score:4, Interesting)
Have you ever used the Internet? Simple searches for kids cartoons can come up with several pornographic spoofs on the first page
Really? Turn safe search on and give me a non-pornographic phrase to type into google that will give me pornography on the first page.
Re:Why aren't parents actually being parents? (Score:3, Interesting)
I think this attitude of "we must find only age appropriate activities and content for our precious widdle childwen" is a fairly new concept. When I was a kid, there was no particular effort to review or control what was consumed nor what was provided. Yeah, there was Tipper Gore and all that shit, but when it came down to a parental level. We didn't even have special video games for kids, like we do today. Videogames were just games and you played them or you didn't.
I mean, really, I don't get what the big deal is. I was on BBSes when I was twelve, downloading porn. I turned out okay. I was reading Tommy Knockers and other Stephen King books when I was ten. I turned out okay. I was watching Poltergeist, when I was four. I turned out okay.
I don't even want to consider what my life would now be like if my online access was restricted to some sort of Disneyland BBS, my reading was limited to the Children's section of the library, and my movie/tv content was restricted to only those things with a Disney or WB logo on them.
That said, it's up to you if you want to control the content your kid consumes and as long as it in absolutely no way affects my rights and freedoms as an adult or puts up any sort of hurdle or verification requirement or anything else, it's fine with me. None of my business. As long as it is not something impacting everyone else, but is something entirely different and limited to only those opted in by their parents.
Oh - and I don't see why people need Google to do this for them. Google already offers you the option to make a customized search engine. Add all the "family friendly" watered down crap to it that you want and make google.com redirect to the custom engine on your local network. Problem solved.