No chance for bad sites: Parental control software

The Internet has become an indispensable part of life for many children and young people nowadays. Yet risks abound.

"Children must be protected from dangerous content," whether it's pornography or depictions of violence, says Axel Kossel of c't magazine. Software is capable of handling a portion of that effort. But ultimately parents need to be involved.

Parents with limited Internet experience may be tempted to simply ban their children from using the Internet altogether. Neither educators nor online security experts consider this a good solution.

The objective is to prevent the child from viewing unsuitable content. One option is programs like SafetyKid that work with so-called whitelists. These allow children to enter only the addresses for pages that they are explicitly permitted to use, Kossel explains. This shielding tactic is only suitable for very young children.

Programs built around blacklists sniff out violent or pornographic sites and block them. Although the lists are constantly updated, they still have weaknesses: "They can't block everything, since thousands of new sites appear every day," Kossel says.

There is also free parental control software available on the Internet.

No program works absolutely reliably, Axel Kossel says. To some extent that is because many children are savvier about the Internet than their parents. That allows them to find relatively easy ways around the software barriers.

The experts instead recommend setting up a "family PC" where everyone can surf together.

indispensable (adj.) 少不了的；绝对必要的

depiction (n.) 描写；描述

to be tempted to 想；受引诱

explicitly (adv.) 明确地；明白的

shielding (n.) 保护；遮蔽

to sniff out 找出；嗅出

absolutely (adv.) 完全地；绝对地

to some extent 就某方面；从某层面

barrier (n.) 障碍；阻碍

to set up 设置；设立