Ask Slashdot: Good Low Cost Free Software For Protecting Kids Online? 646
An anonymous reader writes "I have two kids, 7 and 8. I would love to allow them internet access on a regular basis. The problem is what's out there: I really don't want them to deal with porn ads and such, but making either a blacklist or a whitelist myself would take months. So I figured I would ask you: what free software would you use with preferably prebuilt lists to protect your kids online? What is out there with fairly easy configuration ability (to allow for game servers — they love Minecraft), but secure enough they can't just bypass it using a Google search?"
OpenDNS (Score:5, Interesting)
Try OpenDNS. It's got good granularity for filtering criteria and you can either filter at your router, or on a per-computer basis.
Plus, their founder has a /. UID of 17.
Bsecure Online (Score:4, Interesting)
My father uses this software, BSecure Whole Home Filtering. Its great, you can customize the filters to your hearts content. Plus you can cover all the computers in your network by changing DNS servers on your router.
Link: http://www.bsecure.com/ [bsecure.com]
Re:Watch them (Score:4, Interesting)
That's what I do. I find that the kids are not really interested in anything that could accidentally stumble across anything untoward. YouTube is the main problem site, but hey saturday morning pop videos are bloody awful and you can't do much about that.
With our oldest I set up a non-network account (iptable block rule based on userid (on linux)) so that when he was left at home alone there was no internet access, but he could still play local games, use open office etc.
Re:Porn!? (Score:2, Interesting)
I gotta admit, that's the first thing that crossed my mind. Not so much the "They'll turn into rapists!" as the automatic, "Oh, there's no way I can let my kids have access to the Internet without filtering software because they'll see goatse.cx or tubgirl and be permanently scarred for life."
You might want to consider just giving them access to the Internet and see if it becomes a problem. I mean, they're 7 and 8 year-olds. What will be their reaction if, while looking for Minecraft cheats or something, they run across a porn site? I'm guessing that they might go "Gross!" and go back to looking for Minecraft cheats. They might go "Gross!" and look at more--because there's nothing 7 or 8 year-olds like more than gross stuff. But they'll eventually get bored with it and go back to looking for whatever they were looking for. And they'll probably learn that there are some sites they don't want to visit because there's gross stuff on it.
If it becomes a problem, sit down and have a talk with your kids about why this is a problem. If they still can't get it through their tiny little minds, then consider the filtering software.
Re:Watch them (Score:5, Interesting)
I know, seriously. Kids have a lot more energy, and creativity, when it comes to acquiring a taboo item. Thinking of my own childhood, you're better off trying to explain, using proper (adult) reasoning, why your social values need to be respected by them rather than trying to put up magic walls to block the offending material. Remember, the first time a kid catches you lying to them, all bets are off; they'll question everything from that day forward, and test things when you aren't around.
I'd be more worried if they didn't find a way around that filter.
Re:Teaching kids the ability to discern (Score:5, Interesting)
What is the "Real World"?
My kid knows right vs. wrong.
He just turned 9 and my wife and I (and our many friends and their children) all fully agree that he has Never lied in his life. We are not worried about Him, we are worried about the INTERNET shoving completely inappropriate things down to him.
It doesn't take a very creative Google search to come up with some fully inappropriate content.
And it's getting Worse!
By the day!!
FREEDOM OF SPEECH!!!, AMEN!!, but not to my 9 Year Old.
Comment removed (Score:4, Interesting)
No television then? (Score:5, Interesting)
I simply don't think that 9 year olds should be using the Internet unsupervised. But I definitely think that children should not have TV sets in their rooms. (In fact, the majority view of my children is not to have TV in the house).
Re:Net Nanny (Score:5, Interesting)
Aaah yes, because fetishism is a sign of mental illness...
No, it's not, the fact that some shrinks haven't caught up to the times is not my problem.
The vast majority of people have fetishest fantasies, many are comfortable expressing it and live happier lives because of that.
The fact that more and more people reach that level of comfort at an earlier age is not a bad thing, it's a GOOD thing.
Let me put it this way - me and my wife are planning to have children, we already decided that our habit of being naked around the house will not change. We will not suddenly start hiding the handcuffs and spanking paddles lying about the house, we will not suddenly put a lock on the play-room door and order them never to enter it - we'll just tell them "when the door is closed, you cannot come in."
Many people think that raises HEALTHIER children. In many cultures, that is how ALL children are raised (most of Europe).
In Dutch culture for example it's common for teenagers to have a sit-down with their parents when they feel ready to have sex and discuss it with them - the young couple asking for advice (not just practical but on the whole thing) before going ahead.
It's also normal practice to get consent, along with good advice.
The Netherlands boasts one of the lowest teen pregnancy rates in the world. And get this bit: 70% of American's regret the timing or person with whom they had their first sexual experience according to studies. In the Netherlands, only 15% would like to change anything.
Re:FREE (Score:4, Interesting)
You raise a point, still the massive left-over anger from completely clashing with my dad over how one should live your life was so huge by 21 that when I felt he was making a mistake in a decision about a much younger sibbling - we had a fall-out so big I didn't even visit my parents again for 6 years.
What if one of them, or me, had died in that time ?
Now 14 years after I left school - we get along fine, I live my life exactly the way I said I wanted to when I was 14, the difference - now my dad cannot tell me not to.
I knew he had good intentions, boys who die their hair pink on one side and blue on the other have a harder time getting jobs in his world-view (but I don't have that problem because I have a sufficiently impressive resume that employers really don't give a damn what I look like - especially since my work isn't customer-facing).
Over the years, he even came to adopt some of my ideas - especially in terms of artistic expression and the need for that to be uncensored even by yourself.
We got along great until I hit puberty, then we didn't actually get along at all again until I was so old and successfull that he stopped trying to tell me how to live. Now I can happily ask his advice about many things - things where he has experience I lack (I bought my first house a few months ago, he's had a few - of course I had him help me go over the contracts and check that the deal was above board and the house was really what it appeared to be).
I also grew up enough that when a while ago he said to me "maybe you should stop with the tattoos now, it's getting a bit much" I didn't get angry - I just smiled and ignored it. But I didn't have that capacity at 18 - I had a sense of who I was, but I didn't have a decade's worth of proof that it can work, I had nothing to back me up then - just stubbornness to drive me forward.
So sure, kids hating parents mostly work out after a few years... I would rather not have such a few years with my kids - because I don't know that I, or they, will be around long enough to see it end.