Rethinking IM Privacy For Kids

Posted by ryuzaki0 on Monday October 2, 2006 @08:29AM from the extra-safe-society dept.

mackles writes, "Now that the world has read the despicable instant messages from Rep. Foley, should parents take a second look at monitoring their kids' IMs? After all, it was IM logging that exposed the scandal; would we have found out otherwise? Cost is not an issue, there are free monitoring tools. Should parents tell their kids before they monitor? Parents and their tech-savvy kids are at odds on the topic. From the article: 'As many as 94 percent of parents polled this summer by the research firm Harris Interactive said they've turned to Web content filters, monitoring software, or advice from an adult friend to keep electronic tabs on their children.' The article quotes one 18-year-old as saying, 'A lot of kids are smarter than adults think.'"

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Re:Anything on the router level? by Doctor+Crumb · 2006-10-02 10:15 · Score: 1, Redundant

Don't forget recording all of their phone calls and hiring someone to follow them around after school, so you can make sure they're not doing anything you wouldn't do.

Seriously, didn't you have unrestricted and unmonitored internet access growing up? Why is it even conceivable to play CIA with your children? If you want to know what sites they are visiting, ASK THEM.