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Please send any suggestions and comments here. The Association for Youth, Children and Natural Psychology is a non-profit New Jersey corporation and operates as a federal 501(c)3.
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Sponsors
Safe Eyes - Well-running software tested and endorsed by the ACYNP
Net Nanny - Highly rated parental internet monitoring software
The Parent's Guide to Protecting Your Children in Cyberspace Parry Aftab
Internationally respected attorney and cyber-expert Parry Aftab offers a sensible, clear-cut guide to protecting children from the dark side of the Web.
Cyber-Safe Kids, Cyber-Savvy Teens: Helping Young People Learn To Use the Internet Safely and Responsibly
by
Nancy E. Willard
Review:
"Willard blends the perspectives of a wise parent and a serious scholar about issues related to Internet behavior and safety. . . Pick up the book, open it to any random page, and you will find on that page or nearby a wealth of helpful advice and useful commentary on the cyberreality facing our children and on how to deal with any of the issues she's identified." —Dick Thornburgh, J.D., former U.S. Attorney General; chair, National Academy of Sciences Committee on Youth Pornography and the Internet
How to Protect Children on the Internet by Gregory S. Smith
“Smith outlines methods for protecting children against online threats. He describes recent tragedies and shows how to protect against specific dangers, for parents or educators of children from age eight to 17. He specifically discusses how to monitor children online, with recommendations for surfing, blogs, and social networking; email; instant messaging and voice-over-IP, cell phones, and PDAs; and talking to children about risks. Information has been drawn from research reports, case studies, child advocacy organizations and web sites, interviews with experts and parents, and the author's own experiences as a parent, technology professional, and educator.”–Reference & Research Book News
i-SAFE Internet Life Skills Activities: Reproducible Projects on Learning to Safely Handle Life Online, Grades 9-12 (Jossey-Bass Teacher) by iSafe
Reviews: "This is a great book for students. Just as importantly, this book will assist parents to keep their children and families safe in Cyberspace."
—Peter La Monica, executive director, BeNetSafe.Org
"Our experience is clear: there is no fail-proof technical solution that will protect our students. We must train our students, teachers and staff to be aware and responsible users; no one provides better quality and updated training than i-SAFE. This book should be mandatory for any parent, teacher, or school site administrator."
—William D. Piotrowski, Ph.D., chief technology officer, Leon County Schools
Youth, Pornography, and the Internet - by the Committee to Study Tools and Strategies for Protecting Kids from Pornography and Their Applicability to Other Inappropriate Internet Content, National Research Council, Dick Thornburgh, Herbert S. Lin
The book discusses social and educational strategies, technological tools, and policy options for how to teach children to make safe and appropriate decisions about what they see and experience on the Internet. It includes lessons learned from case studies of community efforts to intervene in kids’ exposure to Internet porn.
Saber Hacer's Guide to Protecting Your Children on the Internet
by Michele Ruiz
The Internet is undoubtedly one of today s most important tools and resources. But experts also want you to know that every child using a computer faces risks. Guide to Protecting Your Children on the Internet takes the mystery out of online safety. Get the knowhow you need to keep your loved ones safe and secure. And your kids get know-how too. With Saber Hacer, everyone can become more aware and make even smarter decisions. Emmy award winning journalist, Michele Ruiz, is your host for Guide to Protecting your Children on the Internet. Joining her are several respected child safety experts, including an FBI Unit Chief, a technology security expert and a President of an Internet Safety organization. In addition, teenagers share real-life experiences and important insights. Topics Include: Internet Basics & Risks; Safety Tools; Safe Behaviors; Where to Get Help
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Page updated: November 10, 2011
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Reviews of the Best Parental Internet Control Software
REVIEW: Safe Eyes Parental Internet Filtering Software by Internet Safety
Safe Eyes parental web filtering software works well in filtering out pornography, which is the primary concern of most parents. It allows you to choose topically which types of sites to filter. The list of topics includes adult, nudity, chat, dating/personal, E-Commerce, Gambling, Games, Hate Sites, Murder - Suicide, Personal Information, Sex, Tasteless/Gross, Violene, Weapons, among others. The system is not all-inclusive, if you filter out hate sites, you don't have to select gambling, but you can choose as many or few categories as you would like.
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More than half of all children who use the Internet are exposed to pornography in their own homes.
Photo: Nevit Dilmen, 2004.
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Because more than 50% of children are exposed to pornography in their own home through the Internet, many parents subscribe to web-based, remote parental internal filtering software, which provides balanced protection from pornography, as well as other harmful influences on the internet, and allows a parent to monitor internet use in their home.
50% of children are exposed to pornography on the Internet at home
Specific sites can easily be added to the list, and permissible sites can easily be added. If your child or teen has a list of sites that are acceptable for him or her to use, in minutes you can include them on the permissible list, in case any might be a part of one of the categories who clicked. The software, then, is easily programmable.
