Versión de HTML Básico
Surf Your Values
from your ISP. The benefit of this approach is that every computer
will have the same level of protection, and you have to configure
things only once. Typically, this setup is also more difficult to bypass
than separate software for each PC.
Accountability: New Software Options
Pick up just about any recent book on home networks, and you
will read advice similar to the actions discussed so far in this sec
tion on Internet security and filtering. But the majority of readers
will be unfamiliar with accountability software options. What is
accountability software? Put simply, this software sends a report of
all your Internet activities to your trusted accountability partner (s)
to check up and provide metrics on.
If this software is used by choice and not force, it can provide a
powerful disincentive to viewing unacceptable material and surfing
your values. Since there are many circumvention technologies avail
able, this approach can end the natural tendencies to get around
filters. It is generally intended to supplement, not replace, filter
ing software, but it can help reduce temptations for a dad or mom
who, as the systems administrator for the family Web filter, can go
around protections. While it was initially a separate category of
software, companies like SafeEyes12are now bundling accountability
with filtering software, but they are still calling it “parental control”
software. We need to think about adult accountability too.
The first accountability software company was Covenant Eyes,13
and there are now many other competing products, like X3Watch
Pro14and Eye Promise,15on the market. There are also many free
accountability software downloads (which I discourage); they typi
cally have less functionality and no technical support.
Here’s a short description of Covenant Eyes product functional
ity in January 2008:
• Monitors all websites, newsgroups, and most file sharing sites
visited on your computer
• Reports are always stored so they cannot be erased
• Multiple users on one accoun t have the ir own separate
records
-►
145
«■