Age controls for web access: Help Please

[Suzanne]

Hi All,
I want to set up dsl for a little 13 year old who lives in a household of drug addicts. I want to restrict all internet access to an age appropriate filter for the 13 year old. I'll be paying for the account and installing the dsl modem etc. and have access to the pc, but I am not the pc administrator.

Any recommendations on what software to buy to put on the pc? it needs to filter any browser like Safari or Explorer or whatever else is out there.

My objective is to provide a "safe" access for him since there are no reasonable adults overseeing what he does or accesses or reads.

I'm assuming there are more browsers than Safari and Explorer and/or they could uninstall Safari w/my controls and reinstall a fresh one without controls.

Many thanks for your suggestions. You are such a wealth of information.
Cheers,
Suzanne

[Hot Compost]

I suggest Anandtech.com for friendly, geeky computer advice.

https://forums.anandtech.com/

There are a few thousand users there that know how to set up the filters you're talking about. I don't know how personally.

[Braggi]

... I want to set up dsl for a little 13 year old who lives in a household of drug addicts. I want to restrict all internet access to an age appropriate filter ...

Suzanne, I appreciate that you want to make the child's content age appropriate, but you should ponder for yourself what exactly is age appropriate for today's 13 year old? If the kid was 6, I'd say you're right. But especially considering this person's background, it's possible they've already witnessed first-hand anything you'd want to spare him the viewing of.

Again, I understand you might have differing opinions from me, but this child of today's world already knows at least the existence of just about anything you'd consider taboo. That's not the same as viewing video or downloading graphic images, but there is no "filtering" software that's perfect anyway.

I could see this becoming a challenge to the "hacking" ability of the child, and perhaps could become a valuable software learning exercise, but it probably would not be an effective block from anything he'd like to see.

Your call, but I wouldn't spend any money on it. Most ISPs you purchase your internet access from will offer free filtering software, so I'd start there. Try giving Sonic.net a call or visit their website. They should have good information for you.

Good luck whichever way you decide to go and I do wish the best for the boy.

-Jeff
Father of a sophisticated 11 year old daughter.