Kiddle: Google-powered safe search engine for children
Kiddle is a new search engine that has been designed as a safe search engine for children.
It is usually not a good idea to leave children, especially young ones, alone with a device that is connected to the Internet as there is a lot of weird and outright disturbing stuff on the Internet that can shock even adults that are Internet veterans.
Even harmless search terms like eat, big or Inspector Gadget may return results that are not suitable for minors, and it does not really matter if you are next to your child when that happens or not, as you'd probably not expect explicit results to be returned for these types of searches.
Search engines try to filter out results by enabling Safe Search filters by default which filter explicit content before results are returned to the user. It is easy to turn off safe search on the other hand on all major search engines, and there is always the chance that explicit results fall through the cracks and are returned.
Kiddle
Kiddle combines Google's Safe Search filter with editorially controlled keyword and site blacklists. Basically, it prevents you from running searches for specific words or phrases, and blocks certain sites from appearing in the results at all.
All you get is an error message if you run a search for a blocked keyword that states: "Oops, looks like your query contained some bad words. Please try again!".
Some search terms or phrases, like "gay" or "homosexual" which usually return safe and explicit content, are blocked as well.
A couple of test searches using web and image search on Kiddle yielded good results, or more precisely, no results at all or only harmless results depending on the search term.
Ultimately, it even seems to be too restrictive when it comes to what is allowed and what is not. Search terms like "birth", "death", or "suicide" are all blocked likely for the same reason that other search terms are blocked that may return safe and explicit results. The main issue here is that it prevents searches for "suicide prevention" and other searches that include a blocked keyword as well.
It seems to be better at blocking explicit content than the Safe Search mechanisms of popular search engines which reduces the chance of results being returned that are not suitable for minors.
Inappropriate keywords or sites that are still returned in the search results may be reported to the Kiddle staff. According to the form, it will take about a business day to review the request and take action.
The service's privacy policy is surprisingly short revealing that no personally identifiable information are collected.
I am 11 years old and I don’t trust kiddle it doesn’t let you play games or do anything fun so it’s a NO for kiddle for me.
can youu plz get rid of kiddle
You might like KidzSearch.com better. My kids have been using it for years and the results are better for student research. They also have an app for tablets.
Searched on “filming nikon d7100” both in GOOGLE & KIDDLE. & you know what there’s nothing appear in KIDDLE. Is this what it meant for? disappointed :(
You can search for Hitler, but not Nazis.
According to the BBC, “Kiddle’s parent company is not named on the website”. Kiddle might be a good thing but not sure I’d want my kids using a ‘safe’ search engine I know nothing about (claims of privacy are easy). Kiddle sounds like a mash of ‘kiddie’ and ‘fiddle’.
You hit the spot, Martin. It’s hardly an enrichment of the discourse when young people exploring – among other things – their identities find that these happen to consist of or contain ‘some bad words’. What were these people thinking?
On a plus note:
Privacy: we don’t collect any personally identifiable information, and our logs are deleted every 24 hours.
“Pussycat” is not blocked, but “pussy” is. Same with “doggy” and “doggy style”. General insults such as idiot, imbecile or moron are not blocked but strangely “twit” is. “Kill” is a no no, even in the context of the 10 Commandments, but “massacre” and “holocaust” return explicit results.
This engine should prove more interesting to adults doing research in sociology, than to actual kids.
Will it be able to filter out Stormfront?
It seems like a great idea. Unfortunately rights groups and “social justice warriors” will probably screw this up for everybody.
Ironically I saw stories within a few hours of my post that confirmed my assumption. Groups were complaining that their special snowflake was blocked.