Laws have been passed and overturned throughout the
history of the Internet. While these topics are tossed back and forth,
parents who wish to protect their children from unsuitable material on the
Internet must take matters into their own hands. Hundreds of software
filters are on the market which sort out material which the company and the
parent deem harmful. Below are a few of the more popular software
filtering programs available today:
CyberPatrol™
Filtering Software
CYBERsitter®
Filtering Software
BESS™
Filtering Software
McAfee Office
Guard Dog™
TVOBlockit™
Surf Clean™
WeBlocker™
CyberPatrol, created by Sun Microsystems, Inc.,
block sites promoting drugs, alcohol, and tobacco. It also filters through
sites containing pornographic material, nudity or violence. It blocks
sites advocating racism or prejudice, as well as satanic sites and sites
promoting cults. With CyberPatrol, "[s]ites to be blocked are
selected by a team of parents and teachers hired by Microsystems to surf the web
using state-of-the-art technology to find sexually explicit, violent, or hateful
material." The software is compatible with a wide range of
browsers and systems such as Acer, America Online, Ameritech, ANS, ASCII, ASG,
AT&T (WorldNet Service), Aventail, Bell Atlantic, Birtish Telecom, Check
Point Software, Continental Cablevision, CompuServe, CTI, Graphix Zone, GTE,
IBM, Prodigy, Raptor & Netegrity, Scholastic Network, and Telecom New
Zealand. [7]
Manufactured by Solid Oak Software, Inc.,
CYBERsitter provides over 30 categories of filtering material. It "focuses
on topics such as adult or sexual issues, illegal activities, bigotry, racism,
drugs, or pornography." [7]
CYBERsitter allows parents to override any
pre-blocked sites, block their own sites, specify allowable times to access the
Internet, and maintain a detailed register of all Internet activity and any
violations. The software is even equipped to automatically send a daily
email to the parents reporting all Internet activity for the day.
Another differentiating feature of CYBERsitter is
that it has an anti-tampering function built into the system. The
manufacturers realize that many children are more computer literate than are
parents and at times are able to crack any code prohibiting them to enter
sites. With the anti-tampering function, children are not only unable to
tamper with the system but parents are also notified of any attempts to do so. [8]
Bess Filtering Services operate on N2H2 servers and
is primarily geared towards children. This software is particularly
desirable to school administrators because there is no local software to update
and maintain. BESS Filtering Services uses a "team of dedicated
professionals that review each site." The service block material
such as nudity, adult content, sex, violence, illegal drugs, discrimination, and
chat sites.
Each time a person attempts to access a site that
has been blocked, an advertisement appears in place of the blocked site.
BESS receives 18% o its revenues from these advertisers alone. [7]
McAfee Office Guard Dog specializes in filtering
pornographic and other criminal websites. The software contains a database
of words which it compares to the text and Meta tags of sites being
accessed. The software enables a person to monitor chat and website
violations which are flagged and recorded in a log. It also allows a
person to set time limits on Internet access, block email, and prevent Internet
access altogether. One of the most distinguishing features of McAfee
Office Guard Dog is its ability to block unwanted banner ads and other web
clutter from the user's view. [7]
TVOBlockit is a server based Internet filter.
In other words, sites are filters at the Internet Service Provider (ISP) before
they ever reach the client computer. This service blocks sites promoting
alcohol, drugs, tobacco and gambling. It filter hardcore and soft
pornography, disturbing or gruesome sites, and sites advocating illegal
activities, violence and weapons. The service also blocks any site using
profane or racist language. TVOBlockit is compatible with a number of
popular browsers including Netscape Navigator, Microsoft Internet Explorer,
Mosaic, and Web Explorer.
When a person attempts to access a blocked site, a
screen that tell them that that particular has been blocked appears. Since
hundreds of new sites are added to the Internet everyday, TVOBlockit updates the
database of sites daily. [9]
Surf Clean is a filtering service provided through
Surf Clean's own servers. Thus no software is needed to implement this
service. It filter sites promoting and advertising alcohol, drugs,
gambling and illegal activities. It also blocks any site containing any
sort of pornography, obscene or tasteless material, and R-rated subjects and
pictures. Surf Clean filters sites containing hate or discrimination
subjects, alternative journals such as holistic living and junk culture, cults
and gothic sites, opinionated sites concerning particular lifestyles such as gay
and lesbian cultures, and personal and dating. Surf Clean has recently
announced function within the system which will filter junk email and virus
infected email. [10]
We-Blocker is a free software that enables a person
to block any site that he/she deems unsuitable. Geared towards families,
We-Blocker enables the user to create multiple accounts for each member of the
family and place restrictions according to seven categories of material.
These include pornography, adult subjects, violence/criminal activity,
hate/persecution, drugs and alcohol, violence, and weaponry. This software
also gives a user the ability to block material on a site by site basis or by
keyword. Sites can be submitted to We-Blocker for review and may be added
to the database prohibiting access to all users. [11]
