Salford Local Pages Childnet Filters and Ratings

Filtering Products Increasingly many commercial products are available which can help to limit the potential dangers to children on the Internet. Installing these filters can help you block sites you may not wish your children to be exposed to eg. sexually explicit material or hate and violence sites. Software can also help you monitor the time your child spends on the computer and material they have been viewing as well as block outgoing and incoming information.

The most important thing to remember when it comes to considering which tools to use is that no single filtering product can be guaranteed to totally protect your child from accessing inappropriate material. Some older children may be able to find ways to get around the filter and children may be using other computers which do not have filters, for example at other people's houses or in cybercafes. Like a seat belt in a car, a filter can help protect you but it cannot guarantee you will not have a crash!

Helpful resources for selecting tools are available at the GetNetWise site . This site gives a comprehensive assessment of what software tools are designed to do as well as further information on other resources, such as special Internet browsers for children, kids-only search engines, children's safe areas, and what various ISPs are doing to help keep children safe on the Net. The UK Consumers' Association WHICH ? has recently completed a test of the 7 leading filtering products available. This review provides an excellent overview of the pros and cons of the leading filters as well as further advice on the benefits of children's search engines, restricted Internet service providers, and browser controls.

Tools in your Internet Browser

Both Microsoft's Internet Explorer and Netscape's Communicator include within the browser a feature which allows parents to select the kind of websites they would like their children to see. The system works in the following way:

Webmasters fill in a questionnaire about what content their Web site contains, eg is there nudity, sex, violence or bad language.

A hidden label is then generated describing the Web site.

The parent sets up their browser to indicate what kinds of content they will accept eg they can decide "no violence and a little nudity, but no sex."

Every time the child tries to access a website, the browser first checks if the label complies with the conditions the parent has set. If it doesn't, or the site has no label, it is blocked.

Childnet has been actively supporting the development of one of the best systems currently available - the "Recreational Software Advisory Council's" RSACi system. This is now operated by the Internet Content Rating Association and further advice about how to set up the filters in different browsers is available on the ICRA website.

Although this system has been available since 1996, it has been particularly focussed on the USA and not enough Web sites have been labelled yet. In the last two years a major effort has been made to address these problems and make the system much easier to use for parents in different countries.

Filtering Products Increasingly many commercial products are available which can help to limit the potential dangers to children on the Internet. Installing these filters can help you block sites you may not wish your children to be exposed to eg. sexually explicit material or hate and violence sites. Software can also help you monitor the time your child spends on the computer and material they have been viewing as well as block outgoing and incoming information. The most important thing to remember when it comes to considering which tools to use is that no single filtering product can be guaranteed to totally protect your child from accessing inappropriate material. Some older children may be able to find ways to get around the filter and children may be using other computers which do not have filters, for example at other people's houses or in cybercafes. Like a seat belt in a car, a filter can help protect you but it cannot guarantee you will not have a crash! Helpful resources for selecting tools are available at the GetNetWise site . This site gives a comprehensive assessment of what software tools are designed to do as well as further information on other resources, such as special Internet browsers for children, kids-only search engines, children's safe areas, and what various ISPs are doing to help keep children safe on the Net. The UK Consumers' Association WHICH ? has recently completed a test of the 7 leading filtering products available. This review provides an excellent overview of the pros and cons of the leading filters as well as further advice on the benefits of children's search engines, restricted Internet service providers, and browser controls.
Tools in your Internet Browser
Both Microsoft's Internet Explorer and Netscape's Communicator include within the browser a feature which allows parents to select the kind of websites they would like their children to see. The system works in the following way:
	Webmasters fill in a questionnaire about what content their Web site contains, eg is there nudity, sex, violence or bad language.
	A hidden label is then generated describing the Web site.
	The parent sets up their browser to indicate what kinds of content they will accept eg they can decide "no violence and a little nudity, but no sex."
	Every time the child tries to access a website, the browser first checks if the label complies with the conditions the parent has set. If it doesn't, or the site has no label, it is blocked.
Childnet has been actively supporting the development of one of the best systems currently available - the "Recreational Software Advisory Council's" RSACi system. This is now operated by the Internet Content Rating Association and further advice about how to set up the filters in different browsers is available on the ICRA website. Although this system has been available since 1996, it has been particularly focussed on the USA and not enough Web sites have been labelled yet. In the last two years a major effort has been made to address these problems and make the system much easier to use for parents in different countries.