Parental Control & Internet Safety Software – Why the Bad Rap?

You only have to look on some open forums like yahoo questions and anytime someone asks about online dangers, cyber crime and using internet safety software for their kids, or the topic of parental control comes up, they are told to “get a life” and that they should trust their kids and not violate their privacy.  Is this what parental control internet safety software is really about?

Should Parental Control and Internet Safety Software be given such a bad rap?

The Dangers of Internet Use

No one disputes online dangers are real, almost all of us know someone who has fallen prey to a person they trusted or met online. You only have to look at cyber safety statistics to see this is a real issue.  The dangers of internet use are many and varied, all of which put our kids at risk, when they go online unsupervised.  Cyber Crime is now organized, on the rise and specifically targets kids as they are more trusting and do not have life experience on their side.  Examples of cyber crime are identity theft, cyber stalking, cyber bullying, sexual predators, inappropriate contact, online gambling, improper behavior, inappropriate content, fraud, money making scams, get rich quick schemes and many more.

How kids are Exposed Internet Dangers

Children may be exposed to online dangers and cyber crime every time they go surf the web simply by doing the things kids do online like browsing the net, Facebook, You tube, Twitter and even emails.
As your child gets older it can be more complicated to keep an eye on everything they do online. They naturally become more curious and experiment more. By the time they are teens they may be looking at porn, talking online with strangers (who could be predators), give out personal information- that a pedophile could use to find them, illegal movie DVD copying, file sharing, racy Facebook pages and many more inappropriate activities that teenagers engage on the computer behind the closed doors that can be potentially dangerous and can lead to putting themselves at risk of cyber crime.

Most worryingly, cyber crime can have a detrimental effect your child or teens confidence and self esteem.  They feel ashamed, responsible and isolated and may not feel able to tell an adult about it.

This is Where Internet Safety Software Comes In

Monitoring a child’s Internet usage every minute can be near impossible. Parents don’t have the time to watch their kids whenever they are online, especially as they get older.   Almost every computer now has anti-viral software.  This is used to protect the computer (not the person) against other types of cyber crime like viruses, hacking, worms, spamming and more. Internet Safety Software (or parental control software as it is also called) is solely intended to protect the person (not the computer) from cyber crime and other threats. It was not intended for parents to spy on their kids to find out their deepest darkest secrets.  (Most parents really aren’t that interested).  The software protects the user in two specific ways.

The first, to block certain types of sites and filter word specific content.  This is for younger kids, too young to protect themselves against accidentally coming across inappropriate content.  The second purpose is to monitor and record internet and computer activities deemed inappropriate.  Simply it’s a tool to help parents know what their child is up to online so they can identify any risk areas and internet dangers that may need to be addressed. Instead of banning their internet activity totally, it actually allows older children the freedom to use the computer and internet as they like, while parents use the software as a tool to educate kids on inappropriate internet use that may come up from time to time and the potential dangers of internet use.

Kids Online Safety and Cyber Crime Education

Internet safety software, whilst useful, is not the only long-term solution. Education is the key.  Talk to your kids about safe surfing and how to protect themselves online is just as important.  Guidelines must also be set for safe internet use, for example never giving personal details over the internet or using their real name in chat rooms.

For many families, using internet safety software isn’t about not trusting your children so much as not trusting online predators, temptations and other threats. The concern of wanting your children to feel like they’re trusted must always be counterbalanced by the very real desire to keep those you’re monitoring, and yourself, safe.  If used correctly  internet safety software is as effective as a burglar alarm or neighborhood watch.   So lets give internet safety software a break and use it as it is supposed to be used- to allow our loved ones to grow and learn in an safe, protected, secure environment.

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