Child Protection Software

Drift

I'm not sure whether this post should be in this forum or the broadband one - could a mod please move it to the apprpriate forum if needed. Thanks.

Right - down to the nitty gritty. I recently set up a broadband connection for relatives of mine. They're not very computer savvy so they asked me to sort out some sort of child protection/filtering software to put on the computer their kids will be using online.

I have no kids (yet!) and have never had to deal with this sort of issue before. I know full well what type of stuff is available online so I know it's vital to protect the kids (9-14 age bracket). I presume someone here has kids and has set up something similar. My main questions are:

What's software package would you recommend using?
Is there any online based system that internet traffic could be directed through?
Any other ideas on how to set up the system safely bearing in mind that the child using the computer will probably have more knowledge of computers than the parent? (I will be nearby should any issues arise but I'm not planning on examining daily logs or anything like that.)

Thanks all.

Zorba

Don't use any filtering software myself yet but i've heard K9 is good and it's free, might be worth a try before u spend any money. Link below

http://www1.k9webprotection.com/

Biggins

Do you want to protect the computer and/or net access?

There is also the likes of:

http://www.softforyou.com/_children_computer/children_computer_protection.html
http://child-protection.qarchive.org/
http://parental-control.qarchive.org/
to begin with...

The best known of all is probably "Netnanny" for the net alone but there is others out there that do the same.
Do a search also at www.download.com for others, free and paying for.

Gadgetman496

NAOMI might be worth a look too (and it's free)

No longer supported but is still available & works well
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Drift

Thanks for the advice so far guys. So far the research I've done myself has come up with SafeEyes, Net Nanny and CyberPatrol. The transcripts and control of IM conversations is one of the big selling points for me.

Biggins wrote: »

Do you want to protect the computer and/or net access?

Purely looking for software to limit what the kids can access/do online.

strjms72

do they really need to know what the IM conversations are?

gamer

put myspace.com,bebo.ie bebo.com in the blacklist ,i don,t think they are safe for anyone under 16 . BEBO seems to be no1 site for teens to communicate with each other ,ive seen 12 year old kids using it,they are not mykids,i just notice friends kids using it,even though there is supposed to be an age limit,to join it.

Carlow52

You should decide if they want
1: site blocking software
2: overt site tracking software
3: covert site tracking software: aka spying on the kids

the kids can do pretty much what they like on mobile fone now so open communication and trust is where it is at. Software is no substitute for quality time

If they go 3 and the kids find out: they will never get their trust back

Drift

Like I said I've no kids myself so this is a VERY steep learning curve to me.

It's not that I'd like full IM conversation transcripts as the kids need some privacy, the point about the mobile phone is a good one. Some of these software packages offer the opportunity to censor certain words in IM programs. (Like you address for example). I think that's a fairly good idea. I also wouldn't like the software I get to not have any capability with respect to IM programs just incase a need/danger arose in future. I wonder is it possible to just be provided with an update each time a new IM contact is added, that would provide the parents with details of who their child is talking with while still maintaining privacy.

I'm going to have to sit down and explain an awful lot of internet stuff to the parents. My personal preference would be to have blocking of certain sites and search terms (sexual content mainly) and then tracking of other sites visited. Personally I would tell the kids that there will be a list kept on the computer of all the sites they visit. A deterrent so to speak. I don't think any of this should be hidden from them, it should be explained what's being done and why. Of course the big problem is that it's the parents that have to do the explaining and that will be difficult for them considering the kids probably know more about the internet than they do. I guess they'll just have to educate themselves.

Any further advice re software would be helpful. The parenting decisions really aren't mine to make so I'll just inform them what's available, what it does and let them decide what they need/don't need.

Paddyo

Hi

I have 3 young kids and I use Microsofts Family Safety - https://fss.live.com/Default.aspx
It seems to work quite well.

Paddyo