August 19, 2009 by Jenny Sanderson
A new browser specifically designed for safe searching has been launched in Russia and is provoking a lot of negative feedback on forums, blogs, etc. The ‘Gogul’ browser is designed as a tool to allow children search the internet without being exposed to harmful content. Nothing particularly controversial or even unusual about that, the issues concern the scope of sites that are allowable.
Gogul only searches about 7000 pre approved sites chosen by a collective of parents, child psychologists and teachers who some have accused of having a political as well as a child protection motive. You might be inclined to view these as a just empty conspiracy theories (and you may be right) though there is some supporting evidence. For instance, the fact that Gogul does not perform searches on the word ‘Putin,’ slightly strange.
Sections of the civil liberties community are calling this another backdoor government attempt to censor the internet, much like the Green Dam Youth Escort software that China tried to have installed on all computers earlier this year. Well, it does seem to have some striking parallels.
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