Local Radar

Technology Tips

A New Way To Protect Your Children and Yourself From Internet Porn

By: Freddy Petersen
EdgfieldDaily.com Columnist
web posted March 21, 2006

We all know the Internet is a vast wealth of information and opportunity.  We use the web daily to keep up on news, connect with friends, family and co-workers.  Search engine research has all but replaced the library for gathering information for students and adults alike. Everything you need is just a simple mouse click away!  All good things come with a price.  The Internet is wide open to any and all who wish to be there and some of those people are up to no good. 

As the parent of a teenage son, every time I see him log on the Internet, I worry.  It’s not so much that he will deliberately look for things that he shouldn’t be that troubles me; it’s that predators and con artist seeking to snare the young and the week are at the ready.  As a web designer, I know the tactics predators, and even some so-called legitimate website designers, use to trick us into going to their sites; whether we intended to or not.  The list of ways to fool us is as vast as the Internet itself. 

How can we protect our children and ourselves from this?  Can it be done without denying legitimate sites?  Readers of this column, friends and family, have asked over and over, “How can I keep my kids from seemingly harmless sites that have proven later to be trouble?”  One parent told me she suspects her son will do word searches for, “those dirty sites.”  “How can I stop that from happening?” she worried.   She also said, “He tells me he’s not doing this type of search, I need to know if he is telling the truth or not!”

Others have stated concerns about chat rooms and instant messaging.  Our children have computers in their bedrooms; we need to know they’re not getting into trouble when we’re busy doing other things. How can we watch from the other side of the door?

These tough questions and my own concerns as a parent convinced me to search for a solution.  My search led me to several Internet filters.  One stood out by far, ContentProtect. 

I contacted Content Protect directly and spent some time speaking directly to the staff and found them to be very informed on Internet filtering, the issues we all face concerning our children’s online safety.  The staff at Content Protect was extremely friendly, and willing to answer any question.

ContentProtect explained that they were asked by a Porn company to develop products to reach potential customers.  Instead they decided to develop a product that would help stop the porn company from reaching vulnerable people; that decision led to ContentProtect as we see it today. 

I’ve been using the software now for over three weeks with no problems whatsoever.  I’ve tried several times to trick the software by searching for website names that were not obviously “Adult” oriented and ContentProtect caught every one.  Among the key benefits are the reports I receive with inappropriate IM conversations, lists of inappropriate sites visited and date and time they were visited, and the ability to set times of day for my son to go online. 

I can even do all of this from work.  I can choose remotely to allow him to visit a safe site if needed for a project or turn off Internet privileges from my office, should he attempt to violate our Internet standards while I am away. 

ContentProtect has developed a great product that answered many, if not all, of my needs as a parent concerned about my child on the Internet.  

Parents can have the peace of mind ContentProtect has provided me for the annual license fee of $39.95 for up to three home computers.  Customers can download a two-week trial version of ContentProtect 2.0.  For a full listing of features and benefits please click here www.contentwatch.com
 

Technology Tips are provided by Freddy Petersen. All content is the advise/opinion of the author and not EdgefieldDaily.com. Freddy Petersen can be reached at fpetersen@gmail.com

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