Serious question

[pinion9]

Wow...

Let me try this again. I am WRITING software. I wanted to get opinions about what individuals would find more valuable so I can focus on my time doing that portion first.

Try being a parent? Unfortunately many parents today don't know how to do that. And if I can help them out and profit from it, well, then yay for me.

Thanks.

 

[krunchykrome]

Nah, I would rather talk to my children, and trust them as well as my wife.

 

[FoBoT]

just setup a router with total logging, or a proxy server with blocking
there tons of good technical solutions available

or you can just get onto the computers and find traces of stuff without too much trouble

 

[ViviTheMage]

setup a router !

 

[Dumac]

Originally posted by: pinion9

Originally posted by: drinkmorejava
The only thing that is going to protect your kid is instilling common sense into them; make it their responsibility to care.

This will help them when they are adults. Do you really think the 13 y/o who posted her name and address on a school website really think she would be tracked down via Myspace?

Wouldn't you want to know if your children are looking at porn while you are gone?

Why would I care if my 13 y/o child was looking at porn? About damn time anyway

But seriously, if you made a program and then just advertised it as a way to watch over children, I bet a lot of paranoid parents would buy it. They are always worried about anything dealing with the internet.

 

[AMDZen]

Originally posted by: FoBoT
just setup a router with total logging, or a proxy server with blocking
there tons of good technical solutions available

or you can just get onto the computers and find traces of stuff without too much trouble

But then you could simply reset the router, and the router will go back to its factory default password, and then even if the logs were retained - you could go in there and delete them

Seriously OP, I gathered that this was what was going on. And the reality is that about 90% of the time, the kids know more about the hardware, software and computer in general then the parents do. So your going to have to hold the parents hand by making this program do everything for you. And most of them will get it wrong.

 

[Dumac]

Originally posted by: AMDZen

Originally posted by: FoBoT
just setup a router with total logging, or a proxy server with blocking
there tons of good technical solutions available

or you can just get onto the computers and find traces of stuff without too much trouble

But then you could simply reset the router, and the router will go back to its factory default password, and then even if the logs were retained - you could go in there and delete them

Seriously OP, I gathered that this was what was going on. And the reality is that about 90% of the time, the kids know more about the hardware, software and computer in general then the parents do. So your going to have to hold the parents hand by making this program do everything for you. And most of them will get it wrong.

It's not his problem if they get it wrong as long as they bought it first!

 

[rivan]

Originally posted by: AMDZen

Originally posted by: FoBoT
just setup a router with total logging, or a proxy server with blocking
there tons of good technical solutions available

or you can just get onto the computers and find traces of stuff without too much trouble

But then you could simply reset the router, and the router will go back to its factory default password, and then even if the logs were retained - you could go in there and delete them

Seriously OP, I gathered that this was what was going on. And the reality is that about 90% of the time, the kids know more about the hardware, software and computer in general then the parents do. So your going to have to hold the parents hand by making this program do everything for you. And most of them will get it wrong.

Just because you know how to reset the router doesn't mean you know how to recover the password and fake usage logs to replace the ones you deleted, to keep the parent from knowing it was tampered with. I'm one of those parents who's interested in helping their kids experience things that might get them hurt, while I'm with them to keep things from going too wrong - if it ever comes to a point where I'm logging what my kid's doing (she's only 2 now... not much surfing happening) then if I find the router reset, I'll be happy to live without net access, or handle the PPPoE password in such a way there won't be any. Of course, there's always other people's houses, but that's another dicussion entirely. The bottom line here, at least for now, internet use will be a privelege much like many of the other things I'm providing her. Failure to earn and appreciate those priveleges will result in their removal. Some kids that won't have any effect on, but judging from her attachment to her nightly Wonder Pets/Dora/Little Bear episode, I think it'll work just fine on this one.

 

[dullard]

1) If the children are young, I'd be there with them. Just like I wouldn't allow them to play in the street unsupervised, in the swimming pool unsupervised, or in the ghetto unsupervised, I sure the hell won't let young children play online unsupervised.

2) I'd do my very best to raise them correctly.

3) When they are older children, they are on their own. Hopefully I did my job well on #2. If not, spying on them won't help matters. I would realize that yes, older children will do things that parents wish they didn't do. But, the best option is to (a) confront them or (b) to ignore them. Spying is never the best option.

But to answer your question, the program monitor is basically a robotic replacement of my #1. Thus, it has some utility to me. However, I can't see many people wanting to pay for this. Instead, those who have to be unresponsible parents yet still want to control them with an iron fist will much rather have the screenshots and/or key logger. The typing monitor is semi-useful, but there are just so many ways around it. A short series of yes/no questions can get the exact address without ever typing the address / phone number / city. Are you going to montior "yes" and "no"? If so, it'll be too time consuming to use as a parent.

More fundamentally, what does your program do that the 10,000 other free programs don't do?

 

[Tobolo]

um, all of the above

 

[Koing]

Originally posted by: pinion9
I really feel sorry for all of you.

I remember seeing this special about a girl (13?) who posted some information on MySpace. She didn't put her address, but did put her school name.

On another unrelated site for the school she put her full name and address.

Guess what? Pedophile found her and contacted her.

Well wtf was her address doing on the school website.

A pedophile could go to his local school websites and attack those girls. Or just the dam local park...

My little bro is 11 and I let him use the internet whenever he wants. He knows the rule of not giving his real name/ address out to ANYONE online. He isn't aloud out on his own and thats pretty safe imo.

Koing

 

[amol]

Limit your kids to dial-up. Their ADD minds will be too impatient for websites to load. They'll get off the web. Problem solved.

/thread

 

[FoBoT]

i didn't mean a hardware router, use this

http://clarkconnect.com

If you're a parent, you'll also be concerned about enforcing access to the Internet, filtering inappropriate websites and allocating bandwidth so your kids downloads don't bring your VoIP calls to a standstill.

 

[pinion9]

Originally posted by: dullard
More fundamentally, what does your program do that the 10,000 other free programs don't do?

I am unaware of any programs that run silently and keep screenshots. This will be touted as the equivalent of watching your children as they use the computer.