Google recently announced it's taking measures to make Chromebooks safer for students enrolled in kindergarten through 12th grade this fall. With over 40 million students and teachers in the United States using Chromebooks, the new safety features are a welcomed change that for many students, unfortunately, have come too late.
According to the National Center on Sexual Exploitation, "Google’s previous refusal to turn on safety features for Chromebooks distributed to schools resulted in countless students being exposed to sexually explicit material and sexual predators on their school-assigned devices."
Google's new Chromebook safety features will allow SafeSearch and SafeSites to be turned on by default. Additionally, students will only be able to view YouTube content assigned by teachers. Students will not be able to post videos, comment or livestream through their school Google accounts.
Abstinence Clearinghouse commends Google's willingness to make changes that put the safety, security and privacy of its young users first.