Parental Controls

Everyone wants their children to be safe online

Since children of all ages use the Internet, there are a lot of parental control software packages available to help parents make sure their children have a safe, fun and enriching experience online, while limiting access to some features of the Internet. Some Parental Controls allow parents to designate different levels of access for each child.  

To help you better understand how the various parental control software tools can be used, here are the three main categories of parental control software tools that can help your kids surf the internet safely.

1. ISP restrictions.

Your ISP can filter out what they consider unsuitable URL's. The problem here is selectively changing the level of restriction depending on who is surfing the internet so it's not easy. AOL have different login's to facilitate this and BT Openworld have their own gateway they you can configure. It does however work well filtering out child pornography sites that nobody should be able to access. The Internet Watch foundation have come up with an initiative with BT known as 'cleanfeed' which stops ISP access to known child pornography sites.

2. Parental Control Software by URL filtering.

This generally covers packages such as Cyber Patrol and Net Nanny. Here you install a large lump of usually expensive parental control software that limits access to sites deemed by the package providers as unsuitable for kids The problem here is firstly updating the URL list and secondly you are dependant on the software manufacturer to make the decision. Many free speech groups have found profound flaws with this technique such as Peacefire (see www.peacefire.org) Where many political sites, in particular feminist sites, end up being blacklisted. In addition this kind of product tends to take a paranoid approach that covers areas other than browsing the internet. These include:

* Email Do you really want to limit email access only to known recipients?

* Instant Messenger Again, kids are the biggest users of ICQ and MSN instant messenger. As long as you keep out the spyware Instant Messenger is not a threat

* Chat rooms A lot of urban mythology about paedophiles and chat rooms. Again the right chat rooms are very well used and useful for kids.
 

Remember that you may change the categories at any time, so you can adjust your children's access to best accommodate their maturity level or special needs.

3. PC activity monitoring.

This category of software package is typified by Spector Pro, KidsNet, eBlaster, Enuff and IamBigBrother Typically monitor everything that goes off on your PC and flags up anything suspicious. This type of program can really slow down an older specification PC because they have to store every keystroke and mouse, movement and browser URL. They often also have the ability to limit access to predetermined time slots. Another problem with this type of application is spyware checker sometimes flag them up as potential spyware because they deploy hook technology to intercept keyboard and mouse activity. These kinds of products have their place if you want to pretend to trust your kids and just confront them with the evidence once the damage has been done.