Computer Security Articles

Expert says, next to parents, schools have the task to tech students responsible use of the internet because we cannot expect the ISP to teach users which site to visit and which one to avoid, even more so since most country’s don’t have the law requiring them to block unwanted sites, the task of doing this depends on the parents first and second to schools.

Several schools now have internet filtering software installed in their computers and gateways, in the libraries, classrooms, laboratories as they recognized the need to secure the internet for their students. Officials steadily taking all necessary measures to prevent students from having full access to the internet in order to protect them, usually restricting access to instant messaging sites, chat rooms, pornography and any unrelated sites.

Having a SECURE INTERNET is not as hard as before, there are several web content filtering software currently available, the most popular of which includes Net Nanny, Cyber Nanny, Child Control, Cyber Sentinel, Kid Guardian and Cyber Sitter, most firewalls also included this features in their products like Norton Personal Firewall and so on. This software usually filters every internet application and websites for inappropriate contents while allowing only relevant ones.

Although these software are useful in providing only appropriate contents for the students there are still some issues raised by the administrators,

some sites are blocked accidentally because of the global filtering embedded in the products. A study by Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) and Online Policy Group (OPG) in US found that blocking software sometimes “over-blocked” or restricting access to sites that need not be filtered and relevant to school activities but this does not justify a loose or free access to all the sites.