NPR's techie Omar L. Gallaga, blogging on All Things Tech, writes on June 15, 2009 about how parents can protecting their kids online. The featured tech gadget is one that carefully allocates how much time kids can spend on the Internet, playing computer games, watching TV. Hmmm What a way to tick off your kids! And how are they going to get their homework done if they cannot go online? See the Time-Scout Monitor (left), a way to limit and keep track of the amount of time kids spend on the computer. Card Access, Inc.
Here are some other ways you can protect your kids if they are online.
Filter content they can and cannot access: The McGruff SafeGuard software monitors Web activity and filters content and there's a free version available. Unfortunately, it only works with newer Windows PCs.
Install a Web browser that is kid-friendly: Check out Buddy Browser and KidRocket.
Put limits on the Internet Explorer Web browsers: Set up Internet Explorer with parental controls and passwords to limit access to inappropriate sites or to limit sites to those parents approve.
Put a filter on Firefox: ProCon Latte and FoxFilter.
Review, preview, and approve or nix video games: Here's a resource that tells parents exactly what to expect in video game content. What They Play.
Control the power source: Turn off the power to computers or peripherals. See, for example PowerCop and Time-Scout Monitor . are two devices that allow you to control how much time your kids spend on the computer at the source: the power source.
Protect your kids using cell phones: See this article from the Chicago Tribune.
Surveillance software: SpectorSoft has several versions of surveillance software that can record keystrokes and give you reports on your child's Web activity. It will send you a PDF of everything that your kid sees or does on the Internet.
ABC News Tips: See ABC News at this link to review ine ways to keep tabs of your kids online this summer.
If you know of something I have missed, please leave a note in the comment section below.
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