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.

Read this, I'm sure you will get at least one or two laughs from it.

Was this meant to be taken seriously or whats the story with it???


P.S.

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

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I know my parents or any other parents certainly couldn't when I was young and innocent and starting on the net.

garathjax, I agree. I would also like to add the point that the 15 year old scipt jumkie would have beter luck in installing on thier parents pc. Something to the effect of a key logger to access all of thier sites. I am not a child and don't have any, but it wasn't that long a go that I was one. With that in mind I think if I found spy ware on my pc when I was a child I would get even. AKA encypt the hard drive. I think if you want to know what you kids are doing take an intrest in thier life. talk to them about that ethics and morals. And form a bonding relationship with them

garathjax i don't know if it was ment to be taken seriously but that guy has issues

"If your son has requested a new "processor" from a company called
"AMD", this is genuine cause for alarm. "

lol
does this guy work for intel???

garathjax I find it very difficult to believe that guy was for real - oh god I hope he's not some of the comments he made like ther one about quake being a meeting/training ground for hackors and flash being a hackor tool are just too stupid for real people to believe them! Heh and I never knew that you could use telnet to hack someones computer without uysing a phoneline - if that wasn't a joke post I really want to contact that guy and show him just how wrong he is!!!!

or maybe he's right - so I thought all this time I had just been designing interactive, graphic orientated web-pages when in fact I have been using a hackor program (flash)!!!!!

v_Ln

[i]edit -> at least one of the guys who replied the link garathjax posted said something decent

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They are quite the opposite and Exetreemly clever and intelligent many of them being extreemly good at maths, cryptograpy

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<- talking about hackers

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Originally posted here by garathjax
Read this, I'm sure you will get at least one or two laughs from it.

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I got more than 2 laughs out of it .... man, is this guy an idiot or what? How about a hacking daughter? How about an ISP that provides performance, not garbage like AOL? How about ...

I won't go on ...

Cheers,

BrainStop

I also think it is a waste of time. Don't you think that the kid will so realize that the program is running and search for a way to disable it. If the parent get kid into trouble and tells him their nifty program picked it up the kid will definatly find a way around it. I.E. changing the screenshots and the keylogger files with copy and paste. It's a waste of time.

Guys, can't you spot a joke when you see one?
This thing has been floating around for some time now, it's rather entertaining.

First of all Garathjax--thanks for the article, it was funny! Maybe it has been around a while, but it was new for me, and gave me a couple of pretty good chuckles....I didn't know Linux was an illegal hacking program...lol

Now, on to the issue at hand. I AM a parent, as some of you aren't, and I don't actually know where I stand on this issue. My son is only 6, so I have a couple of years. As he hasn't quite accomplished learning to read (completely) yet, he still needs my help when he is online. I do feel that he will have an internet nanny program, at least for a little while.

As for the spyware, I really don't know how I feel. I know that right now, I spend quite a bit of time with my son, and I know what he is doing ALL THE TIME. I don't know how possible this is going to be as he gets older, but I really feel like it is my responsibility to know.
The truly scary thing about it is the kids you hear about that met someone online, and then decided (duh) to meet them in person. And then are sexually abused, etc.....But again, it's a parents responsibility to know what their child is up to. But you can't attach a homing device to them, and at some point you have to trust their judgement...
As you can tell (at least for me) having a child doesn't neccesarily clear the issue. :rolleyes:

Ok, you've installed that product, you've made enough snapshots to sentence your kid to lifetime. And how would you bring it to him, that you know where he has been browsing lately? Certainly, by addmitting that you have been spying on him will break all the trust between you and your child. Do you need that? Use sensible programs that restrict the acess to sites with offensive material- that is my point of view

If a kid is responsible enough to work
and BUY his own computer, he's got
a right to his privacy.
But the brat that infects the family
computer with trojans from trying to
download porn, well, he needs more...
"supervision".
:cool:

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Originally posted here by KorpDeath
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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Out of all those replies,this one makes the most sense.
KorpDeath is %150 correct.

Crimina1

A scary topic, and one that has many parents scared to death. Most kids know more about the computer than they do, and most parents know that. I’m not a parent, but many of my friends have kids that are starting to use their computers. I’ve been asked several times what they can do to protect their kids. My advice has been to put the computer in the family room and be open and honest with their kids. Just like trusting them to go out in the real world they have to trust them to go out in the cyber world.