Category Archives: Internet Filters
Internet Filtering Software: What Does it Do?
Internet filtering software was originally designed to protect you and your family from online pornography.
Ten years ago, Internet users would stumble across pornography constantly. There seemed to be no way to avoid it. In fact, had you typed in http://whitehouse.com (instead of .gov) to go to the President’s website, you’d have been taken to a porn site. Same for whitehouse.net, whitehouse.org…well, you get the drift.
As a result, a huge market was ripe for web filtering software to protect themselves from the onslaught of porn. Some folks bought it to protect their kids. Some simply to protect themselves.
But, as with all Internet software that depends on keywords, there were downsides. Superbowl XXX? The poetry of Anne Sexton? Breast cancer? All were blocked by at least some Internet filtering software. Indeed, the University of Kansas Medical Center library installed net filtering software on all their public computers…and users suddenly were unable to get into the library’s own website.
Why? Because it was the Dykes (pronounced “dikes”) Library…not to mention that it was a medical library website, so would have all sorts of “inappropriate” content…and the filtering software they had just paid to have installed blocked the entire website as porn!
How to Block Websites from Your Children’s View
There are a variety of reasons why you might want to block a website from your children’s view. Some categories of sites – such as adult sites – should be blocked as a matter of course. You obviously don’t want your children going to porn sites.
However, you may find that you want to block other sites as well. For example, you may decide you don’t want your child accessing social networking sites…or you might just wish to block them from one site due to problems on that particular site. Or you may want to block sites temporarily as, say, a punishment.
If you have a newer operating system, such as Windows Vista, you can use Parental Controls (in Vista this is located under Start/Control Panel/User Accounts and Family Safety) to block websites by site or by content. These controls also allow you to restrict how many hours your children can be on the computer, what games they can play and what programs they can run. Should you desire, you can even generate reports on their online activities.
Commercial Internet filtering software can also be used to block websites, keywords, and types of access (e.g. blocking chat rooms or P2P networks) from your children’s computer. In fact, if your family shares a computer, you can create varying levels of access, allowing the adults one level of access, teens another, and younger children yet another level of access. A few of the better filtering programs are WebWatcher and Spector Pro among others.
How to Filter the Content Your Child Accesses on the Web
Should you wish to keep your child from accessing certain websites – and are not confident they won’t try to sneak around behind your back – then you can use Internet filtering software or even the parental controls built into your operating system to protect them online.
Depending on the controls or software you use, you can filter out specific websites, IP addresses, websites by keywords, (such as adult keywords) or even websites by categories, such as blocking adult sites, crackz and warez sites, and chat sites.
Not only that but you can filter out types of access, such as blocking instant messaging, playing online games or even simply surfing the web. Alternately, you could block all website access except to those sites you’ve whitelisted (in other words, approved) as well as restrict or only allow contact from specific people.
