Does parental control software work?

Posted on 24 Dec 2009 at 00:00

A losing battle

Even though most children won’t be circumventing parental controls with Linux distros, it’s clear that, as Rik Ferguson of Trend Micro admits, a piece of software “is not, and never should be the entirety of the answer”.

So what is? Cynthia Crossley, director of Microsoft Online in the UK, believes that “the best way to stay safe online is through education”. And it isn’t only children that need to wise up. Dave Miles recommends that if your child uses a social-networking site then you should too. “It’s only by understanding what these technologies do that, as a parent, you can provide supervisory support.”

Understanding the filtering software as much as the threats is equally vital. Even software that claims to block access to certain types of website often fails to block key areas by default. “What responsible parent would want to allow access to porn, violence and drugs?” asks Rob Hopkins of So Protect Me.

And the most vital thing, according to most of the experts we spoke to, is trust. If your children can’t come to you when they run into trouble online, there’s no software in the world that’s going to solve your problems.

Author: Davey Winder

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User comments

DNS Settings?

You have failed to mention the possibility of changing the DNS settings on your home PC and/or router.

OpenDNS offer a free service that blocks inappropriate content. All you need to do is sign up and select the level of security you want. You then adjust your router's DNS settings and you're in business.

http://www.opendns.com/solutions/household/

By grimerking on 29 Dec 2009

Personally, and from someone working in the content filtering industry, I wouldn't bother blocking locally but start at the gateway.

It's a shame that more router manufacturers don't sign up to filtering lists like dansguardian - which is open source or other such to give users the ability to filter categories they want to protect their children from.

By bubbles16 on 3 Jan 2010

The problem is in the head, not in the computer

I think the most important is not to start a conflict or a row with youe child. When you decide to forbid something it provokes only offence, misunderstanding and agreesion. Parents need to try and explain their point. I haven't installed or blocked anything secretely, I've made agreement with my elder son, and we set the time limit, he needs to play for pleasure (not an addiction) and to talk to his friends in the net. Then I informed him, that I ahve a program, called Time Boss, which is intended only to help him manage hi time effectively, so we chose the sites and settled the timing. Now, we are all happy. Why don't you try the same?!
[URL="http://nicekit.com/index.htm"]parental control software[/URL]
P.S. The prog supports IE only. But good news is: it doesn't conflict with your antivirus :)

By Ajmely on 10 Jul 2010

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