[Solved] Internet Safety

I used the mcafee parental controls for a bit which was okay- but the mcafee software kept on freezing my machines.

I switched to bit defender, but their parental controls were an add-on and it was difficult to work out what was included or not.

So currently trying the net nanny software - which appears to have lots of good features ( but you do ave to pay for them). Will report back on how well it works.

Any others have experience of different packages?

Lots of interesting things on the link you put up

very interesting stuff! internet safety is very important!

Hi, I'm trying to get some feedback on Dad's thoughts on a new box that protects all devices in the home that are connected to the internet.

Protecting children from Internet threats now requires securing all devices in the home that access the web because children are connecting not just from a desktop PC, but from laptops notebooks, smartphones, tablets, games consoles, and other devices.

Traditional computer internet software filters are unreliable and be easily bypassed. Each computer, laptop, etc. needs software installed, which requires upgrading, and a licensing fee paid for each. Software can't block the xbox, the wii or the iPod Touch, etc.

We are launching a new Parental Control Wireless unit that will protect all computers and devices that access the Internet in your home, and also allows you to centrally manage safe internet access on all those devices on a web portal from any location.

The price for the unit will be in the region of £150 including 3 years subscription to the service.

Internet threats are constantly evolving. The subscription allows the router to access a constantly updating database spanning over 16 million base domains covering 100’s of million URLs. As new sites and programs are introduced to the Internet, the database updates in real time providing the latest protection.

Please leave feedback.

I am not convinced that spending that sort of money is going to make it any safer - yes it may protect you from viruses but we all have anti-virus on our computers and many of us have them on phones etc.

The best thing is education and allowing the kids to feel safe so some basic do's and don'ts - this equipment will not stop someone talking to them on a game aimed at 10 year olds.

We cannot and should not rely on technology to protect our kids - as we would get complacent especially if we can't be bothered to understand the dangers.

I have forced myself to learn about the internet so i can keep up with the kids and talked to them openly about it.

I agree with Mario.
There is no system out there that can protect our children from the potential dangers of the internet. There are however a lot of programmes that prey on our fears and claim to be able to do so, in many cases drawing our attention away from the best method, which is educating our children and supervising the younger ones.

Yeah.

The more I hear about this cr*p on the news and the more I think about it, the more I'm sure that I'll take the same approach as with TV (actually we don't even have a TV, it's wonderful - we just watch the occasional DVD on our laptop)...

No unsupervised Internet access at home, and no smartphones for our kids. It's just not necessary, and totally inappropriate for kids.

The problem with that is at what age do you then decide it is appropriate for your children to have that access, and if they have been denied access, with they then go overboard when they get it?

I'm lucky in a way though, my youngest (nearly 15) is on facebook and has been for a couple of years. I don't keep an eye on her, but my older daughter (almost 21) is a friend of hers on there, so she keeps and eye on her without being overbearing, and I trust her to look out for my youngest and it's worked very well. In fact, I couldn't monitor it now anyway as the school my daughter is in provides iPads for them (taking notes, research and all of their text books are on there) so the school certainly trust her.

Hmmm.

I don't see it as a specific age - more a question of when

a) they actually might need it (I mean, even I barely "need" internet access other than for work)

b) they are mature enough to realise there is a *lot* of bad stuff and they have had some training how to keep away from it (I'm actually a qualified information manager so, yes, I can teach this...)

I'd be seriously worried to hear a school was giving children unsupervised Web enabled devices. I wouldn't want my children to have them without a good reason.

It's a tricky one - these days children need a lot of access to the internet for school work, in fact without it they can be at a real disadvantage. I can certainly see your viewpoint, and ultimately it's down to every parent to make the choice that's suitable for them, as long as they do it effectively. The iPads at my daughters school are the way things will move, I'm sure - aside from research, taking notes etc, they also don't have physical text books - the whole lot is in digital form, which is much better in my mind (I've been using ebooks for almost 10 years, so I definitely appreciate the benefits)

One more benefit of smartphones is the ability to keep an eye on children - I have google lattitude switched on on both my phone and my daughters (she doesn't realise it), this means that if I go onto google maps on my phone, it shows roughly where she is. I also have an utility on my own phone which, if a certain message is sent to it, will immediately and discretely reply with a message with the exact latitude and longitude of my phone - the idea being if my phone is lost or stolen, then I can trace it, though I haven't installed this on my daughters phone as I think that's a bit over the top. This sort of power is something that empowers parents.

I would like to see internet safety become more mainstream in public education. We're at a time now where the internet has become so engrained with out lives that children need exposure and education about this much in the same way that we argue sexual education is necessary from a young age. I think ultimate responsibility still lies with parents of course but having a structured framework within schools to begin addressing e safety as a concept would be really helpful.

This same subject popped up on another forum one of their in house 'experts' commented that a lot of the stuff I'm talking about above is being integrated into key stage 1 and key stage 2 education, which is encouraging!