Safe internet browsing for kids .

[Craigilo]

Statistics reveal that 90% of 8-16 year olds access sites with adult content on the internet. I wish to prevent my ten year old son from venturing into these forbidden sites. He has been recently initiated into using the internet and we have listed certain sites which he can visit on our PC at home. But I would just like to take some precaution. Is there any help?

[Harry]

Its really hard to block all adult contents which can be browsed using your home PC though you can play some tricks to avoid unnecessary access for such bad sites

You can block sites in most internet browsers's options panel.
Tools >> Internet Options >> Content tab >> Content Advisor >> Enable >> Set Ratings

Your router (if you have one) might come with software that allows you block such websites.

You can also use your hosts file to block the websites by redirecting their address to your local ip (127.0.0.1).
Windows Start >> Run >> notepad c:\WINDOWS\system32\drivers\etc\hosts
Search the last line of above text file and list all unwanted website which you don’t want to be browsed by your kids
127.0.0.1 site1.com
127.0.0.1 site2.com
127.0.0.1 site2.co.uk etc….
Also there are many Free/paid softwares which are also reliable and block most unwanted websites.

[jon123]

your best option is to use one of the various blocking softwares already in existance on the net.
I believe net nanny is uite a popular one
Internet Filter, Parental Control & Filter Software | Net Nanny

But there are many others

[Harry]

Yes, there are hundreds of such Paid adult content blocking softwares available on the net, choosing one depends on our budget and level of security we are looking for

[Hadwin]

Of course. Have you heard of Kids Email | Safe Mail for Children ? It’s a great site which makes internet experience for kids very safe and interesting. It is very reassuring for parents to know that they will be in complete knowledge of their child’s internet activities. The site allows a child to receive emails from those in their contact list, email a copy of incoming messages to the parent, remove images within emails, remove links within emails, etc. and other such features to safeguard internet access.

[Harry]

@Hadwin : Thanks for sharing such excellent resource It will surely help all attentive and conscious parents.

[Albert]

Originally Posted by Craigilo

Statistics reveal that 90% of 8-16 year olds access sites with adult content on the internet. I wish to prevent my ten year old son from venturing into these forbidden sites. He has been recently initiated into using the internet and we have listed certain sites which he can visit on our PC at home. But I would just like to take some precaution. Is there any help?

Hi,

A child internet software gives you direct access to all of your kid's online activities. Captured screen shots allow you to get log in detail for their email and social network account. They record every single word your children exchange in chat and instant messaging as well.

[Hexosphere]

I tell you something that is scary these days, the amount of content that is available to kids whilst they are in school. My stepdaughter goes to a secondary school that's been designated as a 'Technology College', which in my mind should make them better equiped to a: monitor where kids are accessing, and b: block access to those sites. Yet when she comes home and says to us, oh I was looking at that earlier in school, it makes me wonder what precautions they do take.

I'm quite lucky in that I have a fairly good understanding of things, and for the most part over the last 5 or 6 years my daughters internet access has been controlled by a combination of an opensource program called Smoothwall (which turns an old pc into your internet router). This uses a piece of proxy software called Squid - all web traffic gets transparently directed through it - this in conjuction with a list of allowed sites, which has been built up over time, and everything else is blocked. When she first started out on the internet, it was a case of, everything is blocked, unless she provided us with the website address, so we could take a look and approve / dis-aprove, sure, it may seem restrictive, but given the vast amount of content out there these days..... This was also useful in stopping website adverts/popups, as the advert couldn't load as traffic wasn't allowed to the website (great all round haha). As she's started getting older, it still goes through the proxy, though it's a case of she has enough rope, just hopefully she won't hang herself as it's monitored from time to time, and at any point we can monitor/react to exactly what she is doing through the use of remote access tools. It's also capable of logging msn conversations, and IRC conversations, and is well worth the look for someone that wants to look into a project. It's also great i nthe fact that the internet can be halted for that specific machine, but without affecting the others on the network.

There are commercial programs out there such as net nanny mentioned above, which really use the same kind of principles, my brother-in-law used to swear by cybersitter, which has 14 years experience in the market. Surf Control is another which is owned by websense (who make enterprise level filtering programs for the workplace).

[postie]

This might be worth a look Internet Content Rating Assoc. A non-profit organisation trying to make the web a safer place for kids. I've linked to the page that might suit your question best, but there's a ton of info on the site.

Hang on... it's not allowing me to post a URL. Will try and edit it in shortly. Or google ICRA.

[williams_k]

I think there are software which will help to block the specific website from the meta code present in the website which shows safe for kids or not.

[swathi]

Hi , my friend is having a software where kids cannot access to inappropriate content , or unwanted website.Just install and forget it! Be 100% sure that your children have access to only quality & safe internet content suitable for their age. No blood-shed, violence or content with adult nature shall be granted to them at any point while they browse the internet.