Filtering software should be considered a babysitter – a temporary supervisor -- while your attention is somewhere else. As you don’t depend on your babysitter to raise your children, don’t depend on filtering software to enforce your family values and keep your child 100% safe while using the internet. Since filtering software varies considerably, parents would probably find it useful to try the available trial version from various companies. Filtering software varies in the look and in the ease of use. Look for features that are important to you. Some allow parents to block or add websites, limit the amount of time on the internet, limit access by the file extension, alert parents to internet activity without blocking access, or block specific outgoing information such as violence, alcohol, drugs, sex, pictures, address, phone, credit card or social security numbers. Filtering software can contain lists of known phishing websites and hostile websites that deliver malicious code to website visitors.
Filtering software installed on your home computer should be able to associate the permissions and restrictions you set with your child’s username and email address. Young children should not have their own email address. They should share an email address with a parent and access email only when the parent physically is with them.
The limitation of filtering software is that it can block access to news and medical information when certain banned words are on a webpage. Filtering software also depends to some extent on the honesty of the person submitting the webpage or website to the search engines. If you use filtering software be sure it is compatible with your operating system and other programs such as text messaging, email, and chat programs.
Some internet access providers provide content filtering. These are the parental control settings. When you logon to the internet using a username associated with a particular content filtered account, the access should be restricted from websites the internet access provider has blocked or denied access to. You can find a list of filtering software at GetNet Wise http://kids.getnetwise.org/tools/. Kid Rocket http://www.kidrocket.com is a free, kid-safe browser. It can track usage time. The free Parental Control Bar http://www.parentalcontrolbar.org is filtering software.
Remember that content filtering and filtering software are tools, not a guarantee that everything you don’t want your child to view or experience will be banned from their computer screen. There is no replacement for your personal supervision.