Keeping your children safe on the Internet

Child safety on
the Internet has always been an issue. I'm a dad, and when I was cutting my
teeth on the Internet world, my son was seven. Most of the raw Internet wasn't
quite up yet, but it seems that porn, in one form or another has always been
there, even back in the BBS days.

Unfortunately safety concerns don't stop there. I wish they did, but they don't,
and as parents we need to keep track of the places our kids are going on the
Internet. I don't like the word spy, and I'm not going to go there. I want a
log, and I want some control over what he's able to see. I'm pretty open (especially
now that he is 18), but there are things out there that even I don't want to
stumble upon.

Filters have been around for a long time too. CyberSitter,
CyberPatrol, Guardian
Monitor 8, are all fairly good packages. Filters are a pain to set up, and
it takes a while to get them right, and you may want to add some extra RAM,
but I think it is worth it myself.

Microsoft is getting into the Parental Control game. In late August they came
out with the beta version of OneCare. The first version of OneCare Family Safety
will let people filter online content and get activity reports on Web sites
that were visited by others.

Windows OneCare

Before the product's
final release, Microsoft plans to add "contact management" features
that let parents approve contacts within their Windows Live Mail e-mail and
Windows Live Messenger instant-messaging programs. The feature also gives parents
control over who can access their children's blogs on Microsoft's MSN Spaces
service.

Getting started with the OneCare, certainly isn't OneStep. First everyone that
is going to be using the computer needs a Windows Live ID. This use to be called
a Microsoft Passport ID, but that's change. Not it is a Live (trademark) ID.
If you have a Hotmail, MSN, or Passport account, you already have this ID, and
you can move on to the next phase. (No, we haven't downloaded anything yet).

Then we login, accept the Terms of use, and finally get to some setup pages.
Briefly we revisit the Live
(trademark) ID issue again.

In order to get your child a Live ID you are going to have to verify that you
are in fact an Adult. To do this you are required to supply a valid Credit Card.
No charge is made, and they say they delete the information right away.

Once everyone is in, then you can download the software and start setting up
filters. Since it is just me and Eddie (my cat) I decided to get him an account.
The filters default to High for him because he is under 10 years old. This is
nice, having preset filters. The filters work off categories. Alcohol, Bomb
making, Drugs, Gambling, Hate speech, Mature content, Pornography, Sexual education,
Tobacco, Weapons, Web Chat, Web Mail, and "Any website that Family Safety
can't Evaluate". I can check or uncheck these categories for Eddie as I
wish.

I can also block particular web sites, by entering a web address. The whole
site is then blocked. Eddie can also request that a web site be opened to him,
by putting in the address. These request come up in my Administrator account.

The next step is to finally download some software.

It is nice that I was able
to go through this whole process in FireFox. In the past, Microsoft was blocking
"other" browsers from their pages, saying that they only worked properly
with the IE browser. It appears that they have decided against this marketing
ordeal.

After getting the software installed, I signed out of my account and signed
in as Eddie. Google, Mozilla, D-A-L, and just about every other website in the
world was blocked. I can't figure out what Category these web sites might fit
under, but they are blocked. It was a bit of a pain, going through and allowing
web sites back it, when it felt like web sites were blocked at random (most
of them falling in to the vague category of "Any website that Family Safety
can't Evaluate").

However, the list of web sites that kids need to be on isn't really that long.
They can request other web sites, and it is not a hassle at all to give them
access. I like the idea of 'giving them access' as well.

When a site is blocked, all the child has to do is click on the button that
says "Get permission". This is not for little kids though, since the
child now has to fill out a forum, with the web site address. After that is
complete, its sends a message to the Administrator. When we sign on, we see
the messages right away. We click the OK, and the child has permission. Simple
as that.

There are a lot of 'sign-on' areas, so this system as it works right now is
not for little kids. The passwords have to be long, and secure. The child has
to find the program, sign in, and then browse.

Over all this looks like a great place to start. Microsoft is suggesting that
this OneCare Family Safety system is going to be built into the Windows Vista,
which is slated to come out in January.

A suggestion would be to sit down and find the web sites your child definitely
wants to have available, and build a My Favorites area. Then put each of those
links into the child's setup, before installing the software and locking them
out. Cause other wise, if they miss their homework its going to be your fault.