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Safe internet access for kids

Posted: Sat May 02, 2009 10:33 am
by mariojem
My six year old daughter is very intrigued and curious about the internet. She knows and understands that having access to the internet is something different from just using a PC. I would like to introduce her to the net, but fear exposure to unnecessary and adult sites. How can I restrict her access to specific sites of her interest?

Safe internet access for kids

Posted: Sat May 02, 2009 11:00 am
by Lon
mariojem;1182787 wrote: My six year old daughter is very intrigued and curious about the internet. She knows and understands that having access to the internet is something different from just using a PC. I would like to introduce her to the net, but fear exposure to unnecessary and adult sites. How can I restrict her access to specific sites of her interest?


Take some time to learn how YOU can put some controls into your computer that would block specific sites.

Safe internet access for kids

Posted: Sat May 02, 2009 11:26 am
by CARLA
Pretty much nails it. You have to know what you want to block. There is software out there that will do it for you. You still need to know how to set it up. There are no 100% safe sites in today's world. For little one I would suggest Home - Sesame Street for starters fun and innocent. Then maybe some Disney sites. Your local Zoo's site they are fun for kids.

[QUOTE]Take some time to learn how YOU can put some controls into your computer that would block specific sites.[/QUOTE]

Safe internet access for kids

Posted: Sat May 02, 2009 12:08 pm
by spot
I've no exerience of bought commercial internet filters. I've used K9 on machines for children, it filters content on whatever basis you request, it has default settings, it blocks outside allowed hours, I'm impressed by it.

Safe internet access for kids

Posted: Sat May 02, 2009 12:12 pm
by qsducks
mariojem;1182787 wrote: My six year old daughter is very intrigued and curious about the internet. She knows and understands that having access to the internet is something different from just using a PC. I would like to introduce her to the net, but fear exposure to unnecessary and adult sites. How can I restrict her access to specific sites of her interest?


Some good sites are PBS.org, Clubpenquin.com, Disney.com These will pique her interest. My son still goes to these sites.

Safe internet access for kids

Posted: Sat May 02, 2009 12:35 pm
by spot
As for learn how to block specific sites yourself, it's not going to help in the slightest. What you need is an ability to block categories and let hundreds of contributors dictate what falls into it or not. There's no way on earth one person is going to be able to give instructions on what to filter off a child's computer without external categorization, blocking site by site yourself to get clean access is an impossibility. Learning how to block sites is secondary, installing an existing package which imports block lists with tens of thousands of sites on it is the only approach which will have an effect. Yes Microsoft provided the hosts file, no it's not an answer.

Finally, no parent who has any interest in the sanity of the child would allow it near disney.com, it's full of the most disgusting drivel.

Safe internet access for kids

Posted: Sat May 02, 2009 12:42 pm
by Betty Boop
spot;1182807 wrote: I've no exerience of bought commercial internet filters. I've used K9 on machines for children, it filters content on whatever basis you request, it has default settings, it blocks outside allowed hours, I'm impressed by it.


I'm impressed too, I have K9 installed on my childrens computers. It's easy to use, they have set times when they are allowed internet access, and K9 'barks' at us everytime an attempt to enter a dodgy site is made. If anything it's over protective, so far a six year old and an eleven year old have not happened to arrive on anything they shouldn't have. :)

Safe internet access for kids

Posted: Sat May 02, 2009 1:59 pm
by CARLA
I think this K9 site might work on some adult computer users machines. I spend so much time cleaning up their personal home machines after they have run them into the ground with trojan, viruses you name. I like the barking Dog. Thanks Spot good to see you back. :wah: http://www1.k9webprotection.com/

[QUOTE]Originally Posted by spot

I've no exerience of bought commercial internet filters. I've used K9 on machines for children, it filters content on whatever basis you request, it has default settings, it blocks outside allowed hours, I'm impressed by it.

[/QUOTE]

Safe internet access for kids

Posted: Tue May 05, 2009 3:00 pm
by Bill Sikes
mariojem;1182787 wrote: How can I restrict her access to specific sites of her interest?


I would not trust any software at all in this respect. The only thing you can do is supervise, and monitor, constantly. There's no substitute, IMO.

A system tucked away in a bedroom or elsewhere where access isn't general, and is at all private, is asking for trouble.

Safe internet access for kids

Posted: Tue May 05, 2009 3:01 pm
by fuzzywuzzy
I don't block anything for my children . I just tell them watch what you look up because you may get more than you bargained for. Which one of my boys did. I prefer to leave it up to them to monitor, they'll have to learn about it one day . If they know how to get to these sites they also learn how to avoid them as well. As they do now, they now know how to be very selective on the net.

