SafeSearch is a feature in

Google Search Google Search (also known simply as Google) is a search engine provided by Google. Handling more than 3.5 billion searches per day, it has a 92% share of the global search engine market. It is also the most-visited website in the world. The ...

and Google Images that acts as an automated filter of pornography and potentially offensive and inappropriate content. On November 11, 2009, Google introduced the ability for users with Google Accounts to lock on the SafeSearch level in Google's web and image searches. Once configured, a password is required to change the setting. On December 12, 2012, Google removed the option to turn off the filter entirely, requiring users to enter more specific search queries to access adult content. SafeSearch is also often used on school computers, to prevent schoolchildren from accessing pornographic content. Government and internet companies can enforce safesearch.

Effectiveness

A report by Harvard Law School's

Berkman Center for Internet & Society The Berkman Klein Center for Internet & Society is a research center at Harvard University that focuses on the study of cyberspace. Founded at Harvard Law School, the center traditionally focused on internet-related legal issues. On May 15, 2008, ...

stated that SafeSearch excluded many innocuous websites from search-result listings, including ones created by the

White House The White House is the official residence and workplace of the president of the United States. It is located at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW in Washington, D.C., and has been the residence of every U.S. president since John Adams in ...

, IBM, the

American Library Association The American Library Association (ALA) is a nonprofit organization based in the United States that promotes libraries and library education internationally. It is the oldest and largest library association in the world, with 49,727 members ...

and Liz Claiborne. On the other hand, many pornographic images slip through the filter, even when "innocent" search terms are entered. Blacklisting certain search terms is hindered by homographs (e.g., " beaver"), blacklisting certain URLs is rendered ineffective by the changing URLs of porn sites, and software to tag images with copious amounts of flesh tones as pornographic content is problematic because there are a variety of skin tones and pictures of babies tend to have a lot of flesh tones. Google's ability to filter porn has been an important factor in its relationship with the

People's Republic of China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's most populous country, with a population exceeding 1.4 billion, slightly ahead of India. China spans the equivalent of five time zones and ...

References

Google Search Content-control software {{Google-stub