Google is apparently working on creating versions of Chrome, Youtube, and even its search engine for children under the age of 13. It is unclear how these new versions will work, but they are scheduled to appear at some point next year. If anything, it would be nice for parents to have a search engine that returns child-friendly search results before anything else.
Pavni Diwanji, the vice president of engineering at Google, informed USA Today that there is a push from within the company to keep their services safe and fun for children. It isn’t difficult to imagine Google catering more to kids, especially with the bright and colourful branding it favours; not to mention the programmes aimed at children like Doodle 4 Google and Made with Code.
However, there may be some roadblocks to implementation of this plan as there are regulations that limit the amount of information that can be collected from minors. This would reduce the efficiency of Google in delivering its customised search results based on consumer behaviour. Diwanji admitted that she understands the concerns, but did not offer any explanations of how the company was working with the regulations to design the services.
Diwanji did, however, offer that Google is working on allowing parents to oversee their childrens’ activities on Google. Which somewhat sounds like it would rattle the wrong parties for storing information on young children, although it may actually be appreciated by parents who would like to see what their kids are up to on the internet.
[Source: USA Today]
