Dear Friend,
It’s impossible to ignore the social and economic effects the continuing COVID-19 pandemic has left on the global community. With the world seemingly frozen in place, jobs are scarce, many public places remain shut down, and parents across the country are now more than ever grappling with the difficult reality of keeping their kids safe online.
Schools and families across the country have been forced to host and participate in all-virtual learning, a complicated task that has left many teachers, administrators, and parents feeling confused, frustrated, and helpless.
With school districts and students now reliant on technology, the already difficult task of keeping children safe online has only become harder as kids spend even more time on the Internet.
To make matters worse, the very companies providing the technology have not stepped up in this crisis to ensure the vulnerable using their products are completely protected.
Google, and specifically Chromebook laptops, are widely used by school districts to foster virtual learning, with over 30 million students and 70 million educators using Google devices and education software worldwide. Since the COVID-19 pandemic shut down most schools in the United States, many districts have even taken to mass buying Chromebooks right off the shelves to give to their young students. But these devices are endangering your children and grandchildren!
While Google has the ability to filter and prevent pornography access on these laptops given to children, the filters are not turned on so your kids and grandkids are, in effect, given a porn shop with access to any vile content on the Internet.
We’ve heard directly from countless parents who are expressing their concerns and even their heartbreak as these devices have allowed hardcore pornography to invade their homes for the first time.
It’s also impossible to have a world truly free from sexual exploitation and pornography without corporations working with us to protect both children and adults from the dangers the Internet can hold.
Google, the vast corporate and technological empire, was named to the National Center on Sexual Exploitation’s 2020 Dirty Dozen List because of these very issues—Google has failed to proactively address the serious digital harms flourishing on YouTube, Google Chromebook devices, and even Google Images.
It cannot and should not be the sole responsibility of the schools and especially the parents of students to ensure these devices are protected.
With Google’s influence and resources, there is no reason the company cannot fix these problems and ensure any device coming into a child’s hand from Google is completely safe and locked down. One of the largest tech companies in the world should be leading the charge on helping families figure out learning in a safe virtual education experience.
Google is already weeks behind.
Instead of being the hero to stressed parents and families, Google has taken a hands-off approach to Chromebooks, relying on schools and parents to protect the kids using their devices.
Google should and must assist schools and families further by default turning on the filtering tools, and setting them at a level that would block pornographic content.
Google is not the only tech company endangering children. That’s why we have had constant and, I must say, successful meetings with major tech companies all this year, even during the current crisis, to convince them that the protection of your children and grandchildren should be PRIORITY ONE!
Instagram, TikTok, and Netflix are three that have agreed to change. But Google is perhaps the most important tech company in the world and, with your help, our efforts to change it will not stop until we succeed. I promise you that.
We’re doubling down on our corporate advocacy efforts to hold Big Tech accountable for the profit or facilitation of sexual exploitation, especially pornography, and we need your support.
Will you help lend your voice to those calling for Google to be held accountable for online safety of our children with a generous tax-deductible donation today of $25, $50, $100 or more? All donations will be matched, dollar for dollar, by a generous donor to NCOSE.
We need your help today more than ever because, as you can imagine, many of our best donors have lost employment and many have seen their finances ruined due to COVID-19.
Right now, your donation will come at a critical time for our organization.
June 30 is our fiscal year-end. It is then that we can make plans for the next fiscal year and our plans to assault sexual exploitation in all its forms is totally dependent on what you give now. Please consider donating now more than ever and help foster the programs, projects, and campaigns we need to help children all year round.
And remember, whatever you give will be matched immediately, dollar for dollar, by our generous donor who is matching all gifts up to $3 Million! Please be generous.
