InternetSafety.com

Jenna Wortham reviewed Safe Eyes Mobile in her bits blog and apparently excited a lot of her readers. Safe Eyes Mobile, along with two other iPhone apps, was reviewed as to its effectiveness in preventing children with iPhones (and iPod Touches) from viewing objectionable content on their mobile devices.

She writes that Safe Eyes Mobile “tracks Web history and sends e-mail notifications to parents when Web surfers try to gain access to restricted Web sites. In addition, Safe Eyes Mobile lets parents set limits on browsing time.”

Fairly innocuous words, one would think. Apparently not.

Comments to this article range from pratical concerns about the effectiveness of the software, to hysterical statements about the nature of censorship, to reasonable views about the responsibilities of being a parent.

The comments bring up some fairly common myths surrounding Internet filtering and the modern digital age:

• Exercising any sort of control on what your child sees amounts to shredding the Bill of Rights: One comment to the article compares using parental control software to making children “corporate slaves.” Obviously, this is an extreme view of a common concept, which is that trying to monitor your children amounts to invading their privacy. The truth is that children depend on their parents for guidance in navigating an increasingly complicated and dangerous world, and the Internet can be about as complicated and dangerous as anything out there.
• Using technology = lazy parenting: This is one of the most pervasive myths surrounding all sorts of tools available to parents. Yet no one out there thinks that using a lawnmower to cut grass in place of scissors is lazy lawn care. The digital age isn’t going anywhere, and the parents that respond to it by embracing the technological tools available to them are the ones being responsible parents.
• Talking to your kids is enough: Talking to your kids about online dangers is absolutely the first step for all responsible parents. But it is just that—a first step. Protecting kids means protecting them from not only what they are looking for, but what’s looking for them. Using the software tools available is the most responsible thing a parent can do.

Filed under: Internet Safety News