WebWatcher and other parental control software

[rmaciag]

Hi

I am researching the web for decent parental control software.
One of the packages that often comes up as a top choice is WebWatcher.
WebWatcher - Spy Software, Keylogger, Parental Control Software & More
I wonder if anybody has any experience of using it.
Based on their marketing materials it appears the software somehow hides itself on the PC and I am puzzled where it could be sitting. I am not just curious, I am also worried that if the software is invisible for a user it may also be invisible for a sys admin. Or, in other words, how can I trust the company that this software just do what it is supposed to do rather than spying on an unaware customer like myself.
Do you think there is any rerason to be concerned ???

Any advice and comments will be appreciated.

Thanks and Regards

[UltraMagnus]

sounds like it would be easy to bypass, like all parental control software is. restrictions will be draconian too.

parental supervision and trust is the best filter

[Fabula]

The big parental control softwares are fairly safe from that point of view. They are unlikely to be spying on you.


There are two ways they can work to restrict sites, either from a list of sites not to allow, or by scanning sites for dodgy content as you try to load them.
Neither is properly effective.

The scanning technique blocks most dodgy things, but has in the past stopped access to the White House website for example, as it contained the word "couple". And finding information about breast cancer won't be easy.

The database technique relies on the company keeping an up-to-date list of sites not to allow, which they are usually good at. But they usually also restrict sites that point out the problems with the company, freedom of information sites etc.


Who are you trying to protect with the software? The (large) college where I used to work used surfcontrol, which could be bypassed by people with reasonable technical knowledge, but blocked things quite well for normal users. It did make teaching some lessons difficult, as some perfectly legit online sites were blocked.

I probably wouldn't have too much problem with the software for primary level access, but above that and it will frustrate.

[Fabula]

Or as Scott Adams put it (01/23/1996):

(Dilbert is working on a "new technology to prevent kids from seeing smut on the Internet")
Dogbert:"So, you're pitting your intelligence against the collective sex drive of all the teenagers who own computers?"
Dilbert: "What is your point?"
Dogbert: "Did you know that if you put a little hat on a snowball it can last a long time in hell?"

[UltraMagnus]

The big parental control softwares are fairly safe from that point of view. They are unlikely to be spying on you.


There are two ways they can work to restrict sites, either from a list of sites not to allow, or by scanning sites for dodgy content as you try to load them.
Neither is properly effective.

The scanning technique blocks most dodgy things, but has in the past stopped access to the White House website for example, as it contained the word "couple". And finding information about breast cancer won't be easy.

The database technique relies on the company keeping an up-to-date list of sites not to allow, which they are usually good at. But they usually also restrict sites that point out the problems with the company, freedom of information sites etc.


Who are you trying to protect with the software? The (large) college where I used to work used surfcontrol, which could be bypassed by people with reasonable technical knowledge, but blocked things quite well for normal users. It did make teaching some lessons difficult, as some perfectly legit online sites were blocked.

I probably wouldn't have too much problem with the software for primary level access, but above that and it will frustrate.

this is exactly my point, the former is ridiculous, i remember in high school being blocked from doing research on designing games because the filter blocked that word, and it also had ridiculous words that could be taken in a inuendoish way such as "ring", which was great when we had to research how ring networks worked *rolls eyes*

the latter can easily be bypassed by the billions of proxies, or tor.

Or as Scott Adams put it (01/23/1996):

(Dilbert is working on a "new technology to prevent kids from seeing smut on the Internet")
Dogbert:"So, you're pitting your intelligence against the collective sex drive of all the teenagers who own computers?"
Dilbert: "What is your point?"
Dogbert: "Did you know that if you put a little hat on a snowball it can last a long time in hell?"

too true

[rmaciag]

sounds like it would be easy to bypass, like all parental control software is. restrictions will be draconian too.

parental supervision and trust is the best filter

I agree but I cannot stand behind my daughter's shoulder all the time when she plays some games on kids websites even if I was to move her PC from her bedroom to the lounge.

I am most concerned that by mistake she gets to sites that she is not really supposed to at her age (8yrs). Personally I would be always tempted to bypass any firewalls if anybody tries to impose them on me so why should I deny my baby access ... ? A bit of a dilema ... I do not really want to spy on her either by I would prefer to know earlier than later if something wrong is happening so at least I have a chance to speak to her before it is too late.

Guys. I am sorry for posting this a bit controversial question. It should really be addressed to parents like myself but I value HEXUS forum very high for expertise of its members. And I also feel free here to openly mention such concerns like this one about parental control software.

