Google launches consumer education campaign for digital literacy

Google’s Good to Know project

As the word “Google” has become a noun and a verb in American culture, the nation simply accepts the company as a part of daily life, an information source, a map provider, an email provider and most blindly trust without understanding that there are privacy issues at hand. In response to said privacy issues, Google announced this week that after launching in Europe, they have launched a consumer education campaign for digital literacy called “Good To Know.”

“Good To Know” is a new online guide which addresses topics from general web safety issues to how Google (and other sites) use consumer data. They also offer tips on how to manage user data and inform readers of malware and phishing as well as offering safety tips for online shopping. Users can also find detailed explanation about how Google uses rivate data in ads and in many Google services such as Google+, YouTube, Gmail and more.

Demystifying the process is not only educational but helpful as our nation marches toward being digital-dependent; we should be digitally literate as well, knowing about more than just how to update Facebook. Consumers should know in plain terms what happens in the magical gears behind websites and social networks and should know that it is more complex than a tweet.

Alma Whitten, Director of Privacy, Product and Engineering said in a statement, “Technology can be confusing, and the industry often fails to explain clearly enough why digital literacy matters. So today in the U.S. we’re kicking off Good to Know, our biggest-ever consumer education campaign focused on making the web a safer, more comfortable place.”

“Our ad campaign, which we introduced in the U.K. and Germany last fall,” Whitten added, “offers privacy and security tips: Use 2-step verification! Remember to lock your computer when you step away! Make sure your connection to a website is secure! It also explains some of the building blocks of the web like cookies and IP addresses. Keep an eye out for the ads in newspapers and magazines, online and in New York and Washington, D.C. subway stations.”