Nope, I think kids need protection if they are on computers. They shouldnt be unsupervised. That being said they may want to be on the computer but the parents cant be around all the time. So there needs to be some way to keep both the parents happy (that there kids are safe) and the kids happy that they can use computers without their parents looking over their shoulder.

So you’d like to live in a police state? After all, it’s only for your own protection.

[...] my last post (http://shanefagan.com/2009/10/10/control/) I had one question more. What words would you not want your kids searching? So if you were writing [...]

Just set up OpenDNS on your router and then you can filter their traffic without installing any software on their computer – ie. cut off porn, tasteless shock sites, etc.

Until you care enough to make them a whitelist, let ‘em master the computer until you plug it in a public network.

Let’s see how far I get taking my own advice here.

We’ve gone with a family room PC and openDNS.com content filtering approach. Our kids are all under 7 and are not allowed on the internet without Mum or Dad. We’ll relax this when they’re mature enough, which won’t be until they’re 13+. I’m not a fan of kids on social networking at all. Windows 7 has some good parental controls around which applications are allowed to be run and when the accounts can be accessed, openDNS allows the custom site filtering based on community rating and doesn’t seem to affect internet performance. Tried DansGaurdian but found it to restrictive and a huge performance hit.

Problem – With 2 teenage boys we have been trying to watch them like a hawk by putting the computer in the family room. I was never happy with any of the cybersitter or netnanny type software. I wanted a Barracuda type solution like i used at work.

Solution – i found a internet filter called OPENDNS http://www.opendns.org . They offer a free solution for home use. Very easy to set up. Basically, you point your DNS services on your router to their service. You login to your account on their web-page and you can control what activities and content can be viewed from your home. FREE is good.

Give them liberal access to the internet with the following guidelines:

1) No Facebook, ever. (Myspace and similar sites too.)
2) Very strict time limits on “webertainment” (youtube etc.)
3) Very strict time limits on chat. Chat only allowed with people known in real life.
4) Screen always in a public place (living room, coffee shop)
5) Very generous time allowed for research, learning, and homework.

Good luck. The cultural tides are against you.

I know, its a problem with the theme, im going to change it soon.

Ah – no paragraph breaks… Looks awful.