The new Google program may help children fight trolls and hackers

San Francisco, June 7: Technology giant Google announced a new academic program designed to teach children such as phishing, Internet harassment and passwords about Internet security issues, a company posted in a blog post. The programme -- called "Be Internet Awesome" -- includes a classroom curriculum and a video game called Interland. "To make a lot of children on the web, we need to provide guidance when they learn to make their own smart decisions online," Pavni Diwanji, Vice President of the Engineering for kids and families, said in a Google blogpost on Tuesday.

"With school out and summer break giving kids more time to spend on the Internet, it's a great time to introduce Be Internet Awesome: a new way to encourage digital safety and citizenship," Diwanji added. The programme includes sections on how to limit sharing personal information with people online, avoid falling for scams or phishing attacks, creating strong passwords, and avoiding negative behaviour online as well as has a "Be Internet Awesome Pledge" that the students can sign.

Interland, along with the video game, appears as a training tool and a sweetener that can get students interested in more material. Interland also uses low-poly aesthetics familiar to users of the classroom reality (VR). The programme was developed in collaboration with online safety experts like the Family Online Safety Institute, the Internet Keep Safe Coalition and ConnectSafely.

It includes a range of specific resources for kids, educators and parents, so everyone has the tools they need to learn and participate in the conversation. The programme is compliant with International Society for Technology in Education standards, awarded to programs that promote a range of tech-savvy skills, said theverge.com on Tuesday. "Be Internet Awesome" is the latest in Google's string of educational programmes, This promotes virtual reality field trips Chromebooks in the classroom to offer via Google Cardboard.