Internet Safety and Security

More children than ever before are “plugged in” to the internet, and with all the benefits that this offers, there are dangers as well. After all, nearly half of all kindergarteners and first-graders use the internet for homework projects, to play games, and to communicate with relatives or friends that live far away. And while you may monitor your child’s internet use, without an effective child internet filter, they can still be exposed to violent, pornographic, or other objectionable content.

For older children, there are even greater risks to using the internet. Older children, particularly middle schoolers and high-schoolers, are more likely to use the internet to chat with friends (or strangers), have online profiles that include photos or personally identifying information, or to engage in imprudent, questionable, or illegal activities. In addition, older children are more likely to downplay or underestimate the risks to their safety, their emotional or mental well-being, and even to their futures, from their online activities.

An effective child internet filter should block access to unwanted content while allowing access to appropriate content, and it does this in a variety of ways. The most common method is keyword filtering. Search engines and other internet entities use keywords to identify and classify websites, but this is not foolproof. Thus, your filter should use a filtering algorithm that will utilize several filtering methods. Clean Internet, a reputable Christian internet filtering company, offers keyword filtering, URL filtering, dynamic filtering, and foreign language filtering.

Clean Internet also works on all internet protocols, an important factor in any internet filter. This means that you can monitor or block your child’s access to email, instant messengers, chat rooms, popup windows, and peer-to-peer file sharing programs. Popups and file sharing programs are the two primary ways in which children are exposed to unwanted content. Additionally, email, instant messengers, and chat rooms are the usual mediums that predators use when trying to communicate with children. If this communication is unmonitored, it only increases the risk of children being sexually, emotionally, or otherwise victimized – both by strangers and people they know in real life.

Of course, nothing is perfect, and internet filters are no exception. However, they are a very helpful tool for parents trying to monitor and protect their children online. One of the best child internet filters is Clean Internet, which was mentioned above, mostly because of the filtering features they offer, but also because it is one of the few systems that will not slow down your computer, and that is compatible with practically any system or internet connection. Clean Internet is also the only filter this author has come across that cannot be uninstalled or bypassed by the end user – a really great feature for parents who may not be as tech savvy as their kids. In short, Clean Internet is a solid choice, but particularly for those who are looking for a filter to protect their families.

Technorati Tags: child internet, Children, christian internet filtering, Internet Filter, Internet Filters, Safety

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Protect kids online with these tips

These ideas can help parents deal with cyber-bullying, predators and porn.

By Melissa Healy

January 26, 2009

Last week, the Supreme Court quietly let die a federal law dubbed the Child Online Protection Act, which made it a crime in the United States to post sexually explicit material on the Web for commercial gain without making provisions to block kids from gaining access.

A lower court in Philadelphia had struck down the law, arguing that parents could already shield their children from such material by installing Internet filters. Bush administration lawyers had appealed, countering that less than half of parents use such filters, leaving children in need of the laws protection. It was an argument the justices declined to take up, dismissing the case.

The legal wrangling underscored a long-standing truth about kids and the Internet: No matter how ill-equipped they may be, parents are their childrens last line of defense against smut, cruelty, adult predators and the poor judgment of youth online.

Installing Internet filters can be an effective block against pornographic images. But for many parents, they are daunting technology that can limit adults — and kids — legitimate searches as well, including those for information on sexual health.

They also are a poor defense against cyber-bullying and sexual solicitation on social networking sites.

Smart moves

Following are tips from the National Assn. of School Psychologists on protecting your kids online, even if your own online skills lag behind theirs.

Keep computers in easily viewable places, such as the family room or kitchen.

Talk regularly with your children about the online activities in which they are involved and Internet etiquette in general. Children should know the rule that many adults have learned from painful experience: Do not say online what you would not say in person.

Encourage children to be self-protective. Remind them that anything they say on the Internet or in phone text messages can be shared with others and misused. Ask them to consider if they want what they are saying and doing broadly disseminated. If not, they probably should not say or post it.

Be specific about the risks of cyber-bullying and their need to tell you if something that bothers them occurs.

Respect for adolescents privacy is important. But tell children that you may review their online communications if you have reason for concern.

Set clear expectations for responsible online behavior and phone use and consequences for violating those expectations.

Consider establishing a parent-child Internet use contract.

Consider installing parental-control filtering software or tracking programs but do not rely solely on these tools.

Be aware of warning signs that might indicate your son or daughter is being bullied, such as reluctance to use the computer, a change in the childs behavior and mood, or reluctance to go to school.

Document the bullying.

Be equally alert to the possibility that your child could be bullying others online, even if unintentionally.

Understand current local laws and your school policies. Work with your school to develop policies if they dont exist.

If you have concerns, contact your childs school to enlist the help of the school psychologist, school counselor, principal or resource officer.

File a complaint with the website, Internet service provider or cellphone company if you learn of problematic behavior.

Contact police if the cyber-bullying includes threats.

via Protect kids online with these tips – Los Angeles Times.

