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Community weekly poll: 2/11/05 Do you monitor your children's activity on the Internet?
- 2/9/05 12:24 PM
2/11/05 Do you monitor your children's activity on the Internet?
by Lee Koo (ADMIN) - 2/9/05 12:24 PM
Do you monitor your children's activity on the Internet?
- Yes, I have parental-control utilities in place.
- Yes, I am physically present when they're on the
Internet.
- No, they are angels.
- They're too young, but I will.
- They're adults now, but I think I still should.
- Who need kids, when I can't even keep myself out of
trouble?
Things weren't quite so bad
by TONI H - 2/9/05 2:00 PM In reply to: 2/11/05 Do you monitor your children's activity on the Internet? by Lee Koo (ADMIN)
when my son got on the net when he was 8 years old. We had a local town chatroom and he almost exclusively went in there to talk to school friends, and they monitored it pretty closely for bad language mostly (I live in the bible belt).
When I discovered he had started to go to a couple of the porn sites I gave him advice of never give out your real name, address, phone number, or town. Never get into a 'conversation' with anybody because the phone bill will get charged, look around as much as you want (if you don't know what boobs and butts and other goodies look like by now, maybe I should start looking at YOU differently).
He didn't realize that cookies let me know where he had been, and at that time, AOL automatically saved every conversation in AIM to your harddrive so even that was up for scrutiny without his knowledge. I felt badly about reading some of it because it felt like I was opening up a diary and should have been private, but I rationalized that as a parent I was entitled (wrong), and I stopped reading those pretty quickly and left it to trusting him instead.
He never let me down......and is now in the Navy, 23, married, and working with computers regarding electronic warfare and heading for computer science and computer engineer degrees.
Today.....I would be a nervous wreck. There isn't anything safe out there anymore for kids, boys OR girls. Gullibility and immortal are their middle names.....they firmly believe they cannot be hurt while in their own homes and everybody is to be trusted, even strangers on the net who talk just like a kid so how do they know the difference?
When I set up AIM for my grandkids, I go through every single setting and remove the ability to share files or take messages from anybody but people who are on their buddy list. I have them email all their friends who have computers and the net and get those buddy names ahead of time and put them into the list. They are not allowed to talk to anybody else nor are they allowed to add anybody to the list except personal friends from school or the neighborhood or family. They use anonymous usernames and never give out real names or personal information like where they go to school, town they live in, or anything else if they wander into some other chatroom. The FIRST time they break the rules, AIM is uninstalled completely and no access to chatrooms again or the internet for thirty days. Then they get another chance.
I don't monitor their conversations, nor do I put keyloggers on, but I have kept up on all the shortcuts type language they type (such as PIR...parent in room or POS...parent over shoulder) so as I glance at the screen I know they are talking about something 'grownups' are off limits to, but I catch the username they are talking to and make note of it. Then I check their written list of buddies they have to give me as they use the program so I know it's an "ok" party.
Just some of my own rules........there are others, but chatrooms are the main places kids go to and those are the most important ones that need to be checked for their safety.
Viruses/trojans/spyware........that's all par for the course for things kids don't think about or worry about. Those things are my job to clean up and nag about clicking attachments in emails. LOL
TONI
A FREE “intelligent” alternative Internet filter!
by lemming - 2/14/05 7:08 AM In reply to: Things weren't quite so bad by TONI HWhen considering investing in Internet filter technology, it is important to bare in mind that all US filters are list based and that:
- The American filter which has analysed the most web sites has analyzed less than 10,000,000 pages/sites.
- The largest known host alone consists of 2,000,000 sites.
- American filters not only ban URL's and sites, but also whole host servers.
- That in excess of 2,000,000 web-sites is changed or created daily.
- In excess of 260,000,000 web pages are pornographic.
- That in July of 2003 (according to N2H2), 28,000,000 new pornographic web pages was created.
- The Internet (according to Lawrence, Giles) consists of close to 40,000,000,000 web pages.
- Google presumably only knows about 8,500,000,000 web sites.
An alternative to these US list based filters is a small filter from Denmark called Access Proxy (can be downloaded in a free single user version from http://accessproxy.homepage.dk/ie/download/accessproxy-us.exe, with the "quick install" manual - which you MUST read before you install it - available from http://accessproxy.homepage.dk/ie/download/AccessProxyInstall.pdf!
This filter not only is based on artificial intelligence and can therefore "train" it when it makes a mistake, it also understand some 15+ languages and filters on the basis of a combination of an image filter (which is trusted about 70%), a text analysis filter (trusted about 95%), PICS (trusted about 90%), web site title (trusted about 90%) and it’s own "X-factor", their secret, (which is trusted about 80%).
