Well Google seems to constantly have issues that fall into the realm of intellectual freedom so this week I'll take a look at some of the latest news surrounding Google. I came across this story about Google's new SSL (Secure Sockets Layer) search that will mean some school's may have to block Google. Basically the new search encrypts all the information including search terms which means filters can not do their job.
Because my husband is a systems engineer for the local school system I decided to conduct a casual interview and learn what his experience and thoughts on this issue are. First off their internet provider is already able to work around Google's SSL search without blocking it. He said there is also the option to use a non-SSL version of Google which I had not gathered from the article. He did explain that this is a larger issue than just blocking Google's search site because it also includes Gmail. His understanding was that Google's implementation of an SSL search was their way of getting back at China's censorship efforts. Unfortunately, it seems to cause problems for institutions here in the U.S. who legally have to filter.
I can applaud Google's effort to prevent censorship, but it seems to backfire when users have to block the site altogether due to legislation such as CIPA. It also begs the question if it is really accomplishing their goal. Of course encrypted searching creates more privacy and can be a good thing but a company as large as Google and one that is constantly in the battle against censorship needs to work closer with schools and libraries or at least consider them to come up solutions that guarantee quality searching for all.
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That is an interesting article. When I first read it, it seemed as though users would have the choice to encrypt or not encrypt, but further down it implied that would not be possible and would impact other services.
ReplyDeleteI casually follow Google's increased applications for schools because I'm interested in how they are dealing with regulations like FERPA. They recently implemented a course scheduling application. Now it seems they will be having to address CIPA too. Good find!