[rmaciag]

The big parental control softwares are fairly safe from that point of view. They are unlikely to be spying on you.

Thanks for that.
Somehow it was my main concern.

EDIT:
What puzzled me a lot is how this product transmits all this spying data across to my PC.
I understand that some products send emails with reports across to designated email addresses.
Well, this is easy to understand.
However this WebWatcher is somehow accessed via a web site ?!
Now how would it work ?
I can only imagine that the spied machine sends data across internet to a server which can be then accessed via a web site.
If this is the case then my concern is that sensitive data (even when encryted) passes via internet and third party servers before it reaches its destination i.e. parent's PC. Is there any reason to be concerned ? This WebWatcher software is not targetting parents only. It is being marketed to businesses, spouses etc etc. I might be too cautious but I can easily imagine how this piece of software sends loads of confidential info across to somebody's servers.

[Moby-Dick]

This assumes your 8 year old hasn't mastered things like tor...

[rmaciag]

This assumes your 8 year old hasn't mastered things like tor...

If you are referring to that
Tor (anonymity network) - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
then your assumption might be right !
Should daddy master it first ?

[Mike Fishcake]

To dig up an old thread...

I'm looking for a reasonable parental control program at the moment as well, for my 8 year old. I'm not expecting a 'magical' solution that blocks everything naughty and lets through everything innocent, just something that's reasonably good at it's job.

If you're planning on posting patronising "OMG PARENTAL SUPERVISION U BAD PARENT LEAVIN UR KID ON COMPUTER ALONE LOL" nonsense; don't bother. Not that I should need to justify myself anyway, but FWIW, I'm going to be in the same room when he's using it, but at the same time I'm not going to be standing over him watching every single word he types.

It doesn't particularly matter if it's easy for someone with techie knowledge to circumvent; he's not up to that level of skill yet. I'll worry about that when it comes to it Plus, like I said, I'll be in the same room.

At the moment, I'm using BitDefender's Parental Control software, which is great in theory, it allows different profiles for different windows logins. The admin account is passworded, Fishcake Jnr is on a limited user account, so setting BD up to activate the parental controls on his account means that we don't get anything blocked on the admin account. Like I said, nice idea in theory. However, it appears to be blocking absolutely *everything* that isn't on the allow list. I've mucked about with the settings and put it on the lowest setting, but still blocks everything. I know that there's going to be some false postives, but I must have tried about 20-30 sites I know that are definitely intended for kids - all blocked. I may as well use IE's site block settings if I've got to do that :-/

So - after that waffle... any ideas?

[Mike Fishcake]

For the information of anyone that's found this thread by Googling or searching...

I bought McAfee Internet Security suite 2008, despite not particularly good experiences with McAfee in the past. I'm glad I did, because it seems excellent so far. Doesn't slow my system down (well, no more than BitDefender certainly) and the Parental Control software seems excellent and far more "intelligent" then I could have hoped for.

Like BitDefender, you can associate control levels to specific accounts, so on my son's limited user Windows account, I've set up his own profile, so it doesn't affect the main admin account in any way. I also spent an evening typing every rude word I could think of into Google, to test it Seems to work great, with far, far less false positives but a seemingly intelligent censoring policy.

Basically - I thoroughly recommend McAfee Internet Security Suite 2008 to anyone looking for a decent parental control program. The rest of the software package seems to be OK as well, but I suppose time will tell on that!

[peterb]

Glad you found somethin g that seems to work! The other problem with children accessing a computer is the risk of going to a 'hostile' website that then downloads malware. It sounds as if you have the system pretty tightly controlled (your son's account shouldn't have admin priveliges, for example) but (and I'm sure you haven't) forget basic AV and possibly spyware countermeasures.

(If you have typed in lots of banned words, you might want to see if you can access the Scunthorpe tourist board )

[Manfreid]

Both filtering and blocking have drawbacks. I have found monitoring is the best way to go because it leaves no doubt in your mind about what is being done on the computer. We use Spector Pro, (which you can Google if you like) it is total monitoring tool that is completely hidden on the computer.

It does also have blocking features so you get the best of both worlds. Nothing is perfect but this software has certainly been a powerful tool for me and my wife.

[Jay]

why not use openDNS? It blocks sites and gives you a real time update on sites visited. Its also free

[Mike Fishcake]

Ooh - never heard of OpenDNS - certainly something worth looking into!