Actually, 99.9 % of what Access Proxy does is done using neural network technology, and only in the last about 0.1 % is list based, something which is only used when it has a web site which is obviously inappropriate, but which the extremely advanced software can not recognise!
And when it come to web-sites containing hate material, Access Proxy works on the principles of the "Simon Wiesenthal Centre", and have incorporated the exact same principles as come from them.
Access Proxy become better and better every day, and for the "pro" version of the application (which I use), updates is made available about twice a week - for the shareware version it is once a month (which is why it is strongly recommend that users of the shareware version subscribe to the update service).
When you put all these technologies together, it gives an amazingly low error rate - especially on pornographically material!
From the outset, Access Proxy was developed with the involvement of librarians, teachers and pedagogues from Denmark Finland, Germany, Netherlands, Norway and Sweden, so that the setting of the standards for the moral codex of the filter, mirrored the original "target markets", at the same time as the developers did not feel they had any rights to be "taste and moral" judges on behalf of the public, who would encounter the products in primarily libraries, schools and other educational institutions!
The reason I started using Access Proxy is that it in a test conducted by the "Danish School of Librarians" - of "boarder line site" - against respectively CyberPatrol (28% error rate), ContentKeeper (16% error rate) and PureSight (19% error rate), came out with an error rate of only 1!
And all errors of Access Proxy were "balanced", meaning that it had equal amounts of over- and under filtering!
When looking at a test like this, it is however important to look at the cultural background of the test, which was performed by people with a northern European cultural and moral codex.
But if you are of a liberal observation, and feel that it is important that your children have access to information about sex, sexual deceases, medical sites relating to sex and world wide current affairs, then I can strongly recommend Access Proxy over any of the “standard” list based and extremely restrictive US filters!
Regards
Lemming
Doesn't seem to be working
by jsm30625 - 3/31/05 12:50 AM In reply to: A FREE “intelligent” alternative Internet filter! by lemmingI went to accessproxy.dk and downloaded their quick start pdf and their program, but every time I try to register the key that is in the quick start guide the serial always goes back to "14 Day Trial" Instead of the actual serial. It doesn't seem to be free.
Problem is blocking bad sites instead of allowing good ones!
by GoodSiteList - 10/18/06 8:25 PM In reply to: A FREE “intelligent” alternative Internet filter! by lemmingThe major issue with conventional attempts to filter the internet is the problem of blocking bad sites instead of aloowing the known ''Good Sites.'' This is why we created ''The Good Site List'' (goodsitelist.blogspot.com) to be used in conjunction with Cybersitter. By doing this you can restrict all internet content to the sites that have already been proven to be free of any objectionalble content such as pornography or anything like unto it. To learn more visit (goodsitelist.blogspot.com). Please help us compile the largest list of ''Good Sites'' on the web.
Do you monitor your childs activity on the internet
by Professor Curt - 2/11/05 5:09 AM In reply to: 2/11/05 Do you monitor your children's activity on the Internet? by Lee Koo (ADMIN)
My kids are older now - 1 out of college, the other away at school. When they were teens, the computer was in the living room where I could see it while watching TV. Nothing beats the Mark 1 Mod. 0 eyeball of a concerned parent to monitor internet usage.
parental controls
by prairieskye - 2/11/05 5:24 AM In reply to: 2/11/05 Do you monitor your children's activity on the Internet? by Lee Koo (ADMIN)
I monitor my 13yr.olds' activity with the parental controls on MSN. For some reason, it also blocks alot of innocent sites, that you are asked to continually unblock. MSN sends detailed reports on a frequent basis.
I'm aware she can get around this but it would take alot more effort on her part. It seems to be enough for now but will shift strategies in the future.
Give APE a try...
by herderess - 9/8/05 6:53 PM In reply to: parental controls by prairieskyeAutomated Porn Eliminator (APE) is cheap($10) and i love it because it allows me to monitor my kids internet usage from completely online. I can make any changes i want, set shutdown times for the computer and do a bunch of other stuff...
If you'r having trouble with MSN, give APE a try...
Its at
http://ape.childcontrols.com
Monitoring my GRANDCHILDREN
by smartipants - 2/11/05 5:46 AM In reply to: 2/11/05 Do you monitor your children's activity on the Internet? by Lee Koo (ADMIN)
I voted for "They're adults now, but I think I still should" 'cuz my "kids" (ages 27-34) aren't too bright about giving out personal information online.
