Parental control software

[Dagger]

I was just curious.... have anyone else's parents installed a parental control program on your computer? Alternatively, if you have AOL or another browser that enables parental controls, do your parents actually use them?

My dad recently installed a program called "Net Nanny," which is intended to restrict which sites I go to (I believe it blocks those with excessive amounts of bad or sex-related language), and how long I spend online. It's a mild nuisance, since half of the sites it blocks are perfectly okay.

I've never been interested in online #### or gambling or whatever, so I don't really see why parental controls are necessary. They're irritating, because it makes it seem as though my parents just don't trust me.

Of course.... my dad didn't exactly get much bang for his buck, considering that if I want to shut Net Nanny down, I can just go to Windows Task Manager and click "end process." So it's really not a very big inconvenience.

What do you think of parental controls?

~Dagger~

[Semjaza]

I am not sure if this belongs in the PC section or in here... since it seems like more of a general conversation.

I'm sure Mitch will have plenty to say heh. Luckily, I've never had to deal with it all. My parents trusted me (I'm too old for that crap now lol), but more importantly, they don't seem to think the internet is simply a barren wasteland full of smut and scary, idiotic people... which is odd, because it mostly is.

[stardust]

My mom had netnanny like a few years ago.It was stupid. It blocked toys r us.com, what it found bad on that site I have no idea but what can you do?lol,except my mom was stupid about it and left it logged into her account all the time, a waste of 30$ if ya ask me. I don't usually do anything bad on here, and my mom supposedly trusts me,but she's weird like that sumtimes. Parents *rolls eyes*

[BabyGirl]

[color=deeppink]My parents kept me under the "mature teen" category on AOL until I went away for college. It basically blocked stuff they wouldn't have wanted me to see, but it also blocked me from signing up for certain things or creating accounts at certain websites.

But they had every right to keep the parental controls on my account...yes...I wasn't always the most well behaved child.[/color]

[Justin]

I'm also under the mature teen catagory of AOL. I expect to be until I move out, too.

It's not so bad; there's not much I go to that it hinders.

-Justin

[RicoTranzrig]

[COLOR=darkblue]Back then, when my parent's found out I wasn't using the internet for good reasons, they just canceled our service. I think parental filtering programs are a waste of money. They don't care anymore though since we're more aware of what and what not to do.[/COLOR]

[Baron Samedi]

Eh. My mum doesn't know enough about computers to do that. Heh. Easy to bypass anyway. I admittedly have gone on a...dirty site, with my friend, ages ago. It was... Hhhhmmmm. I didn't like it, and have never gone back to one since. Anyone who relies on that kind of stuff needs a life *looks at IRL friend*.

It is pathetic. I suppose filters are OK, but it is no replacement for having a computer in an open living room. That would work better, one would think. Or parents could try to trust their children.

[quote][i]Originally posted by BabyGirl[/i]
But they had every right to keep the parental controls on my account...yes...I wasn't always the most well behaved child.
[/quote]

I am shocked Baby Girl. Eh. Most disappointed in you.
Heh.

[OtakuSennen]

Actually, for a 12-year-old who is forever online, I am pretty unprotected from the scary stuff that is online. Of course, my parents trust me and everything, but they probably just don't feel like buying that kind of software, considering they know I'm perpetually on OtakuBoards.. Or so they think..

However, for someone of my age, I know a great deal about computers, and I really could find my way around those programs anyway. Not to be boastful, of course. My parents are barely ever on this computer anyway (It may as well be mine and mine alone) and they could not make sure the program was running smoothly and unhindered.

I do believe parental controls are good for children, though. Especially for younger ones who could type in some innocent keyword for a school project and accidentally come across a hundred porn sites.

Older children, on the other hand, can filter what they look at by reading a site's description on a search engine. Hopefully.. I am among them. It is a good assurance for the parents, though.

[Transtic Nerve]

Parental controls are for parents who are too lazy to look after or to teach their kids what to and what not to look at. Useless programs for parents who shouldn't have kids in the first place.

[Guest cloricus]

I agree TN.

My parents have always trusted me, my father and mother have always made sure I know the rules and they stopped all of it when I was 14 and expect me to be responsible 'and make my own choices'. Of course every so often mum will come and watch over my shoulder but I think that?s more of an "I'm bored and this looks interesting" than "I'm checking up on you" thing which I have no problem with.

NetNanny and similar are wastes of money and easy to "edit" plus you can use sites like megaproxy.com to bypass every thing on them. If my father or mother wanted to install some thing like that I'd have to ask why and what I had done wrong for them to do it and try and sort some thing out.
(Then uninstall it. :devil: )

[craig8429]

Nope can't say my rents have, after about 12 I really don't see you needing parental control since everything is on telvision.

