Labs

Child Safety Software

How Does filtering Software Work?

Parental control software gives you information about what your children are doing on the PC. It then allows you to act on that information - for instance, to block activities you feel aren't in your child's best interest. Different programs use different approaches, but most perform the following functions in some form.

Web filtering

It's all too easy for kids to find unsuitable material on the Internet. Even with innocent intentions a child can follow a trail to sites - and sights - you'd never let them see in a million years. To prevent this, the company that makes your parental control software compiles a list of inappropriate Web sites. When a child tries to open one of these, the software stops them. A more draconian solution is to have a list of approved sites and only allow access to those on the list.

Content filtering

Every day 5,000 new Internet sites go online. Many of them contain porn, violence and other material from which you'd want to protect your children. Your software provider can't possibly update its Web filter list with their addresses every day, so filtering software contains lists of unsuitable words and phrases, and ones usually found alongside unsuitable images. All incoming Web pages are checked, and the software blocks any pages that contain these words.

Newsgroup and chat filtering

Newsgroups are online message boards dedicated to a particular interest or topic. Anyone with access to a news server can create a newsgroup, so the topics under discussion are limitless. In the right newsgroups, a child can ask professors for help with their homework. In the wrong ones, they might stumble across pornographic images. Internet Relay Chat (or IRC for short) is the technology behind chat rooms - sites where lots of people can talk to each other, and messages appear instantly. Some are moderated, which means that they have an overseer, but most lack this safeguard. Chat rooms are where children are at most risk of being targeted by paedophiles pretending to be other children. Good parental control software lets you block access to newsgroups you feel are unacceptable, or to all but those you have approved.

Privacy measures

Do you want your child to be able to send their name, address or age to a Web site? What about the school they go to, or a credit card number or bank details? Children don't necessarily realise that information can be used maliciously, so the software products let you set up lists of information that will not be sent, even if your child types the text on a Web page, chat room, or newsgroup.

Permitted/restricted programs

Your children are never going to become rich enough to keep you in a luxurious old age if they spend all their time playing computer games. Fortunately, parental control software has the answer. It lets you restrict the programs to which Little Johnny has access, forcing him to use that copy of Britannica Interactive you bought him rather than spending all evening on Grand Theft Auto.

Time control

Left to their own devices, some children would spend every evening and all the weekend on the Internet. Time control options let you determine when your kids can and can't use the Internet. Good time control software also lets you decide which programs they can use at what times. You might, for instance, prevent them from playing games on school nights, but allow it on Saturday.

Event logs/activity monitoring

If you want to be able to see what your kids have been viewing while you were out, you can use event logs or activity monitoring. Some software will log all visited sites; others will show you when they've broken the rules you've defined.

What makes good filtering software?

Two main elements that determine how good a piece of parental control software is. It should be easy to use - and it should be effective. It should protect your child from things that are undesirable or dangerous, but still allow them to explore all the interesting, fun and worthwhile stuff on the Web.

Ease of use

When you first install parental control software, you're faced with what can be a bewildering array of options and settings. If you're going to protect your child effectively, you need to be able configure these settings properly. To make this possible, a program's setup should be as simple and well explained as possible. The packages we reviewed offered good help in the shape of electronic manuals, online help, and hints and tips as you were getting things going. Once set up, we considered how easy it was to change the settings and customise the software. Ideally, you should be able to fine-tune what your child is and isn't allowed to see according to their age or other factors. This was one area in which the different packages varied most.

Effectiveness

To be effective, parental control software should give you the option of exercising precise control over all your child's activities on the family PC. It should block the things you tell it to block without stopping your child accessing harmless or even useful information. It's important, however, that the software isn't too lax. Behind each Web address, for example, is a numerical one, called an 'IP address'. If you know this number, you can type it into your browser and get to the Web site that way, without using any naughty words. Parental control software should be able to block unsuitable sites that your child tries to access in this way. It should also recognise non-American English obscenities and slang, and hopefully some foreign words too (otherwise 'teaching each other words to get round parental control software' will be added to the traditional school exchange pastimes of getting drunk and trying to buy a flick knife). Nor should your child be able to deactivate the software by doing something simple like turning it off in Windows XP Task Manager.

What else do you

need to know?

Once you've set up your parental control software, that's you sorted - right? Your kids are safe and you can leave them glued to the monitor from dusk to dawn. Alas, this isn't the case. Installing a good piece of parental control software lays the solid foundation of the cyber safehouse that your PC can become. Erecting the rest of the edifice, though, requires some labour on your part.

More important, though, is to realise that parental control software is not a babysitter. For your child to be really safe, you need to keep an eye on what they're doing on the Web. Explain to them what types of behaviour are inappropriate and why. Teach your child to be sceptical. Point out that there's no way to be sure that people in a chatroom, a newsgroup or on e-mail are who they say they are. The '14-year-old boy' they've been talking to could easily be a dodgy 50-year-old bloke. Make sure they understand that if something disturbing or untoward happens, they should tell an adult straight away. If they feel embarrassed about telling you, they could turn to another responsible adult, such as a teacher. Set concrete rules for Internet and PC usage, but make sure that you discuss these rules with your child. If he or she has reasonable objections, take these into account. That way, the rules are mutually agreed and carry more force. Once these rules are in place, your parental control software can become the ideal tool for enforcing them.

But don't just leave things there. Take an interest in what your child is doing online, just as you would take an interest in other aspects of his or her life. Make sure you're aware of what they do on the Internet, how long they spend using it, their attitude to it and how it appears to affect their mood. That way, you're much more likely to notice any problem before it becomes a crisis.