When my grandaughter was born in 2000, I gave her an old Mac 520 ("Baby Banger" and "Key Whack" installed) that sat on the floor. She would crawl over and bang on the keyboard - by age 2 1/2, she was more computer literate than many adults I know. Now I monitor her use by sitting with her while she surfs Sesame Street, PBS, and children's story sites. We don't have filters in place, but it's time to think about it. My grandson will be coming up right behind her in computer knowledge and use. :o)
you might be interested in this...
by herderess - 9/8/05 6:57 PM In reply to: Monitoring my GRANDCHILDREN by smartipantsI mentioned in one of the posts above as well about APE (Automated Porn Eliminator). You can install it and monitor everything from any other web browser. Not only is that convenient for the parent, but it is also less likely to lead to friction with the child (you are not over the child's shoulder everytime he/she goes on the internet).
Give it a try!
http://ape.childcontrols.com
Do you monitor your children's activity on the Internet?
by aaronleveille - 2/11/05 8:33 AM In reply to: 2/11/05 Do you monitor your children's activity on the Internet? by Lee Koo (ADMIN)
Who need kids, when I can't even keep myself out of
trouble?
Kids will be kids, and as much as people would love to protect them, for it's their duty being a responcible parent, I will say it can be taken, just a little bit over-board. As a young adult myself i will say this," Too much control only pushes them away into trouble, if your so concerned on their uses on the net.... well DONT let them use it. They will go find another place to use the net in non-appropriate ways through a friend to get what they want so ....why even bother ' Let them be!!!!"
" ITS THAT GOOD OLD SAYING...LET LIVE & LET LEARN"
---------Thankyou for you concideration!--------------
Do you monitor your children's activity on the Internet?
by PCSentinelSoftware - 9/7/05 12:40 PM In reply to: Do you monitor your children's activity on the Internet? by aaronleveilleI feel it is best to monitor and review what your kids do, without being too heavy handed. If they know you are keeping tabs on the websites they visit, the applications they use and their IM chats they won't be tempted to stray in the first place.
just another parental challenge
by dpsmith58 - 2/11/05 8:38 AM In reply to: 2/11/05 Do you monitor your children's activity on the Internet? by Lee Koo (ADMIN)
I hate to sound like an old fogey, but in this age of internet freedom, gorey and disturbingly realistic video games, MTV-mentality cable jackasses, and even irresponsible readily available network TV and radio programming, parents do need to do more than "talk" with their children. They need utilities. Yes, talking with your kids is the primary solution. But these youths are in an impressionable developmental stage, and these media outlets are so readily available that they have become mainstream. And the various industry's current solutions are not enough, and worse, they give the impression that they care. The 'solutions' to slap an "M" rating on a game or 'explicit language' on music or 'you must be 18 to enter this site--click here' are not deterrents, they're invitations. So parents need more.
It DOES take a village, and these days, that village includes the tools necessary to deal with the modern challenges. Parental controls are part of the package...to supplement the conversations, of course.
Physically present, my vote.
by hp46168 - 2/11/05 10:18 AM In reply to: 2/11/05 Do you monitor your children's activity on the Internet? by Lee Koo (ADMIN)
If parents were more involved in their kids' lives, then we wouldn't be having all of these problems that we are having today.
My son is 5 years old, and he has his own laptop. It does NOT have a connection to the internet, so the only thing he can do with it are the games and dvds we buy for him in his room, but often he chooses to use his laptop in our room.
Our family computer is in our loft area, where we spend about 75% of our time in. With the big monitor that it is hooked up to, it is easy to see what he is doing on it from all the way across the loft.
The only web sites I have taken him to so far are the ones that his Kindergarten teacher assigns homework for, or any neat kid sites that I think he might like.
Right now, this is an ideal solution. Down the road, I predict a time where he will want his laptop to also be hooked up constantly to the internet, so he can surf in his own room.
I do have a little time before that time comes, to think about what I am going to say and do about it, but I hope by that time I have instilled a value set in him so I can trust him, for I work on these things for a living, and if any of this talent of mine is in his genes, no matter what parental controls I put on, he will figure a way around them.
Physically present, my vote
by PCSentinelSoftware - 9/7/05 1:07 PM In reply to: Physically present, my vote. by hp46168Your son is still very young - wait until he starts wanting to instant message his friends! They tend to feel instant messages disappear into the ether so they can say anything. A good instant message/ web site visited monitor lets you stay on top of what they are up to, and if they know such a thing is installed it prevents misuse of the computer in the first place.
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