Internet filters block porn, but not savvy kids

Safe Eyes users can specify which personal information is too sensitive and alert parents if children post it online.

Another program, IMSafer, monitors instant message conversations and notifies parents when their children are talking about topics that could put them at risk, like planning a meeting or setting up web­cam conversations. To respect children's privacy, IMSafer shares only questionable portions of conversations with parents.

While most discussion on content-control software focuses on combating porn­ography and sexual predators, many parents are interested in time controls, too.

"A lot of parents were concerned with the amount of time their kids were spending online and wanted a way to monitor and control that," says Mr. Kenny.

Safe Eyes and several other content-control packages now offer parents the ability to limit their children's Web time.

Windows Vista lets parents decide when their kids can use the computer. Working parents whose child spends part of the day home alone might set their child's account to allow computer access only from 5:30 p.m. to bedtime, for instance.

Still, a number of skeptics point out that, even with recent improvements, filters are far from perfect, can block valuable information, and pose little obstacle to a determined and tech-savvy child.

"The truth is that lots of parents get by without using any [Internet filter] at all, and most of them seem to be happy with that decision," says Bennett Haselton, founder of Peacefire, an "anticensorship" Internet organization that creates simple ways for blocked users to bypass content filters. Mr. Haselton says teenagers are mature enough to handle an unfiltered Internet. "If you use blocking software, be aware that there are sites out there like Peacefire that will make it pretty easy for [kids] to get around it."

Leo Carey, a computer-networking teacher at Boston Latin Academy, says many of his students use proxy servers like those created by Haselton to bypass the public high school's filter. "Rather than going overboard trying to block things, the real strategy is to educate them about the inappropriateness of what they're doing and why it's inappropriate," says Mr. Carey. "They're really reasonable about that kind of stuff."

"I don't really think you can block it all out," says Frank Curiel, a Costa Mesa, Calif., father who doesn't restrict his 15-year-old son's Internet access. "Basically what we do is we trust [our son], and we set up guidelines, like when he's working on his computer, his door is open."

The University of Chicago Laboratory School, a private primary and secondary school, chose not to use an Internet filter. The school establishes Internet usage guidelines and offers classes about Internet safety. So far, there have been limited infractions, says Lucy Gray, a middle-school computer science teacher. "It's teaching the kids how to use the tool in the context of how it should be used," she explains.

"No tool is 100 percent safe," says Mr. Balkam. "It's no good just to think 'I've got the Windows Vista parental controls. I don't need to talk to my kids.' "

A filter made it easier for Mary Kate Dillon to talk with her son. "It's a good springboard into a dialogue with kids about what we value," she says.

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