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Includes FREE Norton Antivirus SE (6 months) and Ad-Aware SE Personal AntiSpyware
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Why Blocking Sites Doesn't Work |
 Recently, a college in Texas blocked access to MySpace.com on all of their campus
computers. They were getting so much traffic to MySpace that it was slowing
the college network down substantially!
When it comes to MySpace and safety, many people think that simply blocking the site shields their family from
danger.
Blocking MySpace did help alleviate network congestion at this college. However,
for the average family, the problem is not one of too much internet traffic, but
the type of internet traffic. Site blocking in this case is kind of like trying
to hold water with a strainer!
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What is Site Blocking? |
 Site blocking,
simply stated, is where you prevent a computer or group of computers from visiting
a particular website or group of websites. There are quite a few software
packages available that block sites, and many Routers, DSL and Cable Modems
have this capability as well.
For example, our Actiontec DSL Modem has the ability to create a list of websites
that are blocked on the modem itself. That way, nobody routing their internet
connection through this modem can visit those sites.
There is also software that you can install on a computer that will block selected
websites, and keep the user from surfing to those black listed sites. Many
Internet Service Providers also offer site blocking and/or filtering.
It all sounds really nice. Just set MySpace.com to be blocked and your worries
are over. However, kids these days are very smart, and have found many ways
to get around site blocking. This is why, when it comes to myspace and safety
we prefer Internet Monitoring Software
like Spector Pro 5.0
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How Easy is it to Circumvent Site Blocking? |
 After kids figure out
that the site they want to visit has been blocked, they start asking their friends
what they can do about it. It doesn't take long for them to
hear the phrase "Internet Proxy."
Since I really don't want to give kids more ammunition than they already have,
I won't list any Internet Proxies here. It's enough to say that plenty of them
exist and more are created faster than you can keep up with.
The idea is that after finding out that Computer A can't communicate with Computer
B, kids will go to an Internet Proxy website. Then, they simply surf from Computer
A to Computer C, which then relays them to Computer B. Sometimes the shortest
distance between two points involves an Internet Proxy!!!
Even if site blocking was successful, and you were able to prevent your kids from
visiting MySpace.com, will you also block Bebo, Tagworld, and the rest of the online
communites? There are new ones springing up all over; even MSN has "MSN Spaces"
which is very similar to MySpace!
The point is, that even with your best effort, you will never be able to block all
of the danger and bad content that is out there on the internet. At least,
not without blocking a big chunk of the good that's out there!
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The Solution |
The solution is not simple, but it is plain:
- Teach your kids how to be safe on the internet.
- If at all possible, install Internet Monitoring Software, such as
Spector Pro on their computer without them knowing about it! (That's right....time
to spy on your kids!) This is probably the best weapon you have to
track myspace activity and keep your
kids safe online.
- Internet Filtering software such as
ContentProtect
can also be a big help. - Try to keep the computer that your kids use in a public area, such as the living
room or kitchen.
With a little planning, teaching and supervision, you can take an active
role in making the Internet safer for your children!
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