Childproofing the Internet

[micfire]

Few simple words: "You know kid, I'm recording your screen always. So if I even think your are doing something wrong, I'll review tape and help me god if I find something.. oh boy.. then my son.. you will feel pain you have never ever felt before. Now, wanna watch Simpsons with me?".

 

[turbolapp]

Few simple words: "You know kid, I'm recording your screen always. So if I even think your are doing something wrong, I'll review tape and help me god if I find something.. oh boy.. then my son.. you will feel pain you have never ever felt before. Now, wanna watch Simpsons with me?".

Actually that's a thought. I'll do some preliminary measures then I'll tell him that I can review every site he's been on and every action he's performed on those sites, whether it's true or not.

It's the same thing I tell babysitters. I tell them there are nanny cams located throughout the house (there aren't) and I'm just letting them know because I think it's only fair that people should know when they're on camera.

Social Psychology 101: People always behave better when they think someone's watching.

 

[HarveyJ]

Yes... let's all set up our houses like panopticons

You know what? In retrospect, most people that are porno monkeys as teenagers turn out fine.
I watched a LOT of porn as a teenager... I mean a LOT... Like 40gb a month...

And I still don't think it's normal to wear shoes without anything else, or bust my load in someone's eye. I'm fairly certain most woman don't like being choked or called a "slutbitchwhoreohyeahsuckit" while we're having sex (although I did hear an interesting story about "call me Elmo!", once), and generally, I don't expect to swap places with a large black guy while getting some.
Oh, and I'm still in a (fairly) normal and (somewhat) healthy longterm relationship. I add in the brackets as it's hard to precise on either of those terms.

 

[airforcematt]

I would suggest opendns like others have suggested. Also keep the computer in a very visible place.

I was one of those kids that when a filter was installed broke the computer to get around it. My crowning achievement for sneaking around the web without my parents knowing involved wiring a hidden phone line they knew nothing about into my room one day while they were gone shopping (drilled through 3 walls) Mailed in payment to an ISP and had my own internet for 6 months before they found the line That's when I became a night owl.

 

[xmcp123]

I would suggest opendns like others have suggested. Also keep the computer in a very visible place.

I was one of those kids that when a filter was installed broke the computer to get around it. My crowning achievement for sneaking around the web without my parents knowing involved wiring a hidden phone line they knew nothing about into my room one day while they were gone shopping (drilled through 3 walls) Mailed in payment to an ISP and had my own internet for 6 months before they found the line That's when I became a night owl.

Damn I feel outdone. The first time I broke it it was with a keylogger. After that it was by restoring the system dlls/uninstalling in safe mode. There were a few more attempts after that, but by then I had a cd with all the files the filtering software modified on it, so I could more or less restore at will.

 

[Jan]

The trouble with expecting software to monitor kids is that it lulls the adults into believing that they don't have to monitor. No matter what you do, watch you kids. You don't have to do it every minute, but enough that they don't know when they will be checked. First time they are caught not following a simple internet guideline, come down hard. The more they get away with it, the more they will try. Make it hard and uncomfortable for them. Put the computer in a public area. If possible have your separate users or better yet, have your own computer. With young kids, they can be happy with a simple cheap computer.

I know someone who didn't watch her kid because she was sure her computer was "safe". Not only did she have a myspace filled with swear words, pictures, pictures of family (without their permission), her phone number, full birth date, part of town she lived on, etc. it was found by someone other than the paren and that person was accepted as a friend by just claiming to go to her school to gain access to her "private" Myspace. The parent was surprised because she was certain her computer was "safe".

Controls may slow some kids down, but nothing beats old fashion parenting and keeping an eye on your kid and with consequences when guidelines/rules are abused and ignored.

 

[Geordie]

Hey Turbo,

We have a 6 year old boy.

We decided at that age that if we decide to let them go online at all, we'll work it backwards from NO website access at all, to what individual domains he is allowed to see. We use macs in the house so it's a little easier to use this approach on OSX. We created a new user acct for him (bare bones restricted user), disallowed access to all settings and apps except Safari.

Then we entered the domains he is allowed to go to: lego.com, pbskids.org (in fact I think that's it). Apple does a good job of blocking in-content ads being fed in, and if he wants to look at something else, he'll come and ask and get told no (most of the time) or we can enable it for a one-time view while we sit with him.

Overall, this has worked very well for us, if at 6 years old he can hack it, I bow to his intellectual superiority and will give him the car keys right away

Now, here comes the 'theory' I have (feel free to skip):

I think everyone here is right, that if a kid wants to view something off limits you can't stop them. They'll crack it or just view it at a friend's house after school when you're not around. This is likely how most kids are exposed to porn the first time anyway....kid finds dad's stash, sharing ensues.

With this in mind, my wife and I have agree that we'll be up-front with our son when he's a bit older, about the fact that we can't watch him 24 hrs a day, and that if he really wants to do something that we disapprove of, he'll likely find a way to do it. With that in mind, if he chooses to do something off-limits, and it comes to our attention, we'll look at the situation one at a time and decide what should be done (if anything, in the case of just plain childish curiosity), and the discipline will match the level of responsibility he had in making his choice, and what the reasons were.

At the end of the day, we can warn him about the dangers of jumping into things before it's appropriate for his age, but will just have to ease him into that self-direction as time goes by.

 

[airforcematt]

Damn I feel outdone. The first time I broke it it was with a keylogger. After that it was by restoring the system dlls/uninstalling in safe mode. There were a few more attempts after that, but by then I had a cd with all the files the filtering software modified on it, so I could more or less restore at will.

Ah keylogging the parents Did that at first back in the Win 95\netzero days back before I had my own computer.

Netzero setup software downloaded on family computer? Check
Software cut up and placed on 7 floppys? Check
Software re-assembled and installed on 486 with 28.8 modem? Check
Mom asleep? Check
All phones in the house unplugged so nobody will hear the hissing? Check
Mirror setup so nobody can sneak up on my room if above fails? Check

I was a devious little brat

Then there was the time my parents got an email warning them to stop hacking from their account (I was using a port scanner to look for trojan infested computers)
Luckily I was on when the warning email came in and deleted before they ever saw it.

 

[Fat Tom]

I really like the computer in a public place, but theres not a lot that really works well. When i was growing up and the interwebs was new, (to me) I checked out porn, some good, some not so good, but my parents sat me down and warned me about the bad things that can come from the web. So i guess you could say that i was ready for some of the stuff that i saw, and it just wasn't a big deal.

 

[Karnul]

When it comes to parenting, it's the examples and intentions that count. Outside influences are not going to overcome the examples you set.

Turbolapp has a backbone, gives thought to her actions, and obviously places the interest of her child above all other factors. I predict that her child/children will be well-adjusted happy adults one day --- regardless of any outside influences.

Porn, druggie friends, war...even Wicked Fire won't stop a stable, positive mind from overcoming adversities.

 

[xmcp123]

When it comes to parenting, it's the examples and intentions that count. Outside influences are not going to overcome the examples you set.

Turbolapp has a backbone, gives thought to her actions, and obviously places the interest of her child above all other factors. I predict that her child/children will be well-adjusted happy adults one day --- regardless of any outside influences.

Porn, druggie friends, war...even Wicked Fire won't stop a stable, positive mind from overcoming adversities.

But we do our best.