Overviews of Internet Safety

Censoring and Monitoring Software

Cyber Patrol is a flexible censor that allows anyone responsible for children's access to the Internet to restrict that access in various ways. For example, you can limit access to certain times of the day; limit the total time spent online in a single day; or block access to any Internet site that you consider inappropropriate.

Cyber Patrol provides control of children's access to the Internet not only through direct ISP connections but also if they are accessing via online services such America OnLine, CompuServe, etc. It is not limited to web browsers but can control and limit access to ftp, gopher, IRC (Internet Relay Chat) and USENET sites as well.

Evaluation copies are available for downloading from the Microsystems Software web site.

CYBERsitter allows the user to block access to specific files and programs, including certain types of graphics files, chiefly for the purpose of protecting children from adult oriented material. It also offers protection for private files - such as accountancy files - on a shared home computer.

Easy to install and invisible to the person using the computer, CYBERsitter can be easily reconfigured if necessary. It can be made to show just an alert when certain files are accessed, as an alternative to complete blocking of access to the material.

CYBERsitter requires Windows 3.1 or Windows for Workgroups, 1MB of free disk space and 4 MB RAM.

Net Nanny is intended for parents, guardians and teachers who wish to stop children from accessing pornographic and other undesirable material, while at the same time preventing the children's personal information - names, addresses, telephone numbers, etc. - from being circulated on the Internet.

Because all adult material on the Internet must be accessed by using a textual command, Net Nanny is able to prevent access by storing a list of sites that are off-limits. Likewise, a child's personal information is kept in the dictionary - and if any details are typed on the keyboard the system will automatically shut down. Net Nanny cannot be turned off except by the Administration Program.

Net Nanny monitors all activities taking place on the PC - not just Internet-related activities. For example, if someone sends a pornographic picture as an email attachment which is later decoded for display - Net Nanny will not be fooled! It watches the activities on the PC in real-time.

A Macintosh version is anticipated. See the vendor's site for details.