Safe internet access for kids

Posted: Tue May 05, 2009 3:03 pm
by Betty Boop
fuzzywuzzy;1184175 wrote: I don't block anything for my children . I just tell them watch what you look up because you may get more than you bargained for. Which one of my boys did. I prefer to leave it up to them to monitor, they'll have to learn about it one day . If they know how to get to these sites they also learn how to avoid them as well. As they do now, they now know how to be very selective on the net.


:eek: You are kidding, wow, I am speechless.

Safe internet access for kids

Posted: Tue May 05, 2009 3:13 pm
by Bill Sikes
fuzzywuzzy;1184175 wrote: If they know how to get to these sites they also learn how to avoid them as well.


Avoid.... this does not compute.

Safe internet access for kids

Posted: Tue May 05, 2009 3:17 pm
by Snowfire
Surely children need to be protected from certain elements of the internet. I'm amazed you give them so much freedom. It makes me cringe to think of the things they could access. Some of it makes even me blush and turn away and I'm hardly the shrinking violet type. I would never let my grandkids access the net without safeguards

Safe internet access for kids

Posted: Tue May 05, 2009 3:46 pm
by Bryn Mawr
CARLA;1182796 wrote: Pretty much nails it. You have to know what you want to block. There is software out there that will do it for you. You still need to know how to set it up. There are no 100% safe sites in today's world. For little one I would suggest Home - Sesame Street for starters fun and innocent. Then maybe some Disney sites. Your local Zoo's site they are fun for kids.


We find :-

BBC - CBeebies - Fun and Games

and

CITV: Home

keep our grandkids quiet for hours whilst being guaranteed safe viewing.

Safe internet access for kids

Posted: Tue May 05, 2009 3:48 pm
by fuzzywuzzy
See this to me is the problem with the internet. My son (the 14 year old) was always going to be curious about sex. It was going to come in the form of a magazine or DVD from school anyway.........Check your childrens schoolbags for DVD's. one day he got on the computer and found a site that has now scarred him for life, i'm sure. He basically saw more than he was looking for (basically a nude pic) . He hasn't gone out of his way to access that stuff again. Problem solved.

It had the EEEEEWWWOOOOOHHHH factor. How did we know he'd done this . Check your computer and you'll be able to access every image that has come up on the screen. when we had a talk with him about it he used the "revolting " word. we havent found those images since, from either child.



You see kids will find this stuff eventually, even I have found this content when looking up 'Asian recipies'. The first time I found porn was on an outing at a roadside rest stop. Someone had dumped a load of porn mags on the side of the road. We went to look at the magazines dumped and found out more than we bargained for, not knowing what they were. so it can be found anywhere.

Safe internet access for kids

Posted: Wed May 06, 2009 6:01 am
by spot
Fuzzy, check the opening post. The thread's about six year olds.

Safe internet access for kids

Posted: Wed May 06, 2009 7:43 pm
by fuzzywuzzy
Oh :-2 No they only had Pc's not connected up then. They were both trained for the internet around the age of ten.

Safe internet access for kids

Posted: Wed May 06, 2009 11:18 pm
by spot
fuzzywuzzy;1184621 wrote: Oh :-2I wouldn't worry fuzz. The poster came and went, littering the identical post onto half a dozen other sites the same week.

nelson12`s profile summary at eHealth Forum nelson12

Email for kids - CNET E-mail, chat, & VoIP Forums jemini12

Jaman - Kids & Family - Email for kids jem.hall

Email for kids (renting, title, adult) - Connecticut (CT) - City-Data Forum Neel.jem

AumHa Forums • View topic - Email for kids jikaqlop

Raisingkids Forums: Safe internet access for kids nelson

and on http://forums.techguy.org/web-email/822 ... -kids.html except Tech Support Guy pulled the post as spam.

I've never quite come to a conclusion whether this sort of fly-by-night triggering of threads is helpful to anyone or not. If mariojem would like to come back into the discussion - assuming mariojem ever looks at it - at least we'll know we're not responding to a write-only poster.

Safe internet access for kids

Posted: Thu May 07, 2009 4:45 pm
by fuzzywuzzy
Don't know about that because even if they are 'fly by nights', at least it's a topic we can still discuss between ourselves. :D

Do you think it's a survey?

Safe internet access for kids

Posted: Sat May 09, 2009 3:48 am
by spot
fuzzywuzzy;1185155 wrote: Don't know about that because even if they are 'fly by nights', at least it's a topic we can still discuss between ourselves. :D

Do you think it's a survey?


No, but I do think there's a new phenomenon of political activism which involves posing questions as though from uninvolved people in order to get the public's attention focused into a particular area. Where it's party-led I don't think I like it. It's underhand when it's anonymous.