Web-based Yearly Subscription, with Unlimited Number of Individual Users
Like most effective web filtering software, Safe Eyes is web-based, and is purchased on a yearly subscription. This means that you can access and program the software remotely. It is downloadable on up to three computers and all computers on your network can be individualed programmed, according to an unlimited number of separate users.
So, for example, if you want your six-year-old to have very limited access to the Internet, with your eighteen-year-old on a different level, and you on a different tier of protection, the software allows for as many different users with their own customized settings as you would like.
Parental internet control software is of value and a protection. Children exposed to pornography may be more likely to develop psychological disorders, or can be very distracted when in school as a result of being exposed to pornography. Teens can easily become addicted to pornography.
Safe Eyes is one of the best parental internet control software packages, designed to give balanced protection to children on the Internet.
Parents can block or allow social networking, and you can track the child or teen's activity if you want to. The history of internet use is active for three weeks, and again, can be accessed remotely, from work or elsewhere, even if that computer does not have Safe Eyes.
Safe Eyes blocks internet pornography at a rate of about 97%. On sites such as YouTube, the Association for Youth, Children and Natural Psychology, on an internet search on a key word that produced pornographic videos, the software was about 93% effective in blocking pornographic videos, on the first YouTube page that came up. Approximately 24 of 26 videos were blocked. The other option parents have, what the free parental internet control and monitoring software K9 does at its moderate level setting, is to block YouTube altogether.
Safe Eyes produces a report for parents of what sites have been visited, as well as what search terms have been explored on computers that have the software installed. The internet usage report can be automatically emailed daily, weekly or monthly to the parent. Additionally, the option is available to parents of sending a text message to parents whenever certain words are searched, or "banned" sites are visited. There are a number of other options associated with these features that some parents might want to use.Parents, then, can pretty much know what is going on on the computers in the home and laptops of their children or teens. Sample Internet Usage Report from Safe Eyes
Disadvantages of Safe Eyes by Internet Safety
The downside of Safe Eyes is, first, the program is a subscription, which means a yearly recurrent fee, rather than a one-time purchase. You can purchase the subscription for two years, which works out for a savings. The cost of the program is $50. With a 20%-off coupon, it brings the cost to $40. If you purchase the program for two years, with the coupon, the cost comes out to less than $35 per year.
The program isn't too touchy, but it does need tweaking in the beginning. You might hit on a site that has a "hit" word in it that trips the system, "sex" or "nudity," as examples. You have to open the Safe Eyes site, using your user name and password, which takes around 10 seconds, and type in the url in the "Allowed Sites" window. The site will then pass through the filter permanently. You can choose to allow the site to be accessed by one user or all users for that particular site.
Currently, Safe Eyes either allows the full range of Google Images in the "safe" mode, which means that most, again about 97% or 98% of seriously pornographic images, hard core, are blocked. However, what might be considered to be softer porn or sexy images do get through the filter for Google images. The other option is K9's approach (the free parental internet control software), blocking Google images altogether in its moderate setting.
After a short time, the site is pretty much transparent, with just a little tweaking here and there. The software blocks most pornography on YouTube, but it isn't too touchy, it might even be considered not strict enough for some parents, who might want to add their own "buzzwords" or sites to the program for young children or sensitive teens.
The software doesn't slow down the computer noticeably.
The customer service is excellent, before the company was sold to MacPhee, the response to phone calls for technical or other assistance was immediate. Since MacPhee took over the product, the response time was about one-minute, which was not too bad, the technician seemed to have the same level of expertise.
Other Features of Safe Eyes Parental Internet Filtering Software
Time limits can be placed on the Internet for individual children and teens. A parent might want to limit a child to one hour a day during the week, and two hours on the weekend. Time restrictions can also be easily programmed.
Place time limits on the internet by means of parental internet control software.
This can help teenagse to learn self-discipline and balance in their use of the Internet
The Internet access time for a child might be 7:00 AM to 9:30 PM, as one example on the weekdays, and 7:00 AM to 10:30 PM on the weekends, as one example. Another teen in the household might have a different schedule, if a parent wants.
Conclusion - Review of Safe Eyes Parental Internet Filtering Software
All in all, Safe Eyes is recommended. On a scale of 1 to 5, we give it a 4.7. It is an well-designed program, with good technical support and few glitches. It is sincerely recommended, we use it on our home computer, and even though we have no children in the house, it provides a level of security that is beneficial even for adults, or in self-regulating our own use of the Internet.
Government child safety agencies, public school educators and religious organizations (off-site link) recommend parental internet filtering software for home internet use.
There is not internet filtering software that is 100%, however, you can feel reasonably secure with well designed internet filtering software. In addition to internet filtering software, parents need to educate children and teens in using the Internet responsibly, the dangers of pornography, and precautions to take in not giving out personal information on the Internet or chatting or otherwise communicating with individuals he or she doesn't know. It provides a helpful layer of protection to your computers but does not replace training and educating your children and teens about the Internet or about pornography.
