Parental Control Software - The Least You Can do

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Every parent has a responsibility in keeping their kids safe online. Safety on the internet is in the media every week, and there are some horror stories.

Parents are bombarded by the dangers of online social networking sites, the need to protect your identity, ensuring kids understand privacy, online predators and grooming, cyber bullying, online gambling, pornography and sites promoting negative content.

It can be daunting for some parents to understand what they need to do to make an effort in restricting access on the internet. Parents often may not be in a situation where they can afford to pay for such software.

There are numerous software companies that provide packages at varying costs. Some may have more features than others, and it can be difficult to choose. By understanding the dangers children are exposed to, and the degree of exposure your children may be exposed to, will enable you to make a judgement as to whether you install one of the free products, or invest in a package you pay for.

Parents must ensure that the computer used by children to access the internet is in an open area. That way they can take a glance at the screen every so often to see what they are doing.

It is important to discuss with children some of the potential dangers with them, and know what kind of sites they use on the internet.

Parental control software is vital and needs to be on any machine children use to access the internet. It works by filtering out internet sites that fall into certain categories. Most parental control software come with a default list of categories already defined. These are then customisable, and you are able to create exceptions, restrictions on time use, and view logs.

In the category of free software, K9 Web Protection http://getk9.com is a great product and highly recommended. It is easy to install and setup, and has great support.

In the category of a paid product, there is PC Pandora http://www.pcpandora.com/ which has a whole package of functionality. Not only does it have the parental control software capability, it can record ALL information happening on the computer. It captures every keyboard entry typed in, screen viewed and monitors social networking and chat sites. These are just some of the features.

Whether you choose to install a free product or a paid one depends on you. Having no software on a computer used by children accessing the internet is not an option.

Children and Online Gambling - Where's your Credit Card?

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Online gambling has been around for many years in the form of sites hosting online poker and the like. Such sites have flashy pop-up ads that attract young people. These sites will often offer free credits when joining. This allows the user to experience the thrill of winning, without having them pay any money.

People quickly get hooked, and very soon are buying credits with a credit card.

These sites are authenticating a user based on their ability to provide credit card information. Since most parents have a credit card (or a debit card), credit card information for children is easily obtainable. Since children are impressionable, their habit can quickly spiral out of control, and there is potential to rack up huge bills in the process.

Stories are coming out that young children are now breaking into houses looking specifically for credit or debit cards to feed their online gambling habits.

In New Zealand, lotto have recently ramped up their gambling offerings to the public. In addition to the recently introduced online lotto purchases, there is now a new game called 'bulls Eye', allowing for punters to choose one number to win a million dollars. In fairness to Lotto, they do set an upper limit that can be played within a certain period of time. However, the risk of children being hooked on online gambling sites remains a risk that parents must be aware of.

Wireless is Convenient, but is it Safe?

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A wireless connection to the internet gives us freedom. Just like a cordless telephone, wireless internet means we can access the internet on our computers anywhere in the house, and even outside! It means that more than one person can be accessing the internet at any one time, and gives us freedom of choice.

There are still may of us who do not understand how that technology works, and what risks it may pose to our connection to the internet.

Security is the most important part to consider, when moving to a wireless connection. Why you may ask? If you do not have a secure connection, your connection is OPEN to anyone who wants to use it. Having an open connection means that your wireless router or base station is sending out signals from as soon as it is switched on. It is telling everyone 'Hey guys, I'm open and available'. Anyone in the vicinity who switches on their wireless capability on their laptop, or any other device, will pick up the wireless network and identify that it is open.

This allows anyone to use your internet connection. If they download large files such as movies, they may use up your monthly bandwidth allocation. Worse still, if a crime was committed through someones open wireless connection, the network ip address will show it came from that device. It is essential that ALL wireless connections are protected.

All wireless routers have a default password that is set at the factory. YOU must change this password, as the default passwords are available on the internet. Once you change the default password, set up the encryption. WEP is an earlier form of wireless encryption, and no longer recommended to be used. If your router has WPA or WPA2, use either of these, and preferably WPA2. Set a strong password that includes letters, numbers and special characters. Only then can you feel safe and secure.

Space Faking

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Space faking is the name given to those who masquerade as others, on sites such as social networking sites. It is a worrying trend, and it is growing. Although such activity may often be seen as a prank by the offender, it could be perceived as identity theft.

A space faker will copy or swipe a photo of another person, then setup a new social networing profile, using the other persons photo. This activity was often related to impersonalting celebrities. It is now more mainstream, and innocent teens are discoverying others have setup a profile with their photo, for purposes of cyber bullying.

Governments in both NZ and Australia have legislation tabled in their respective parliaments to make space faking a crime. In the meantime, anyone discoverying another person bein involved in space faking should report the incident to the police, as well as contacting the internet site concerned.