Safe internet access for kids

Posted: Fri May 15, 2009 3:02 am
by JosefinaS
My son is eight y.o. and the same situation :)

He surfs in the web from my Mac-book when I'm at work. For some reasons, using default parental controls isn't convenient to me, so I've installed a keylogger (ActyMac DutyWatch), that takes screenshots, shows internet and application usage history and records keystrokes. The most useful feature is alarm-emails, that are send to me when he types a "banned" word. Thus, I feel secure about my child. :)

Good luck to you! :)

Safe internet access for kids

Posted: Fri May 15, 2009 3:09 am
by Snowfire
Hello and welcome JosefinaS

I'm not familiar with that application but isnt it all a bit like locking the stable door after the horse has bolted ?

Safe internet access for kids

Posted: Fri May 15, 2009 3:20 am
by JosefinaS
Snowfire;1189058 wrote: isnt it all a bit like locking the stable door after the horse has bolted ?


I see what you mean, but I have my reasons to it. My son is aware of the monitoring software installed on the computer, so he knows that when I'm at home I can check his activity. So he wouldn't play computer games for hours, as he knows, I don't allow it.

You can't block access to every internet source that can be dangerous. Predators can contact kids on forums and chats that are designed for children (and I guess, it's easier to do it there). In this way the keylogger helps, as I can see what my son's on-line conversations are about.

Safe internet access for kids

Posted: Fri May 15, 2009 3:28 am
by spot
It sounds a very sensible approach JosefinaS, I'm sure it will have a considerable effect. It takes time for you to regularly check and if you don't the effect will fade, I'd let him help you do it now and then.

Safe internet access for kids

Posted: Fri May 15, 2009 3:39 am
by Snowfire
It's good to know you are monitoring your sons activities. Too many people just leave them to it with no control at all

Safe internet access for kids

Posted: Fri May 15, 2009 3:41 am
by JosefinaS
Well, thank you :)

Safe internet access for kids

Posted: Fri May 15, 2009 5:33 am
by Bill Sikes
JosefinaS;1189053 wrote: My son is eight y.o.


That quite clearly comes ounder the heading of supervision & monitoring, and is eminently sensible.

Safe internet access for kids

Posted: Fri May 15, 2009 4:29 pm
by fuzzywuzzy
spot;1185906 wrote: . It's underhand when it's anonymous.


I tend to agree with you . It's a bit like trolling really.

Josefina, what sites do you feel he will access? He's eight and on your computer browsing internet sites? forums? or interest groups?

I know which sites my children are on, and I do tend to give my children a lot of freedom and credit for brains. I would suggest 8 is a little too young to be accessing the internet (while you're at work) but if you're comfortable with that, no biggy.



I'm more uncomfortable with the portable Ipods, dvd players and mobile phones in which the children can take away with them .

A computer is a large object that sits in the family home in which most family members have a use. With more than one computer in the house usually they are all connected to the main *host * PC. I honestly don't think the majority of older children are that silly to sit in the open and access stuff they know they aren't supposed to.

Too many people just leave them to it with no control at all


I have one rule for my boys and one rule only ..................You can do what ever you want and have as much freedom as you want ............until you're dishonest or **** up.

Safe internet access for kids

Posted: Mon May 18, 2009 4:58 am
by JosefinaS
fuzzywuzzy;1189428 wrote: Josefina, what sites do you feel he will access? He's eight and on your computer browsing internet sites? forums? or interest groups?




He is mostly interested in cars and gaming.

You know, these pop-up ads are so shameless, they are so hard to avoid and they usually contain links leading to porno-sites and so on.

The other point is that he visit different chats from time to time, I don't want to prevent him from it, as it's common within his friends, but I need to see what he writes there and what is written to him to make sure he is safe.

Safe internet access for kids

Posted: Fri Jun 19, 2009 10:22 am
by KarmaDoodle
I'm glad to hear that everyone is looking for safe sites for their kids to visit and engage with - it's too bad not all parents do that! ABC News had an article last week, "Top 9 Ways to Keep Tabs on Your Kids This Summer," and it's not surprising that numbers 1 & 2 have to do with internet safety and monitoring online activity. This topic has been in the news a lot recently. I'm doing some work with Stop H*Commerce which is specifically for educating people on cybercrimes and home network protection. It's pretty interesting!

Safe internet access for kids

Posted: Thu Nov 12, 2009 3:16 am
by imsarahmiley
to my mind, you can't prevent it by using any software or blocking sites. because now a day there are lots of proxy site available which can surf the blocked site without any hassle.

Safe internet access for kids

Posted: Thu Nov 12, 2009 7:15 am
by spot
imsarahmiley;1261991 wrote: to my mind, you can't prevent it by using any software or blocking sites. because now a day there are lots of proxy site available which can surf the blocked site without any hassle.


That might well be true for geeky twelve year olds but you can get a long way with it when they're younger. If you really feel the need for blocking older children you can block all proxy access with a dedicated firewall, it needn't be a recent computer, you can do it with something off a skip.

Safe internet access for kids

Posted: Thu Nov 12, 2009 10:34 pm
by imsarahmiley
yes you are right we can prevent it. Thanks for making me aware from this.