Spector
Pro as a Child Recording Tool
The
Internet opens a world of
possibilities for your children
that were not available
when you were a child, or
even as recently as a few
years ago.
From a personal computer with an Internet connection, your child
has access to almost any
encyclopedia, dictionary,
book, magazine or newspaper
in the world. Your child
can chat with friends and
relatives, meet new people,
learn foreign languages,
develop new interests.
There
is no doubting the tremendous
benefits the Internet brings
to your family.
The
flip side is that, while
the world is at your child's
fingertips, the world is
also allowed into your home.
While
most of these people who
come into your home through
the Internet are very nice,
some of them are looking
for your name, your address,
phone number and other personal
information. Some are even
looking for a child with
whom to have sex.
In
fact, it is estimated that
at least 50,000 pedophiles
descend on the Internet
every day with one goal
in mind: to find a child,
strike up a relationship,
and eventually meet with
the child.
What
can you do?
As
a parent, you essentially
have 3 choices:
- Disconnect
your child from the Internet
- Filter
or censor what your child
can access on the Internet.
- Monitor
and Record what your child
does online and who he/she
chats with so that you
can better guide your
child as to what is appropriate
and what is inappropriate.
Option
number 1 is like throwing
the baby out with the bath
water. There is too much
value to be derived from
the Internet to shut it
off, and your child will
be at a tremendous disadvantage
when part of their homework
assignment is to do research
on the Internet.
Filtering
or censoring is, in our
opinion, better than option
1, and until recently, was
about your only option.
However, there are far too
many problems with filtering
and censoring.
The
first problem with filtering
is that it depends on your
constantly downloading lists
that prevent your child
from visiting certain sites.
Since thousands of new sites
come onto the Internet each
day, keeping up is virtually
impossible.
The
second problem with filtering
is that every family has
a different set of values
about what is objectionable
and what is acceptable.
There is no way than any
one filter list can be appropriate
for all families.
The
third problem is that many
filtering/censoring products
create lists of keywords
which, when encountered,
prevent you or your child
from accessing a site that
has that keyword. For example,
let's say the word "breast"
is on the keyword list.
Seems reasonable, right?
Well what if USA Today has
an article on breast cancer?
What if Tyson has an article
on chicken breast meat?
Well, too bad, because breast
is a "bad word", so you
or your child are not allowed
access to that site.
So
disconnecting your child
from the Internet is not
a good choice, and filtering/censoring
is a poor choice. That leaves
the third option: monitoring
and recording what your
child does online, and whom
your child talks to online.
With
this option, your child
has access to he Internet
and there is no filtering
or censoring. However, if
your inform you child that
he/she is being monitored
and recorded and that you
can review what has been
done later, your child will
behave much more responsibly
when surfing the Internet.
In
addition, because you can
review with your child their
online activity, you can
help guide your child as
to what is appropriate and
what is inappropriate.
In
addition, through reviewing
chat conversations and e-mails,
you can determine whether
an adult stranger has been
trying to develop a questionable
relationship with your child,
long before it has a chance
to develop into something
that could become dangerous.
After
examining the options available
to address the very real
dangers children face on
the Internet, SpectorSoft
decided that monitoring
and recording was the most
reasonable option.
We
believe that parents need
to spend time with their
children, especially when
they are surfing the Internet,
but we also understand that
a parent cannot always be
present when the child is
online. Spector Pro helps
to bridge that gap, by recording
what the child does so that
the parent can review this
at a later time.
Because
Spector Pro acts like a
video recorder for PC and
Internet activity, you will
be able to SEE EXACTLY
what your child has been
doing online. Spector Pro
records all web sites visited,
all programs run, all keystrokes
typed, all chat conversations,
and all e-mails sent and
received. Spector Pro even
records Internet based e-mails
like Hotmail and Yahoo Mail. |