A question about filtered surfing

[Jason McMaster]

I'm going to my sisters house for lunch to remove spyware from my nephews PC. He's just not getting to the age to start looking for porn, and she wants something on his pc to block it. Is there anything honestly good out there to do this? I experimented with IE content, but almost all pages arent rated. Any suggestions?


-Jason

[cyborg]

Hmm, that's a tricky one. If he's ingenious enough there's not really going to be any method that works. There are various things like CyberPatrol, Net Nanny et al but I have never had any reason to use them so I can't really say how effective they will be.

[Jason McMaster]

He's not a whiz or anything. I'm pretty much the computer guy for my entire family, and I'm pretty good, BUT I've never used any of this stuff either.

[John Many Jars]

Get him a subscription to Playboy. It hardly counts as porn, and will more than meet his budding visual needs; plus the issues will have a high resale value to his friends, and meanwhile he'll learn a lot about the latest in consumer stereo and drink-mixing equipment.

With Playboy in hand, he won't go online for TEENS TAKING GIANT DONKEY DICKS more than occasionally, and then only out of mild curiosity. His standards for gloss and a veneer of class will be high, and he'll learn the wisdom of his grandfather's generation as to how real women must be courted: with money, Bryl Creem, and a tasteful silver tie clip.

[Bullhajj]

I just want to say that I wish JMJ was around when I was 14.

[Jason McCullough]

From what I've heard, none of the filters are capable of actually stopping a devious 14 year old from finding what he wants.

If you're just looking to avoid spyware, make him run as a non-admin account.

[Jamie Madigan]

He's just [now] getting to the age to start looking for porn

He's 4 already? My how they grow.

One other thing that may help is putting the only computer with 'net access in a non-private room like the living room. Make it someplace where he'll have trouble being discrete if he's doing things he shouldn't.

[Jason McMaster]

Well, though I agree thats a good idea, my sisters family is past the millionaire mark and all the kids have their own computers and such.

In fact, my brother in law has over 20 cars including a dodge viper, two stingrays a porsche 930, a street racing modded 57 chevy with nitrous as well as all sorts of shit.

I drive a 97 saturn and my wife and I live in a townhouse the size of a shoebox. Aint life grand?

[Jamie Madigan]

That really doesn't matter if her main goal is to monitor what her son does on the computer, except, I guess, that arbitrarily taking away computer or 'net access in their rooms would seem cruel. Priviledge is such a bitch, eh? :)

[Duality]

Yah know, with that kind of cash, they could afford a real Net nanny that sits there and watches whatever the hell they do on their computers.

I'm willing to take on the job if I get a nice desk with a cushy middle-management chair. I'll even through in taking tech support calls for free!

[Pace]

Programs like CyberPatrol and NetNanny will only encourage him to find ways around them, especially if he's already curious.

The only thing that's going to stop him from looking for porn is if he understands the ugly truths behind porn, and disagrees with it. I'm sure they're not willing to talk to him about that, though. Still, a discussion can do a lot more good than some half-ass cyberwatchdog.

Still, if they wanna know what his habits are, in most non-computer-literate teens, a check of the old page history or temporary internet files can do wonders, but as a child who grew up with parents suspicious of all things intarweb, I think they should go for the direct, honest, trusting route. If they try to lock him out, especially with highly visible programs like CyberPatrol, it will likely make it that much more tempting for him to seek it out.

[Jason McCullough]

He's just [now] getting to the age to start looking for porn

He's 4 already? My how they grow.

One other thing that may help is putting the only computer with 'net access in a non-private room like the living room. Make it someplace where he'll have trouble being discrete if he's doing things he shouldn't.

I'd say that just means he'll get caught wacking by his grandmother or something.

