Despite best intentions, good education and in-person monitoring, sometimes the internet can be a dangerous place full of things we’d rather not have our children accidentally exposed to.  There is a category of software and other solutions for filtering these things out before you see them called Content Filtering.  This post is designed to give an overview of the major content filtering software packages available.  It isn’t a be-all and end-all and doesn’t go in-depth into each package but gives you an overview of the key points of difference and costs so you can find one and it out to see which one meets your needs.  Where possible, prices are in NZ dollars and correct at time of publishing by may change over time – look up the website concerned for accurate pricing at the time of your purchase.

Software:

 

Net Nanny:  

Net Nanny is the grand-daddy of internet filtering software and has been around and evolved over time almost since there was an internet to filter.  It has solid filtering, a good feature set and time controls for limiting internet use (although this is apparently not customisable for specific applications).

Cost: 1 devices $39.99/year, 5 devices: $59.95/year, 10 devices $89.99

 

Covenant Eyes

This is software from a Christian organisations, based around the scripture Job 31:1 “I made a covenant with my eyes not to look lustfully at a young woman.” The key point of difference of Covenant Eyes is that it includes accountability as well as internet filtering.

Cost: $10.99/month for individuals or couples without kids.  $14.99/month for families with kids.

 

Norton Family and Norton Family Premier.

Norton Family is a free online tool for monitoring and filtering internet usage.  You can sign up for a free account and download the client on different pcs.

Norton has a great history of solid antivirus products but on some systems has also had a history of being a bit resource intensive and may slow your computer down at times.

The Premier version adds mobile app supervision, location supervision, video supervision and weekly/monthly reports and costs $49.99 per year.   For a full breakdown comparison see this chart.

Premier is also included in their full Norton Internet Security Suite if you buy the 3 devices option – This is good if you also want to combine internet filtering with antivirus, identity protection and backup.

Cost:  Free for Norton Family, $49.95/year for Norton Family Premium.   $79.99/year for Norton Internet Security for 3 devices (includes Family Premier).

 

 

Open DNS:

Open DNS is a little trickier to understand but is a good solution for internet filtering.  It uses the DNS (Domain Name Service) that the internet uses to convert domain names that you understand (like www.google.com) to IP addresses that computers understand (like 192.224.142.40).  You tell your computer or router to use the Open DNS servers for DNS lookups and then set up you filter preferences with Open DNS to tell them what to block.  They have guides on their website for setting up your computer or router.

While this option can be more technical to set up, the advantages are that it’s free and hard to bypass.

Cost: Free

 

K9 Protection:

K9 Protection is a free service that is focused around protecting children.  It is small and has a web-based interface for configuration and can be difficult to bypass.  The biggest limitation with this software is that it doesn’t appear to support multiple user accounts so you can’t set one rule for the children and one rule for adults for example.  But if you can live with this, it’s worth a loo.

Cost: Free

 

Router Level Filtering:

A router is the device you most likely use to connect to the internet.  Depending on the manufacturer, this device may have filtering built-in.  Refer to the documentation that would have come with your router on how to access its configuration.  Look in the setup or configuration page of your router and look for pages on Content Filtering or Parental Controls.  Routers control the flow of your internet so it’s a logical place to set up content filtering and the configuration of these devices is not often changed so it’s difficult to bypass if the configuration is protected by a strong password.

 

ISP Level Filtering:

Some internet service providers will offer a service where they will do the filtering for you.  The main advantage of this is that it is very difficult to bypass as all of your internet will go through their equipment and it’s not dependent on any hardware or software at your home.  So if you buy a new computer for example, you don’t need to re-install the filtering software on the computer as the ISP will do the filtering for you.

2 ISPs I found will do this in New Zealand as an advertised service – Watchdog Internet (DSL Broadband Service with 40GB per month of data from $85.45 per month including GST) and Maxnet ($5 or $10 add-on to your internet plan depending on the level of customisation you want on the filtering).   Other internet providers will usually have some form of add-on service or protection they recommend – give them a call and ask them what is available.

 

There’s more to security than just filtering:

There is much more to overall security than just filtering.  You should consider strong passwords, the physical access to your devices and network, backups, anti-virus, malware scans and firewalls etc.  I’m hoping to cover off some of these topics in an upcoming blog post – stay tuned.

 

Get Help:

If you want any assistance setting up the appropriate protections for you and your family or more advice on what the best options are for your situation, get in touch!