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Protecting Children Children, computer, Filtering, health, help, Internet, Internet Filter, Internet Filters, network, Online, parents, predators, privacy, protection, service, web

As parents, we want to believe our children would never purposely attempt to access internet content that was inappropriate or illegal, but let’s face it – they’re kids. Children are naturally curious, and oftentimes they simply do not understand the dangers of what is out there. Teenagers in particular are more likely to underestimate the risks involved in their online activities, and more likely to have the skills and the desire to bypass internet filters.

Unfortunately, most internet filters are very easy to bypass, hack, or simply uninstall. This is largely due to the way these parental controls work. Many of these filters are software programs that operate solely on keywords. When someone tries to access a website that contains the keywords, the parental controls deny access.

However, there are ways to mask keywords, and sometimes, you even have to choose these keywords and keyword phrases yourself, further limiting which web pages are blocked. Illicit websites are getting smarter, and are finding new ways of getting around the conventional keyword blocks, which is why you need a filter that utilizes multiple methods of searching and categorizing web content. Honestly, most search engines will do a better job of filtering unwanted content than these programs simply because they crawl the web in different ways, and don’t rely solely on keywords anymore.

Even the parental blocks that are better at recognizing objectionable content tend to use a password system that will allow you access to blocked content, and anyone with web design knowledge will tell you that password protection for these kinds of programs is negligent. Passwords are easily guessed or changed, and many programs have ways to get around passwords built right into their software. And most of these programs don’t even require a password to be uninstalled.

In addition, kids are getting more tech-savvy as well. Many teenagers will enter keywords in foreign languages to access the content that traditional parental controls block, or will simply enter the URL into the address bar – a move that many internet filters will allow, and that will bypass the screening system. A fairly recently developed trick that many kids now use to get around parental controls is rerouting the web browser through a free proxy server. Because the internet filtering software is installed on the main computer server, accessing the internet through the proxy server completely bypasses the filter.

Now that you know all this, you may be wondering if there is an internet filter available that will reliably block objectionable and inappropriate content, and can’t be uninstalled or bypassed easily. Well, fortunately, there is – Clean Internet.

Clean Internet works differently from most other internet filters. For starters, it cannot be uninstalled by the end user, you have to call tech support. Plus, it utilizes a variety of filtering methods, including URL and foreign language filtering. In addition, although their filtering program is installed on your computer like other programs, you don’t have to worry about proxy server bypassing because Clean Internet is your proxy server.

Clearly, Clean Internet is a solid choice for internet filtering. And if you still aren’t sure that you need this kind of parental control, consider this – the internet is getting more dangerous and trickier to navigate safely every day, and if your kids can bypass internet filters, what are the people on the other end of the screen capable of?

Technorati Tags: Internet Filters, objectionable content, parental controls, tech savvy

Internet Filter Internet Filters, objectionable content, parental controls, tech savvy

When you are trying to keep your family and children safe on the internet, one of the best resources you can have is a good internet filter. Now, you may have an internet blocker already installed on your computer, but how truly effective is your internet blocking software? Honestly, what is the point of having the software if there are loopholes in internet blockers?

 There are a couple of key differences in internet filters and internet blockers, and one of these differences is the mere fact that loopholes and bypasses exist in most internet blocking programs. Internet blocking programs generally tend to focus on keywords and vague guidelines, like site content ratings that are similar to television and film ratings.

 However, many websites and end users have found ways to slip through the structure set up by internet blockers. For example, sites can now mask their keywords, and the majority of websites – particularly those that contain sexual or violent content – simply are not rated. In addition, many computer-savvy web surfers are now using what is called a “proxy,” which is basically a website that acts as a server for blocked sites, to bypass internet blockers. Because the internet blocker reads the proxy as a reliable and safe page, it doesn’t realize that illicit content is being accessed through that portal.

Other loopholes in internet blockers can be found in the software itself. Unfortunately, many of these programs can be uninstalled very easily, and many of them use passwords to manage the account. Most web development professionals will tell you that passwords are an increasingly unreliable means of security – they are easily guessed, can be changed by someone who only has minimal personal knowledge of you, and oftentimes can be bypassed altogether. Additionally, most internet blockers that use passwords do so because they allow the administrator to set various levels of access for different users. There is a huge loophole inherent in this system – blocked users simply log off of the blocked account, and log on as a different user.

Internet filters work in slightly different ways. While these kind of programs also scan pages for keywords and content ratings, they use many different filtering techniques, and their guidelines are often more strict about what is acceptable. The major problem with this is not that users can access content that is blocked, but that many users have trouble accessing good content.

 However, there are internet filters available that will offer you all of the benefits of complete protection without the pitfalls. Clean Internet is a solid choice for internet filters. Clean Internet is unique, in that they are acting as a proxy server, only in reverse. You’re getting all of the good content and none of the bad.

 In addition, they offer foreign language and URL filtering, and their sophisticated filtering algorithyms ensure the safety of your family and children online. There are no bypasses – the software cannot be uninstalled without a call to tech support – and everyone receives the same level of protection. With Clean Internet you won’t have to worry about the loopholes in internet blockers, because they simply do not exist.

Technorati Tags: content ratings, internet blockers, internet blocking software, Internet Filter, Internet Filters, loophole, proxy, savvy web surfers

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