Filters Help Shield Kids from the Unseemly on the Web

When a U.S. federal judge struck down a law that would make it a crime for anyone to provide "harmful material," including pornography, over the Internet, he called it too restrictive to free speech rights. He also noted that there are other remedies—Internet filters—to use before challenging the U.S. Constitution's First Amendment rights.

So here's a recap of some filters available to parents to help shield children from inappropriate images and words on the web. There are software programs, such as SafeEyes and CyberPatrol7, which I've written about in this post. Some parents like having additional software on their computers; others report problems with unrelated applications on their computers because of the software. But a software program is definitely an option, particularly if you have younger children who are not venturing off yet to social networking sites.

We've managed very well in our house to avoid unwanted images and text with browser, search, and email filter settings. Start with search settings. On Yahoo!, Google, and MSN, you can tinker with search preferences to block material.

Yahoo! - Click on the web search box, then on "search preferences." Clicking on the SafeSearch feature will filter adult video and image search results.

Google - On the home page, click on "Preferences" to the right of the search box. You'll see "SafeSearch filtering." Click on one of three dials: "strict filtering" to avoid explicit text and images; "moderate filtering" to avoid explicit images only; and "no filtering."

MSN - Offers three similar settings, strict, moderate, and off, by clicking on "Options" at the top of the search results page.

Similarly, if you've signed up for email accounts through your Internet  service provider, many offer anti-spam protection and parental controls allowing you to set up approved email contacts lists.

You can get some help from your browser, possibly, too. If you're buying a new PC with Vista installed, you'll find a nice range of parental controls that work with Internet Explore 7 to allow you to block certain web sites and all kinds of content. But Windows XP does not offer the same tools.

Mozilla Firefox does not have parental controls, but there is an add-on, Pro-Con Extension, which blocks accidental trips to inappropriate sites—though not purposeful visits. At least, it provides some protection to kids who are not trying to go to inappropriate sites.

Apple's web browser, Safari, does have parental controls that allow parents and kids to decide which web sites kids can access through their Safari Bookmarks. (See image.) When kids veer from the web sites listed in their bookmarks, they get an error messages telling them to request permission from their parents to go to a site. I like that.

There are also some hardware options to check out, as I note in this post. Know these are all tools to help you teach your kids the safe boundaries of the Internet. They are all easily disabled by tech-savvy kids, so a filter will never replace parental guidance. If you've found other filtering tools, software, or hardware that are working in your homes, let us know.

For more guidance for parents:

Protecting Kids in a Digital Age
Parental Control Options
Parental Control Options: Part 2