[Mitch]

[size=1] I totally hate these things.

My parents don't seem to trust me at all; nor do they think I'm responsible at all...and with my crash recently, now I [i]have[/i] to get another job as lazy as I am and as much as I don't want to with school and all. This is beside the point heh.

I have AOL.

They have me rated under the "13-year-old" category on it, which isn't "Mature Teen," but the level below that. So because of this, it blocks some people's blogs, my own livejournal at times, and other random crap that shouldn't be blocked at all period.

This isn't the worst part at all to me, really.

The thing that really annoys me is they put the newer AOL timer feature on it. I get two hours a day...which is fine with me. It's just really annoying, you know. I like to do things when I feel I want to do them...not be restricted to having to go on at some certain time span elapsing two hours a day. I don't know...they don't seem to trust me at all. But I guess I live with it.

It isn't too big of a deal, I suppose. I live with it.

But man...when they were using this program that let them see [i]EVERYTHING[/i] I did online, that was scary. And I do mean everything. It let them see each and every website I went to...each and every AIM conversation I had (in full), each and every thing I typed up, each and every e-mail I checked, each and every little thing I did online. That's just going too far into my personal life in my opinion.

I mean, seriously. My Mom was coming up to me, asking me why I'd told this person online that I loved them (it was Ginny, heh, I haven't talked to her for quite some time, though), asking me, after reading this conversation I had with Tony, why I had been arguing about "OOtok Boards," as they say, and my Mod position there. It's just a really paranoid feeling, thinking that each and every thing you say online, your parents will hear. To me, that's just taking this too far.

They don't seem to check that progam any longer, thank God. But now they have AOL Guardian on it...just so they can see every website you go to and how many IMs I send. At least it doesn't show everything I do, though. So now I feel more safe and like I can actually use the internet for what I use it for.

My Dad seems to think I do nothing on the internet and considers it mostly a waste of time on my part, and often says I'm "like a drug addict with it." It doesn't even compare in my opinion. And yes, the internet is often a waste of time, but I've met some really good people on it, and I've also learned a lot of things and been able to discuss a lot of things that otherwise I wouldn't really have the gall to do. I'm just really timid towards things...

That is about all I have to say.

The main thing that annoys me is that I cannot download music when Tony recommends some bands. He usually links them to his own site, and you can download them there. But my computer will only save them as HTML files due to the fact of the parental controls. It's just annoying.

I also can't download anything off of Kazaa or anything. I miss that somewhat too, since it allowed me to listen to some bands I hadn't listened to before. Such as Nine Inch Nails.[/size]

[Queen Asuka]

[color=hotpink][size=1]I didn't remember how horrible it all was until I just read Mitch's post. And WOW Mitch, you've got it bad.

When I was much younger, we had AOL and my parents thought that the age group thing was wonderful. But when they blocked me from all of my favorite websites and from Yahoo Chat, I knew that they HAD to go. I was 14 at the time, so yes. I was already under "Mature Teen," but it was "Adult" that I really wanted.

After coaxing my mother into letting me use her account constantly, me and my younger sister (She must have been 12 at the time?) talked her into letting us get "adult" settings. We told her we weren't doing anything untrustworthy, and so she agreed to it.

So yes, that was AOL and the fun that I had with it. :rolleyes:

But my FATHER was another story. He would only let us get online for an hour each night and you cannot do anything in an hour, I don't think. This was pre-Otaku and I can tell you, I was addicted to the internet and the people I met on there.

Me and my sister would sneak online in the middle of the night and if we heard him waking up, we would cut off the monitor. She was really bad about it and even got caught. Gah, we were such idiots sometimes.

Now he doesn't care unless he needs to make a call or is waiting for a call. And of course, here at school, I can get online when I want and not have to worry about blocking phone lines.

I'm sure that when I have kids, I'll tell them the do's and don't's of internet safety and let them have their fun. Afterall, I owe alot of joy in my life to the internet. ^_^[/color][/size]

[DeathKnight]

[color=crimson]My parents ears would start spurting out blood if they knew what I saw and said online.

I have never had the pleasure of knowing the torment from being watched by a software program. The only thing that comes remotely close to that a couple of years back my parents would continuelly unplug the cable wire that ran to my computer- killing my connection, leaving theirs up. This was due to me "staying up late from the internet", or so they said. It turns out that, woo hoo hoo hold onto your pants- you can do OTHER things into the late eve. Eventually they gave up on doing that.[/color]

[Gentle]

We have AOL so it's automatic that we have Parental Controls. At first she wouldn't put it up and really she didn't know how. When she learned how to I was put under Mature Teen. I can get to most of the sites I want to but it restricts me from useless stuff. Like I might not be able to download a certain document which really has nothing in it but designing and such. I can't get on sites for weapons and it's kinda hard when I need one.

