How to protect children Online

Hey All,

Many people like to allow their children on the internet and to take in all that's good of the web and it's content. But many parents are weery about it's content, with all the porn, foul language, criminal content, and so on.

While it's true that no matter how much you try, you can never always filter out every single harmful part of the web. The best thing to do is sit down and speak with your child and teach them the rights and wrong about the web and the worries that could arise.

But... for those who want to physically secure their computer and monitor the actions:

How to protect your children online. (quick guide)

1. Programs that filter out web content.

You can install programs like NetNanny or WebSecure (as examples), which will filter known websites. There are companies that surf the net 24/7 looking for as many new sites that are deemed inappropriate to children and create a database file (similar to a virus definition file for AntiViruses) and blocks the IP of the sites.
Also, some Firewalls and VirusScanners have similar options, which block sites that are deemed harmful (this, however, takes more of your time to block sites - useful for more repetitive sites)

2. Family Filters

Some sites like Altavista and Google have filters on their sites which cut out sexual or crude content from search results. This way, when a child does a history search on "White House", they won't get whitehouse.com (a "naughty" porn site) instead of whitehouse.org.

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Google's SafeSearch blocks web pages containing explicit sexual content from appearing in search results.
-Use strict filtering (Filter both explicit text and explicit images)
-Use moderate filtering (Filter explicit images only - default behavior)
-Do not filter my search results.

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3.E-mails

While having an e-mail with Yahoo or Hotmail is "popular" to do (while convenient to use at school) Set up an e-mail for your child with your provider so that you can use Spam Killers (with Outlook or other e-mail apps) to filter out porn spams or other offensive e-mails.

4.Chat Programs.

Some parents are very paranoid about they children chatting on the net with complete strangers. And it's true that there are pedophiles on the net. A good way to avoid this is to disallow the use of mIRC and other annonymous chatroom clients and allow a more controlled chat app like ICQ or MSN (which require to know the user). Also, for ICQ, enable the authorization required before adding to contact list for further control.

Some sites like Y(outh)TV.com has a chat section to their site (Yabber), which is monitored by moderators. They ensure that the chats remain controlled and that only children speak on these servers.

5.Online Games

It's been done, some prowlers use online games to get victims. While children shouldn't be playing games like SOF or GTA3, games like AOE2 have historical education and are popular for children to play. So while online, you can view their conversations with the other players.

6.Monitoring

If you still believe that this isn't enough, there are programs that will monitor your child activities on the internet, log it, and either send it to your e-mail or save it somewhere secure.
One program is called Spector Pro

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This is the BEST product for monitoring Hotmail, Yahoo Mail, Outlook, MSN Messenger, AOL IM, Yahoo IM and EVERYTHING else!

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and another is called eBlaster

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eBlaster is the ONLY software in the world that will capture their incoming and outgoing email and then IMMEDIATELY forward that email to you. eBlaster also captures BOTH sides of chat, instant messages, all keystrokes, websites and screenshots.

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7.Trust

While all this in place is great, it's also nice to have a little trust in your child. Ask them to report to you anything that they feel scared or worried about, or something they believe is inappropriate so that you can report it later (if applicable)

Links to view

http://********netwise.org
http://www.safekids.com
http://www.software4parents.com
http://www.childnet-int.org

Very good post and very useful links, especially for parents.

It’s an excellent tutorial. A must, if you have kids online.
Thanks tyger_claw


Dr_Evil

I just set up a computer for my son to use in his room ( he is 12 ) these links will be very usefull. Thank you.

useful Post I had been wandering how to filter it for my daughter.
she likes to play on the net and she only 9 so thanks again for helping us parents.

While I don't have any children of my own (yet) information like this is vital for any person.

Not only for parents, but for grandparents, uncles & aunts and anybody else who has regular visits of "the younger people" :)

Thanks for all the positive feedback, I figured I'd cover a topic that hasn't really been fully touched here at AO.

i think its a great post tyger, it really is but in my opinion, now first let me say i have no kids....at least that i know of, anyways that if i did have kids i would not censor the internet.why you ask? because if they hit a site thats restricted or if its something that you have told them they should not be looking at its human nature to be curious, so if you tell a kid "you are not aloud to look at any porn sites" the next time they get on line what do you think one of the first things there gonna type in that search engine? and if they cant look at it at home then they might be so curious as to call up a friend and ask to come to there house and surf on there comp. or at school( even though i would hope out of any place a school would have the best guards set up)so i say tell them the things that they will at some point run across and tell them the ups and downs to these things and let them make up there own minds what is right. now my opinonmay change when i do have kids but for now thats my 2 cents.but again tyger very good read.

oops i apologize tyger some how i missed the line "the best thing to do is sit down and speak with your childeren", i guess i just elaborated on your statement.again sorry, but any parents who are reading this again i say, as did tyger, the best thing is to talk to the kid, not sheiled them from it.take it easy people.

Hey hatebreed,

You nailed it on the head. That's my feelings too. I mean, obstacles are placed as challenges for people to overcome, and a determined child will eventually find the means to defeat it.

That's why like I said above and hatebread said just above

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oops i apologize tyger some how i missed the line "the best thing to do is sit down and speak with your childeren", i guess i just elaborated on your statement.again sorry, but any parents who are reading this again i say, as did tyger, the best thing is to talk to the kid, not sheiled them from it.take it easy people.

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Unfortunately, you'll never be able to screen a child from their environment entirely. I didnt have a bunch of filters but a few damn good morals. Thanks mommy! haha

-take care

Great work tyger_claw, i dont have any children yet, but this was good.
Thanks

great tutorial tyger_claw!....hope to see more tutorials coming from you :)

optiq you are right ,morals are more important then filters....but still the net is quite an unfriendly place for children and it's necessary to take proper steps to protect them from unsuitable content....

It's good to be concerned for your child and being his parent, knowing what he's doing on the internet. But I think that looking at his conversations on AIM is going wayy over the line ESPECIALLY if they don't know about it. Where's their privacy there? Exactly, they have none. There's some things that a child would rather tell his friends than his parents. And their parents should respect that.

And btw, hatebreed2000, good post and I agree.

Yeah, i agree with you and especially parents should know that from their expirience of young lovers.

I'd just like to point out that some nanny programs filter out not only "adult" sites but also political views that the program's creators don't like! Pretty cool if you don't want your child to think for herself. Also, i went to use a library computer and this site was blocked because of "hacking/phreaking/possible criminal content"! Automated filtering does more harm than good IMHO

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Originally posted here by deadpunk
I'd just like to point out that some nanny programs filter out not only "adult" sites but also political views that the program's creators don't like! Pretty cool if you don't want your child to think for herself.

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I haven't seen too many children voting at the polls. As long as we have an ample supply of "AA's", they are content. And a very key point to remember is this: An Adult has already been the child's age, however the child has never been the Adult's age.

cheers

edit: besides this thread is 3 years old!