GetParentalControls.org

I’ve identified over 40 products marketed as parental controls.  What I’ve found is that most  Internet parental control products at their core are either filtering products that specialize in categorizing and blocking websites, or monitoring products that focus on creating a detailed record of Internet activity. 

There are some really good filters out there – Cyber Patrol, Safe Eyes, OpenDNS, and Livia all do a good job blocking inappropriate content, especially porn. They are flexible with multiple categories and very accurate, continuously updated filtering databases.  Each of these products also offer “monitoring,” but the monitoring these filters offer mostly consists of recording and categorizing the websites users visit.  Helpful, but not enough in the age of social networks.  A report that tell you your kids spent a lot of time on Facebook tells you nothing about what they were doing while they were there. 

There are some fantastic monitoring products like Spector Pro,  PC Pandora, and IamBigBrother that provide a “Tivo-like” ability to record web surfing, as well as IM, e-mails, and just about everything else someone does online.  These product also offer “filters,” but the similarity stops at the name.  Spector Pro has the ability to “Block Any Website,” but what they offer is a feature where you can enter a URL for blocking.  Not that helpful if you want to shield your child from adult sites. 

What I’d really like to see is a product that offers the filtering of OpenDNS with the monitoring capabilities of Spector Pro.   McAfee and Symantec have taken the first steps in that direction with McAfee Family Protection and Online Family.Norton, but we need more here.