Internet Parental Control Software
When considering using Internet parental control software you can choose between services offered by your ISP (=Internet Service Provider), parental control freeware and parental control products. You can also use a combination of tools and products to get a better result. Following are examples for each type.
ISP Options
Many ISPs offer safety services free of charge or for a low cost. Following are a few examples:
- AOL (www.aol.com) - AOL Parental control services are included free of charge for their customers. You can limit email, chat and web, by pre-defined rules.
- AT&T WorldNet Service (www.att.com) - AT&T offers filtering software for parental control called Cyber Patrol. It is free of charge for the first year. After the first year customers can purchase a license at a special discount.
- MSN (get.msn.com) - MSN offers a premium package that includes a parental control service. It allows you to control access to web content, manage your child's email, and get a weekly report of his or her online activities.
Parental Control Freeware
- Parental Control Bar ( www.parentalcontrolbar.org) - A free public service offered by WRAAC.org, a non profit organization with the purpose of empowering parents with greater control over the forms of content their family accesses online. This software is a toolbar. When your child is surfing the web you need to activate the child mode in the toolbar and the software will block access to adult-oriented websites.
- K9 Web Protection (http://www1.k9webprotection.com) - K9 is a filtering software offered by Blue Coat Systems, which is a hi-tech company with a focus on "Making the Web Safe for Business". In November of 2004, Blue Coat acquired a powerful content filtering technology when it bought Cerberian. Shortly after completing the acquisition of Cerberian company and its technology, Blue Coat's corporate executives decided to bring something to local communities and families. A part from their enterprise business, Blue Coat decided to make K9 Web Protection a consumer product, with the goal of helping to provide a "Family-safe Internet".
Parental Control Products
-
Net Nanny (www.net-nanny-software.com) -
Net Nanny is a
Software4Parents.com product
(Software4Parents is a reviewer and retailer for software that lets you control
or monitor your child's Internet access). It is a filtering software that can be
customized by the user to fit the family needs.
Product description as presented in their website
include the following features:
It can support up to 12 different profiles for diffrent family members. It allows you to block pornography, hate literature, bomb formulas, and anything else that you deem inappropriate. Filter out the negative sites or only allow access to the positive sites. It prevents personal information such as family names, addresses, phone numbers, e-mail addresses, credit card numbers and more from being given out over the Internet. Net Nanny software can block pop-up or pop-under ads. It also has the ability to block file-sharing programs like Kazaa or instant messaging services. It screens out known pedophile's personal pages and e-mail addresses, monitor and limit time spent online, and log and record all online chat sessions. -
CyberPatrol (
www.cyberpatrol.com) -
CyberPatrol is an Internet filtering software for online safety.
The product's main features as presented in CyberPatrol website are:
- Headquarters Toolbar - Control how and when people use your computer.
- Flexible content filtering options.
- Restrict chat & instant messaging.
- Monitor Internet activity - provides detailed reports on web pages visited, time and length of visit, weekly and daily summaries.
- Limit time online.
- Manage user profiles.
-
FilterNet (
www.thefilternet.com) -
The Filternet is a filtering solution designed to protect you and your family while
using the Internet. Features included as described in FilterNet website:
- White list - access only the sites you need and the rest are blocked.
- Time based - allow Internet access based on specific times of the day.
- Protocol filtering - restrict file sharing, IM, Email, etc.
- 50 Categories - choose from 50 predefined categories.
- Unlimited computers - add as many computers as you like under the same account (for an additional fee).
- Control from anywhere - configure everything from FilterNet website.
-
WebWatcher (
www.parentalsoftware.org) -
WebWatcher is a monitoring solution offered by ParentalSoftware.org,
which is a Canadian organization that reviews and retails software
for parents.
Features included as described in ParentalSoftware.org website:- Remote monitoring - view activity logs from any computer.
- Recording and monitoring instant messages sent and received.
- Read all emails sent and received.
- See every web site they visit.
- Complete Internet monitoring.
- Take pictures of their screens.
- See every word they type.
-
IamBigBrother (
www.iambigbrother.com) -
IamBigBrother is a monitoring software offered by InternetSafetySoftware.com,
a company which develops and markets a wide variety of Internet monitoring
software.
Features included as described in InternetSafetySoftware.com website:- Chats and IMs recording.
- Email recording.
- Websites viewed.
- Keystrokes recording.
- Screens captures.