[Bullhajj]

The router I have has functionality to create an approved or so-called "white list" for content on the web. You make the list and make the rules apply to some of the computers on the lan (the kids computers). You include, say, www.microsoft.com on the white list and he can surf any page on the microsoft domain, but he can't reach any other domains. I have't really looked at it closely but this is the general idea of a white list. The down side is you have to add all these domains by hand and make sure that they don't suddenly start offering porn, like Salon. Also, if the sites refer to other sites, the person web surfing might not be able to see all the referal pages, instead getting error pages--for example, a site that has popup ads from another domain. In this situation, the pop up ads from the other domain would fire, but the router would block the content, so the page would display an error.

[Warlord of Mars]

Yeah, but that would be a pain in the ass, Tim. What if the kid needs to do research for school and has to google new sites?

[Stroker Ace]

I think a random audit will serve best... just let the kid know you're logging, and that you're checking up on him at random intervals.

Blocking isn't going to stop the porn, AND it's going to make half of the internet disappear for no apparent reason.

[Jason McMaster]

It's not that he's seeking it, you know how the internet is. This is more for an accidental discovery.

[DrCrypt]

When I was 12, my mother ended up finding a porno tape that I had borrowed from a buddy at school. She proceeded to sit me down in front of the television and, after an hour long lecture on the nefarious objectification of women, popped the tape in, hit the play button and dryly intoned descriptions of the various carnality popping up in front of my eyes like Richard Attenborough describing the Life of Mammals. "That man is inserting his penis up that woman's rectum. This is traditionally known as anal intercourse. Stimulation of the prostate can often lead to a heightened orgasm, which is why often times homosexual men insert their penises up one another's rectums. Now the man is ejaculating his sperm on that woman's face." Within fifteen minutes, I was crying - to this day, I consider it the worst moment of my life. Yet, within a couple of weeks, I had replaced the porn tapes my mother had confiscated and hidden them in far more ingenious locales. Perhaps making this entire encounter even more psychologically mortifying, the porn film in question was seminal mother-son incest classic Taboo (www.kayparker.net/product.php?menuid=31&productid=300).

The moral? There is no STOPPING a kid from getting his greasy, awkward mitts on pornography. Don't even try. Also, my Mom was pretty damn creepy.

[Jason McMaster]

That is terrifying.

As I was saying, I'm quite aware that if he were looking he could find it, I want to stop incidental.

[Dean]

Well, though I agree thats a good idea, my sisters family is past the millionaire mark and all the kids have their own computers and such.

In fact, my brother in law has over 20 cars including a dodge viper, two stingrays a porsche 930, a street racing modded 57 chevy with nitrous as well as all sorts of shit.

I drive a 97 saturn and my wife and I live in a townhouse the size of a shoebox. Aint life grand?

Will they adopt me?

[Bullhajj]

When I was 12, my mother ended up finding a porno tape that I had borrowed from a buddy at school. She proceeded to sit me down in front of the television and, after an hour long lecture on the nefarious objectification of women, popped the tape in, hit the play button and dryly intoned descriptions of the various carnality popping up in front of my eyes like Richard Attenborough describing the Life of Mammals. "That man is inserting his penis up that woman's rectum. This is traditionally known as anal intercourse. Stimulation of the prostate can often lead to a heightened orgasm, which is why often times homosexual men insert their penises up one another's rectums. Now the man is ejaculating his sperm on that woman's face." Within fifteen minutes, I was crying - to this day, I consider it the worst moment of my life. Yet, within a couple of weeks, I had replaced the porn tapes my mother had confiscated and hidden them in far more ingenious locales. Perhaps making this entire encounter even more psychologically mortifying, the porn film in question was seminal mother-son incest classic Taboo (www.kayparker.net/product.php?menuid=31&productid=300).

The moral? There is no STOPPING a kid from getting his greasy, awkward mitts on pornography. Don't even try. Also, my Mom was pretty damn creepy.

Jesus. Thanks for sharing DrCrypt. I was toying with the idea of having a conversation with my kids, but after reading this, forget about it.