Additionaly, government and educational sources, as well as some religious organizations, encourage parents to keep the computer in a public area of the home. Don't allow a child or teen to have a computer in his or her bedroom. Keep it public, so you can easily see how the computer is being used.
See Keeping Children Safe Online - U.S. Government information, with Carnegie Mellon University
Consider implementing parental controls - You may be able to set some parental controls within your browser. For example, Internet Explorer allows you to restrict or allow certain web sites to be viewed on your computer, and you can protect these settings with a password. To find those options, click Tools on your menu bar, select Internet Options..., choose the Content tab, and click the Enable... button under Content Advisor.
There are other resources you can use to control and/or monitor your child's online activity. Some ISPs offer services designed to protect children online. Contact your ISP to see if any of these services are available. There are also special software programs you can install on your computer. Different programs offer different features and capabilities, so you can find one that best suits your needs.
Children and teens need to realize that there are imposters on social networking who are pedophiles or sexual predators, at one time MySpace was home to 20,000 sexual predators, who, of course, usually pose as children or teens themselves. That statistic might still be valid, but it was from several years ago.
For around $35 to $40 a year, it is a worthwhile investment. Anyone who accesses the internet regularly at home or uses email at home, should also consider purchasing high-quality anti-virus and anti-spyware software.
End of Review of Safe Eyes Parental Internet Filtering Software
bSecure Parental Internet Filtering Software Review
The second internet filtering software featured here is bSecure by BSafe Online. It is rated in the top three internet parental control software packages by consumer agencies, and is an award-winning internet filtering and online security solution. It performs similarly to SafeEyes, and also has the capability to email reports of all Internet activity to parents.
bSecure also can be used on three separate computers and costs the same cost as SafeEyes, $49.95. A coupon brings the price down to around $35. You can also purchase the program bundled with MacFee antivirus software which includes, filtering, reporting, firewall, intrusion detection, pop-up (and spyware) killer, antivirus and SPAM filtering. It is a professional program and gives good security to your computer. This all-in-one packages is $69.95, which is a pretty good price for the combination, compared to purchasing both packages separately. bSafe also features a small business protection and tracking package.
Safe Eyes comes with a 14 Day free trial.
The bSecure comes with a 30 day money back guarantee.
bSecure states:
Stop the destructive influences of pornography and protect your family online NOW with the bSecure Internet Filter, formerly Bsafe Online.
Bsecure blocks inappropriate Internet content from your family's computers and monitors your child's Instant messaging sessions. bSecure software puts parents in control of what they can and cannot see.
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Plan B ------ bSecure: Another highly rated parental internet filtering software.
Use this coupon code: AYCNP for 30% off.
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PC Magazine Review Brief:
Pros
Wholly web-based configuration and reporting. Accountability option for parents who need self-control. Flexible content filtering. Blocks filter-breaking proxy utilities. Limits access to games and TV/video based on ratings. Can schedule Internet access, monitor IM and social networking. Parental alerts via e-mail or SMS. Option to filter entire network.
Cons
Media access control depends on vendor's data collection. No daily/weekly cap on Internet.
Bottom Line
Despite its "don't notice me" version number (6.16) bSecure's latest offering is a major update and a total winner. It does everything you'd expect and adds unexpected features like rating-based video access control, parental alerts via SMS, and optional whole-network filtering.
bSecure AYCNP Review
bSecure, again, is a good choice in parental internet monitoring software. In testing Safe Eyes, bSecure and K9, the Association for Youth, Children and Natural Psychology could recommend all three programs. K9 is free, it doesn't have all the features of the paid programs/subscriptions, and it is only good for one user-setting per computer. It does provide the same level of monitoring that the paid programs do, but it does block pornography at the same or even slightly better level than the paid services. bSecure is effective and the customer support was good when we called with a technical issue. Of the three, if you are willing to pay for it, we felt that Safe Eyes was the best. It seems like, up until this point, it is more serious about the whole business of creating an excellent program. bSecure was also good, but we felt Safe Eyes was a little better. If you don't want to pay for the subscription, download K9. We use Safe Eyes at the AYCNP, but K9 can also be used effectively.
Internet Safety Related Pages
THE EFFECTS OF PORNOGRAPHY ON INDIVIDUALS, MARRIAGE, FAMILY AND COMMUNITY
Patrick F. Fagan, Ph.D.
Effects of Pornography - Summary, Solutions
How Pornography Effects Children
How to Teach Your Child to Use the Internet Wisely
Reviews of the Best Parental Internet Filtering Software
Free Parental Internet Filtering Software - How Good is it?
Child Online Safety U.S. Government information page, from Carnegie Mellon University.
Internet Safety - Notes from Newark Public School Conference
Cyber Bullying - Parents: What parents can do
Adolescent Psychology
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