More protection needed?

One of the biggest questions facing parents at the minute is "what are my kids doing online?" To many peoples parents the internet is an unknown but does this mean that they should ignore it? or does the likes of the information contained here -> teen lifestyle mean that parents have every right to install 'spyware' on computers accessed by their kids?

I agree that with younger children their internet usage does have to be monitored but not be the likes of Spector

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Spector AUTOMATICALLY takes hundreds of screen snapshots every hour, very much like a surveillance camera. With Spector, you will be able to see EVERY chat conversation, EVERY instant message, EVERY e-mail, EVERY web site visited and EVERY keystroke typed.

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restricting what sites/chat channels can be visited seems reasonable enough but spying with the likes of spector to me just seems like a complete envasion of provacy.......but then again I don' have kids and when I am a parent perhaps my views will change but atm I don't see myself as ever resorting to such measures.

v_Ln

Disclaimer: I don't have kids (yet), so my views might change, although I hope not.

I don't think we can prevent kids from seeing what's available online. If they don't do it at home, they will go do it elsewhere. Or they will just find ways to get around whatever protection measures you take.

The best approach to protecting your kids is through Education. Only by explaining to them what's good and what's bad can you help them develop a good judgment .... after that, they won't need you to be looking over their shoulder for their every move.

It's the same with anything that is forbidden. The best approach to prevention with kids, be it drugs, alcohol, smoking, porn, ..., is information and discussion, not just plain interdiction.

The more something is forbidden, the more interesting it is ... just look at the success of the prohibition for one ..

Cheers,

BrainStop

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Originally posted here by BrainStop
Disclaimer: I don't have kids (yet), so my views might change, although I hope not.

I don't think we can prevent kids from seeing what's available online. If they don't do it at home, they will go do it elsewhere. Or they will just find ways to get around whatever protection measures you take.

The best approach to protecting your kids is through Education. Only by explaining to them what's good and what's bad can you help them develop a good judgment .... after that, they won't need you to be looking over their shoulder for their every move.

It's the same with anything that is forbidden. The best approach to prevention with kids, be it drugs, alcohol, smoking, porn, ..., is information and discussion, not just plain interdiction.

The more something is forbidden, the more interesting it is ... just look at the success of the prohibition for one ..

Cheers,

BrainStop

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I agree completely with BrainStop (I too do not yet have kids) but I remember when I was growing up I was not allowed to watch R rated movies (until I was 14 or so). Some of friends parents were less restrictive so I watched the movies there -I think kids will always be able to find those less restrictive parents.

Cheers,
dspeidel

I agree that it should start with educating your children of the dangers of the internet. With all of the stalkers and perverts, etc. out there....it's a hard call to make as to whether or not "spying" on your children is justified. Personally I think if a parent wants to monitor what their children are doing on the internet for their own safety, then that's ok.

kids are like blank papers. whatever they get to see and learn they start behaving like that. they either should be guided properly by showing them what is fact. or they learn by their own experiences.

Let me make a comment. (No flames please.) How many AVERAGE (key word is average) parents could actually install and run the software hehe. :)

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I think if a parent wants to monitor what their children are doing on the internet for their own safety, then that's ok.

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But would you also be ok with a parent opening their childrens snail-mail or listening in on thier phone conversations? Cause this spyware is basically allowing parent to do that (read kids email, read their online convos)

thanx BrainStop 4got to mention education side of things ;)

v_Ln

I'm a proponent of locking the machine down, not entrapment. This sounds like you are just setting your kids up for a fall. Not to mention the amount of time it would take to go through all of that data. Just seems like a waste to me.

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How many AVERAGE (key word is average) parents could actually install and run the software hehe

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:D oh how true ;)

v_Ln

Monitoring our kids? Man, I still have to monitor my parents. Somehow my dad disabled his AV softwear, then asked me what an exe file was that didn't execute anything. Well, fortunately he only had something like 6 virii running around his system, and they didn't get a chance to do much damage.