Google teaches kids to spot fake news, stay safe online
Gurugram, June 28: In a world with increasing cases of cyber bullying, fake news and other unsafe practices on the Internet, Google on Thursday concluded a summer educational programme that taught young children how to make use of the Internet in a productive way.
"Children are being exposed to technology much earlier than ever before and we believe that these foundational years are the best time to start nurturing their inquisitiveness and curiosity in the right direction," said Sunita Mohanty, Trust and Safe Director of Google India, while speaking at the final event of Google's #SummerWithGoogle campaign here.
"Children are a large part of the Internet user group and hence they need to be taught how to stay safe on the web to develop them into socially responsible digital citizens of the future," Mohanty added.
The campaign that ran for over four weeks, engaged children between 13 to 18 years of age in four online assignments that were designed to have both real world projects and a virtual learning experience.
"While completing their assignments, the kids were given tips and tricks about Internet safety, including what are the aspects of a strong password, how to identify spams or false news, how to make safe transaction among others," Mohanty told IANS.
"Children of today will become tomorrow's digital citizens and we definitely want them to be advocates of Internet safety and spread the word," she noted.
"The experience was amazing and we discovered a lot and I wish for Google to continue this campaign," Nikita Dey, 16, who had come to the event with her mother, told IANS.
Thousands of children from all over the country, including from lesser expected places like Jammu and Kashmir, Kottayam in Kerala, Jalgaon in Maharashtra and Kapurthala in Punjab, participated in the campaign.
Out of these, the best 100 were chosen to participate in the final event.
Google also collaborated with Smile Foundation -- a Delhi-based NGO to reach out to the children who do not have regular Internet exposure. The best 10 out of the group were present at the final event.
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Vivek Ramaswamy indicates massive government job cuts in US
Washington, Nov 16: Entrepreneur-turned politician Vivek Ramaswamy, who along with Tesla owner Elon Musk has been nominated in-charge of the Department of Government Efficiency, has indicated a massive cut in federal government jobs in the United States.
"Elon Musk and I are in a position to start the mass deportations of millions of unelected federal bureaucrats out of the DC bureaucracy. That, too, is how we're going to save this country," Ramaswamy, an Indian American, said at an event in Mar-a-Lago in Florida on Thursday.
"I don't know if you've got to know Elon yet, but he doesn't bring a chisel. He brings a chainsaw. We are going to be taking it to that bureaucracy. It's going to be a lot of fun,” he said.
“We've been taught to believe over the last four years that we have become a nation in decline, that we're at the end of the ancient Roman Empire. All we have is to fight over the scraps of some shrinking pie. I don't think we have to stay as that nation in decline. I think with what happened last week, we're back to being a nation in our ascent. A nation whose best days are actually still ahead of us,” Ramaswamy said.
"It is going to be morning in America, the start of a new dawn, the start of a country where our kids are going to grow up and we're going to tell them and mean it, that you get ahead in the United States again with your own hard work and commitment and dedication, that you're free to speak your mind at every step of the way, that the best person gets the job regardless of their colour," he said.
Meanwhile, Musk and Ramaswamy announced that they will livestream every week to update the American public on the progress of the works by the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE).
"Our goal is to shave the size of government and to be as transparent as possible with the public. Weekly 'Dogecasts' will start soon," Ramaswamy said.
“DOGE's job is to create a government of a size and scope that our Founders would be proud of. Elon Musk and I look forward to fulfilling the mandate given to us by President Trump,” he said.
Ramaswamy, however, argued that too much bureaucracy means less innovation and higher costs. "That’s a real problem with the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA), Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC), and countless other 3-letter agencies," he said, adding, "They are utterly agnostic to how their daily decisions stifle new inventions and impose costs that deter growth."
"We are assembling the brightest minds in the country. This is the equivalent of a modern Manhattan Project. I think the major problem holding our country back is a federal bureaucracy. Target that cost, save the money, restore self-governance," Ramaswamy said.