The thing I hate the most is when I'm on a message board and if the title is something like, "What do you think about sex?" I can't get on it because of the name it's under.

I can still get on bad sites though. I looked up something in a japanese word that was bad and it took me right to it. But if I put it in english it won't work. Not that I'm saying I would......Not that I'm saying I won't. But it's not that protective. It even gave me spanish sites and then linked me to english. It's not that safe to use since the security doesn't seem to work the way it should.

[Queen Asuka]

[QUOTE][i]Originally posted by Gentle [/i]
[B] I can't get on sites for weapons and it's kinda hard when I need one.[/B][/QUOTE]

[color=hotpink][size=1]Why in the world does someone who is only under "Mature Teen" need a weapon, might I ask?

Or are you just referring to the fact that you need a weapon's site? And why would you need that? O_o[/color][/size]

[Gentle]

[QUOTE][i]Originally posted by Queen Asuka [/i]
[B][color=hotpink][size=1]Why in the world does someone who is only under "Mature Teen" need a weapon, might I ask?

Or are you just referring to the fact that you need a weapon's site? And why would you need that? O_o[/color][/size] [/B][/QUOTE]

Why in the world do you want to know my business if I may ask? It's nothing really. I like weapons, that's all. I can find one instantly but I can't get on them anymore. There's nothing wrong with it.

[MarkM]

ahh...paranoid parents!!! im still under ther mature teen catagory on aol..so i go on internet explorer and use aim. my dad trusts me, but wont change it back not that i care though....

[Dagger]

[QUOTE][i]Originally posted by Mitch [/i]
[B][size=1] I totally hate these things.

They have me rated under the "13-year-old" category on it, which isn't "Mature Teen," but the level below that. So because of this, it blocks some people's blogs, my own livejournal at times, and other random crap that shouldn't be blocked at all period.

This isn't the worst part at all to me, really.

The thing that really annoys me is they put the newer AOL timer feature on it. I get two hours a day...which is fine with me. It's just really annoying, you know. I like to do things when I feel I want to do them...not be restricted to having to go on at some certain time span elapsing two hours a day. I don't know...they don't seem to trust me at all. But I guess I live with it.

It isn't too big of a deal, I suppose. I live with it.

But man...when they were using this program that let them see [i]EVERYTHING[/i] I did online, that was scary. And I do mean everything. It let them see each and every website I went to...each and every AIM conversation I had (in full), each and every thing I typed up, each and every e-mail I checked, each and every little thing I did online. That's just going too far into my personal life in my opinion.

I mean, seriously. My Mom was coming up to me, asking me why I'd told this person online that I loved them (it was Ginny, heh, I haven't talked to her for quite some time, though), asking me, after reading this conversation I had with Tony, why I had been arguing about "OOtok Boards," as they say, and my Mod position there. It's just a really paranoid feeling, thinking that each and every thing you say online, your parents will hear. To me, that's just taking this too far.

They don't seem to check that progam any longer, thank God. But now they have AOL Guardian on it...just so they can see every website you go to and how many IMs I send. At least it doesn't show everything I do, though. So now I feel more safe and like I can actually use the internet for what I use it for.

My Dad seems to think I do nothing on the internet and considers it mostly a waste of time on my part, and often says I'm "like a drug addict with it." It doesn't even compare in my opinion. And yes, the internet is often a waste of time, but I've met some really good people on it, and I've also learned a lot of things and been able to discuss a lot of things that otherwise I wouldn't really have the gall to do. I'm just really timid towards things.[/size] [/B][/QUOTE]

Talk about irony.... before I turned it off, Net Nanny blocked me from returning to this particular thread. One of the most frustrating things about parental controls are their sheer imprecision. I have no idea what aspect of this thread might have caused it to be blocked....

I agree. Timers are INCREDIBLY irritating. It's not as though I'd spend every single free hour onling anyway.... like you said, it's not a big deal, but as small things go, they're pretty aggravating.

My parents used to check my email and Internet history on a regular basis... which really creeped me out, to say the least. I mean, I'm old enough to drive. It alarms me that they don't seem to trust me to manage even the most basic details of my personal life.

