Google Safesearch

[Simcfc73]

From Google with love

 

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[TD=width: 100%]SafeSearch changes coming from Google [/TD]

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[TD=width: 100%]Hello Administrators,

Encryption helps protect everyone from security risks, including identity theft and deep packet inspection from ISPs and others who may have access to a user's network. For students, learning about using encrypted services to maintain data privacy and security is critical to staying safe and secure online.

Google had provided a "NoSSL" work-around for school administrators to turn on SafeSearch by default at a network level, but students' Search connections were not encrypted. That's why we are replacing the NoSSL workaround with a SafeSearch Virtual IP (VIP) that is just as effective, without the vulnerabilities of unencrypted search.

Starting on June 23rd 2015, nossl.google.com will be deprecated and all traffic to it will be redirected to forcedsafesearch.google.com, our SafeSearch VIP. The SafeSearch VIP will enforce SafeSearch and will be encrypted. If you were using NoSSL before, you don’t need to take any action at this time.

Visit our Help Center to learn more about using the SafeSearch VIP to block adult content at your school or about enabling SafeSearch for individual accounts.

No filter is 100% accurate, but SafeSearch should help you avoid most adult images and sites. If you have SafeSearch turned on but your search results contain webpages that have objectionable content, please report the offensive content.

Many companies also offer additional services for schools who feel SafeSearch alone is not sufficient for their needs. An example list of companies who provide these services can be found here on Wikipedia, or you can talk to your network provider about options

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[Opendium_Steve]

This was announced last year and the forcesafesearch VIP has been active for a year or so and is working well. Originally the nossl system shutdown was supposed to happen some time in January (from my recollection), but was postponed. I'd guess that a lot of schools were caught off-guard and asked Google for more time to prepare.

 

My understanding is that the nossl system was being widely abused by wifi hotspot providers to snoop on users' traffic, inject ads into Google search results, etc., so its pretty understandable that Google have moved to shut down those kinds of abuses.

 

I was amused we got some free publicity from Google in the form of the Wikipedia link anyway.