Tools to Find Family-Friendly Content

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 by: Andrew Malek

The Internet, is magnificent in its resources for
families. Educational resources abound. Kids can easily find help for
their homework blues without venturing to the library. Kids can chat
with friends from far away for free; friends who, probably just a few
years ago, they would never hear from again. And, of course, there’s
plenty of entertainment to satisfy the whole family once the chores and
homework are complete.

However, the Internet can often be an inappropriate
place for kids to surf unsupervised. Plenty of content is only
appropriate for mature audiences. And, sadly, there are ‘bad seeds’,
those who the children never should talk to.

Help keep your children away from these unsuitable
materials. Many search engines and directories have filters and options
that only return pages that have passed a particular profanity or
“kid-safe” filter. These types of filters vary from web site to web
site, but may do one of the following:

* Only allow you to search a selection of links picked by the site’s editors to be “kid-safe” or free of profanity.

* Not show links containing profane words, these being
words designated by a site to be profane. This list may not contain all
possible profane words or combinations.

* Show links containing profane words but block out the
profane words with asterisks, dollar signs, or other symbols. Again,
the blocked-out words are those the site deems profane and might not
include all such words.

Unfortunately, no filter can be 100% accurate.

Here are some search engines that have filters you can enable to try to weed out inappropriate content.

AltaVista http://www.altavista.com/

Above and to the right of the search query box you can
find the link labeled “Family Filter”. Turn on this filter to cause
AltaVista to filter out inappropriate content. Be sure to read the
linked-to FAQ (Frequently Asked Questions) before using this filter.
Again, no family filter is 100% accurate, but it’s better than nothing.

Ask Jeeves For Kids http://www.ajkids.com/

You can provide kids with their very own search butler.
Ask Jeeves for Kids is a special version of the popular Ask Jeeves web
site geared towards the younger set. It is used the same way as the
normal Ask Jeeves – just ask a question and click the “Ask” button.

You will notice the site design is quite different from
the main Ask Jeeves. The page is colorful and includes fonts more
suited for kids. There are links to games, study tools, news resources,
and message boards. Be sure to check out Jeeves’ hat as you move your
mouse over each resource :)

According to the “Parents” page, Ask Jeeves For Kids
only searches for “G-Rated” information. However, they do warn that
since web sites change, there is no guarantee that adult content cannot
slip through the cracks. Still, they do a good job at trying to filter
out information, so if you have children surfing the net, you may want
to point them over to this popular resource.

Google http://www.google.com/

Visit the “Advanced Search” link and take a look at the
“SafeSearch” section. Click the “Filter using SafeSearch” radio button
to cause Google to only returns sites that match Google’s “SafeSearch”
filter. This filter attempts to remove material containing pornography
or sexual content, but it is not and cannot be 100% accurate. Click the
link “SafeSearch” on this page for more information about this filter.

You can also click the “Preferences” link from the front
page to set preferences on how you want Google to search through
documents. From here you can enable the “SafeSearch” setting by
default. These preferences are placed in the form of a cookie stored on
your browser, so if you disable cookies your preference choices will
not stick. Be sure to press the “Save Preferences” button when you are
done with your choices or they will not stick.

Lycos http://www.lycos.com/

Click on the “Parental Controls” link on the front page
(located under the search bar), or turn on the “Adult Filter” from the
advanced search page to enable the “Lycos SearchGuard”. This feature
attempts to filter out sites containing inappropriate or offensive
material such as “adult, violent, hate and weapons-related content”.
Note that while no filter can be 100% effective this is a good start.

You may also want to visit the following family and kid-friendly Lycos sites:

Lycos Family Zone http://familyzone.lycos.com/

Lycos Zone (For Kids) http://lycoszone.lycos.com/

No matter which site you use, realize that no filter can
be 100% accurate. All it takes is a little web browser knowledge to
defeat cookie-based filters. Inappropriate sites can and sometimes will
“slip through the cracks”. Thus, I recommend that you always supervise
your kids’ Internet usage whenever possible. These filters, however,
may make your supervision easier and your entire family’s Internet
experience more enjoyable without any surprises.

About the Author

This article was written by Andrew Malek, Internet Search Guru and author of Find Stuff On the Net, an e-book that can show even beginning computer users how to navigate the Internet without fear. Catch-up with your kids’ knowledge when it comes to using the net. For further information and free snippets of the book, visit http://www.findstuffonthenet.com/

webmaster@envprogramming.com

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