My dad says the same thing about being online. He claims that I'm addicted to it--a rather laughable statement. Not to sound cheesy, but I think that the Internet provides some amazing opportunities for learning and growth. Most teenagers should have the intelligence necessary to avoid doing anything too extreme.

~Dagger~

[Zeos]

[QUOTE][i]Originally posted by Dagger IX1 [/i]
[B]I was just curious.... have anyone else's parents installed a parental control program on your computer? Alternatively, if you have AOL or another browser that enables parental controls, do your parents actually use them?

My dad recently installed a program called "Net Nanny," which is intended to restrict which sites I go to (I believe it blocks those with excessive amounts of bad or sex-related language), and how long I spend online. It's a mild nuisance, since half of the sites it blocks are perfectly okay.

I've never been interested in online #### or gambling or whatever, so I don't really see why parental controls are necessary. They're irritating, because it makes it seem as though my parents just don't trust me.

Of course.... my dad didn't exactly get much bang for his buck, considering that if I want to shut Net Nanny down, I can just go to Windows Task Manager and click "end process." So it's really not a very big inconvenience.

What do you think of parental controls?

~Dagger~ [/B][/QUOTE]

[SIZE=1]Your parents are just being protective of there child.. Like most parents are.. No, I don't have parental controls on the Internet.. But, my father does check what kind of Web Sites I visit. It doesn't bother me at all, really.[/SIZE]

[Mitch]

[size=1] He's old enough to drive, as am I. How is this being "protective"? I think I have enough sense, I mean this October 12th (Sunday) I am 17.

Whatever.[/size]

[Chichiri's Girl]

Man I feel sorry for you Mitch. That really must suck. Well I have Internet Explorer so I don't have to go through that AOL Guardian crap. There's still a little parental control tho but it works in mysterious ways. Like once it wouldn't let me hear a clip of Chichiri saying "No Da!". Yeah I'm SURE that's to mature for me to listen to. And it's shows the hint so I could turn it off if I knew the password but it never works. My dad being the WW2 nut that he is has the hint as D-day and no matter how many times I typed in the date it wouldn't let it go. And I know that it was the date cause when my dad typed it in once he used numbers! Grrrr...yeah but it can get pretty exterme. Some of the blockings I mean. and I agree with whoever said that at one point you're gonna see it all on TV. Cause ya know it's true. After you're 13 I don't think they should even try to block it out cause then you'll be able to see PG 13 movies(if you haven't already) and well some of them are kinda smutty.

[Zeos]

[QUOTE][i]Originally posted by Mitch [/i]
[B][size=1] He's old enough to drive, as am I. How is this being "protective"? I think I have enough sense, I mean this October 12th (Sunday) I am 17.

Whatever.[/size] [/B][/QUOTE]

[SIZE=1]Oh, I had no idea he was that old.. Your parents must be over protective..

Well, the only OTHER thing I can think of is this: Your parents make the rules as long as you live under there roof.

That's what my father says anyways..[/SIZE]

[Dagger]

[QUOTE][i]Originally posted by Zeos [/i]
[B][SIZE=1]Oh, I had no idea he was that old.. Your parents must be over protective..

Well, the only OTHER thing I can think of is this: Your parents make the rules as long as you live under there roof.

That's what my father says anyways..[/SIZE] [/B][/QUOTE]

I'm a girl. :P

But other than that, Mitch is absolutely right.

It's true that your parents make the rules as long as you live under their roof. However, some parents tend to go a little overboard. And though their intentions are good, their actions may end up having more negative effects than positive ones.

All I'm saying is that it's a bit ridiculous to use parental controls on older teenagers. Generally, the kids will be more technologically intelligent than their parents, and will probably figure out how to disable the software. Plus, although the parents may simply be attempting to protect their children, it's pretty naive to think that they can still moniter their lives as closely, once the children have reached a certain level of independence.

~Dagger~

[Zeos]

[QUOTE][i]Originally posted by Dagger IX1 [/i]
[B]I'm a girl. :P

But other than that, Mitch is absolutely right.

It's true that your parents make the rules as long as you live under their roof. However, some parents tend to go a little overboard. And though their intentions are good, their actions may end up having more negative effects than positive ones.

All I'm saying is that it's a bit ridiculous to use parental controls on older teenagers. Generally, the kids will be more technologically intelligent than their parents, and will probably figure out how to disable the software. Plus, although the parents may simply be attempting to protect their children, it's pretty naive to think that they can still moniter their lives as closely, once the children have reached a certain level of independence.

~Dagger~ [/B][/QUOTE]

[Size=1]Forgive me, I didn't know..

But you are absolutely right, but parents, will be parents.[/SIZE]