Sex, porn, and Michael Jackson were among the most popular items kids searched for online in 2009, as tracked by Symantec’s OnlineFamily.Norton.
via Sex, porn, Jacko top kids’ searches in 2009 | Digital Media – CNET News.
This is a sad, sad story. Children even under the age of seven are searching for the word “porn.” That is hard to believe and hard to imagine. I’m surprised that any seven year old would even know the word or what it means.
There are tools out there to help parents keep their children safe online. However, nothing is better than Mom or Dad sitting right there with a child as they are using the internet. Having the computer the child uses out in a public space, like the living room, is also a big help.
Many ISP’s provide parental control software for free. If you don’t know if your ISP provides it, find out. Not only can you restrict what sites your kids are visiting, you can also restrict when they can access the internet and for how long.
Another excellent, free tool is OpenDNS. OpenDNS is a content filter and much more. It is very easy to use, and you don’t have to install any software onto your computer. If you have a network, you can insert the dns numbers into your router and all computers using your network will instantly be using OpenDNS. There is also a web interface that lets you select which categories to block, a whitelist and blacklist, typo correction, and more.
Nothing is fool proof , and nothing is better than Mom or Dad looking over a young person’s shoulder. There is always the possibility of innocently stumbling onto an undesirable website which is where these tools come in handy.