Be Safe Online
BE SAFE ONLINE
INTRODUCTION TO SAFE USE <
GOLDEN RULES <
WORLD WIDE WEB <
PERSONAL WEBPAGES <
EMAIL <
CHAT <
INSTANT MESSAGING <
NEWSGROUPS <
FILE-SHARING <
SHOPPING ONLINE <
FILTERING SOFTWARE <
COMPUTER VIRUSES <
BULLYING ONLINE <
GLOSSARY <
DISCUSSION AREA <
YOUR OPINION <
ONLINE CASINO <
Learning and Teaching Scotland
Scottish Parent Teacher Council
Safer Internet Action Plan
Filtering Software
Father And Son Using Computer

Responsible adults will often want to protect young people by preventing them from accessing harmful or illegal material online, such as obscene images, sites promoting hate or violence, or resources such as drugs information. There are a number of technical measures that provide a partial solution, including software products that allow monitoring of Internet activity, filtering or blocking of unwelcome content.

Schools normally use filtering software to control Internet access by staff and pupils, and this software blocks access to offensive material. It is important for teachers and parents to recognise that no software product can guarantee that it will stop access to all offensive webpages and material, and that occasionally young people may still come across something obscene or objectionable.

Public internet access in centres such as libraries and cyber cafes may be filtered to block offensive material, but this is not always the case so concerned adults should ask in each centre to find out its policy.

In the home, there are a number of options for adults who want to control Internet access for the family.

Monitoring software
These programmes make it possible to check on Internet activity, as the software records information such as the time kids spend on the Internet, the pages they visit, what they say in chat rooms, even everything they type at the keyboard. The parent can then view records of all that has taken place in individual sessions. An example is “IamBigBrother”, http://www.iambigbrother.com

Think carefully about use of such software, as young people will often regard such scrutiny as “spying” on them and the lack of trust it implies may damage relationships between parent and child.

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Blocking
Some Internet content producers label their pages with special ratings, such as PICS (Platform for Internet Content Selection) labels, that indicate the kind of content they contain. Users can then use a facility built in to the web browser software (Microsoft Internet Explorer and Netscape) to allow access only to pages labelled as appropriate for young people and black access to other webpages. A big drawback with this approach is that most website producers, both organisations and individuals, do not go and get labels onto their sites; this significantly limits the effectiveness of the PICS system, as web browsers would then block most of the web. This approach also deals only with webpages and cannot block access to chat, newsgroups, and other applications.

ICRA (Internet Content Rating Association, www.icra.org) is an example of such a free and voluntary classification system.

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Filtering Software
A few ISPs offer a filtered service as a family-friendly product, but usually adults who want filtering will need to purchase special software as an additional item for their home computer. Suitable products can be found in high street computer shops or downloaded from the web, and there are now software products that combine virus protection with control of Internet access. Norton “Internet Security” is an example.
Some products come with the option of blocking access to incoming information from the web, by e-mail or other methods of access, and of blocking outgoing information, thus preventing children from revealing personal information, trying to buy things with a credit card, or answering questionnaires. Some of them make it possible to block different applications (web, Instant Messaging, FTP, email, chat, etc). “CyberPatrol”, “NetNanny” and “CyberSitter” are examples of filtering software. http://www.cyberpatrol.com , http://www.netnanny.com and http://www.cybersitter.com

Some products use lists of banned websites that it refuses access to, but this is difficult as the number and identity of undesirable sites changes all the time

Other products may allow access only to an approved list of sites, but to block all but a limited selection of positive sites excludes a huge range of good sites and useful information.

Products may also use filters based on keywords that make it impossible to access pages containing certain words relating to topics such as drugs, violence, sex, etc. The problem is that the software often forbids access to pages that are inoffensive simply because they contain the banned words. The software is not sophisticated enough to be really effective and distinguish between legitimate and harmful use of words.

Filtering products may be part of a solution to harmful content, for four main reasons.

· Some users say that it is not easy to install the software on your PC and then amend the settings to suit your own values and children.
· The software reference files must be updated regularly (usually done online) because the Internet keeps on changing, with new sites appearing every day.
· Filters vary in their effectiveness. They often over-block, restricting access to perfectly respectable and useful websites, and under-block, failing to stop other pages that are harmful to children.
· The initial cost of purchase, and the ongoing cost of updating the software files in subsequent years.

Adults therefore have to keep a close watch on kids and their usage, looking out for undesirable files or odd activity (such as Instant Message boxes popping up) on the computer. Talk to your children about any problems they report, such as accidentally coming across pornography or unwanted advertising. Helping to teach them how to deal with unpleasant things that happen and to avoid hazards may be the most effective ways to encourage safe surfing.

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INTRODUCTION TO SAFE USE -- GOLDEN RULES --  WORLD WIDE WEB --  PERSONAL WEBPAGES -- EMAIL --  CHAT -- INSTANT MESSAGING -- NEWSGROUPS -- FILE-SHARING -- SHOPPING ONLINE -- FILTERING SOFTWARE -- COMPUTER VIRUSES -- BULLYING ONLINE -- GLOSSARY -- DISCUSSION AREA -- YOUR OPINION -- ONLINE CASINO