IMSafer: Another Way for Parents to Monitor Chats

Wed Oct 18, 2006 1:42PM EDT

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With former Congressman Mark Foley's inappropriate instant messages to underage pages still in the news, along with the occasional story of yet another online predator, what parent isn't concerned that her online-chatting teen will be contacted by someone who means harm?

Companies, big and small, are offering products to monitor kids' online communications, but many parents are wary of essentially spying on their children. I've written about BeNetSafe, a service started by two dads to track profiles on social-networking sites, currently MySpace, Xanga, and Friendster. Parents plug in personal information their children may have included on their web sites to find their profiles and see what's on them.

A small company out of Texas, IMSafer, offers another way to monitor kids' online chats while giving kids the privacy they crave.

IMSafer, a free downloadable program, uses language analysis tools to flag what could be inappropriate online relationships with children. IMSafer's CEO and founder Brandon Watson says he worked with law enforcement officials to come up with key phrases often used by predators when striking up online relationships.

The difference between IMSafer and other monitoring tools is its simplicity, Watson says, and the fact that it doesn't present parents with reams of data to sort through. It just highlights potentially inappropriate conversations. Parents don't have to monitor every word written or every minute kids spend online, which should be a relief IM-dependent teens.

"It's not a spying tool," Watson says. "We don't let parents view the entire conversation between their child and someone else." Instead, if a suspect phrase crosses a message, it is flagged by the IMSafer software. Parents are pinged within 90 seconds of the message, and they'll see the highlighted text that's questionable. Maybe 20 lines at most.

It all sounds fair, though I'm not sure kids will differentiate between a little monitoring and a lot of monitoring. But as Watson says, this can be a part of a contract between kids and parents that calls for the kids to stay safe online. Parents need to be parents, and this may be one tool that helps them protect their kids while online.

IMSafer's basic free service follows up to five screen names on Yahoo!, AOL, and MSN instant messaging services. This week, the company added a new service that will do the same on inbound and outbound instant messages on social-networking sites, including MySpace and Xanga. The add-on feature is free for an introductory period, but will cost $30 for an annual subscription.

So parents: Does an IM-monitoring service like IMSafer appeal to you, or does it still feel like spying? Without something like this, how are you making sure your kids are safe online?

Comments on IMSafer: Another Way for Parents to Monitor Chats

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  • 2 Posted by bydzgn on Thu Sep 3, 2009 3:15PM EDT Report Abuse

    As a parent of three teens who has used IMSafer, I have to say, I was so pleased how easy and convenient it is to use and monitor. Technology is not my forte, despite having my own blog, so to find something that is both effective and user-friendly is enough to make me giddy! http://www.hahnathome.com

  • 3 Posted by leighanne996 on Thu Sep 3, 2009 6:48PM EDT Report Abuse

    Interesting. But I don't understand why a parent is not comfortable knowing what their kids are doing. It isn't spying. They are not adults living in thier own privacy. They are in my home on a computer I own. As parents, we do have a right to know. And while I wouldn't listen in on a phone conversation, (I'd know who they were talking to) I definitly have the passwords, e-mail addresses etc. that my children use. They know that at any given time, I may check what they have written or what's been sent to them. It is my responsibility as a parent. Complete privacy comes with a college education, a job and your own home.

  • 4 Posted by napalmmansaxindustries on Tue Dec 12, 2006 4:54AM EST Report Abuse

    While this sounds like a great program and a great idea, you need to take a few things into consideration: Exactly what clients does IMSafer monitor? Just the official clients, or will it cover the slew of third-party IM client available (gaim, Trillian, etc.)? What's to stop a kid from just downloading another client and using that? Or, for instance, AOL has what they call "AIM Express," it's a java-based AIM client that you run in a browser. Does IMSafer monitor that? What if the kid just signs up for a new account without telling the parents? All you need is an email address, I can go online and get a free one in about ten minutes. It seems like it's great for the extremely non-technically oriented people, but a kid with a slightest bit of know-how could easily get by this. This would be a LOT more effective if it was combined with the following: 1) Make sure the kids have a User account that can't install programs. One with no administrator privileges. This prevents them from just installing another client. 2) Block out the AIM, MSN, etc. account sign-up pages, so they can't just get a new account. 3) Block any web-browser based clients. It's not a fool-proof method by any means, but it definitely blocks out the biggest loopholes I can think of. If some kid manages to figure out something like a buffer overflow or something, well, that kid's parents probably figured out a long time ago that they can't contain him :-) Unfortunately, most parents will never think this all through, and IMSafer will become mostly useless as the kids figure out how to get past it.

  • 5 Posted by d_azevedo@sbcglobal.net on Thu Sep 3, 2009 3:50PM EDT Report Abuse

    How's this program for tracking cheating. lying husbands? I trust my kids 100% more than I do my husband, unfortunately,, especially online, after finding a lot of "singles Sites" & "H & H Housewives" type sites (in our area, no less), looking for "friends" despite his looking me right in the eyes and he swearing isn't his. Who in the world else's would it be? He actually claims it's a "hacker",as through they take over a home p.c. for 3 +yrs., and don't take credit accts. or any money,LOL! Anyway,can this program track x-rated material and other nasty stuff? Thanks, Jennifer

  • 6 Posted by phillaube on Thu Sep 3, 2009 8:09PM EDT Report Abuse

    It sounds to me like parents being parents. that's what we need to be. My son is not yet IM'ng (really), but I'll be looking at this soon.

  • 7 Posted by mraven91 on Thu Sep 3, 2009 7:27PM EDT Report Abuse

    hey whats up welcome to meagin's yahoo messenger!!!

  • 8 Posted by cheryllephillips on Thu Sep 3, 2009 3:22PM EDT Report Abuse

    I have two teenaged sons and have had repeated discussions with them about what "friends" are. I feel no qualms about seeing everything they are up to, just as i used to watch over them in the yard when they were younger, this type of "spyware" allows you to do the same. They are children after all and it a parents responsibility to watch over and protect their minor children! It sounds like it this or another more comprehensive software is very useful also for proving unfaithfulness of lying, cheating husbands unless they are meeting women in bars. LOL!

  • 9 Posted by witchcat_9 on Thu Sep 3, 2009 10:47PM EDT Report Abuse

    (I apologize for any double post) 1337/d00dspeak along with other languages and 'cant is being used and changed; such programs couldn't even catch all the nasty keywords which would be hidden and a waste of someone's money. You want to know what your kids are into? Become a part of their lives. Have trust in them, be trustworthy.

  • 10 Posted by abrahamk@ameritech.net on Thu Sep 3, 2009 2:44PM EDT Report Abuse

    it's spying. get over it. look, if the parent can't trust their child to be responsible it's usually the parent who has the problem, not the child. only a few extreme cases could posibly merit spying on a child's activities-- ones which involve repeated breaches of trust. however, the majority of teenagers are savvier than their parents when it comes to cyberspace.

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