It's the modern parent's dilemma: how to let your children reap the benefits of the Internet and computers without exposing them to the risks? Web sites featuring pornography and graphic violence aren't the only worry. Even if your child isn't interested in any of that, sites offering computer games or fantasy football can distract even diligent students from the homework at hand.
A young Boston company is offering a unique solution. NetSnitch doesn't block access to sites, but it does compile a password-protected list of which Web sites the user visited, with the length of time spent on them. Knowing their movements can be tracked should keep users from venturing into inappropriate Internet areas.
Jacinta Cullen and her husband Stanley Wallerstein came up with the idea for NetSnitch when they found existing blocking software inadequate.
According to Cullen, programs like NetNanny can't keep up with an ever-changing list of pornographic websites. What's more, those programs act as censors - that's bad news for parents who want to make their own decisions about what's right for their kids, or who don't agree with censorship on principle.
"I grew up in Ireland during censorship, and I'm absolutely against it," says Cullen, who emigrated from Glenfarne in Co Leitrim in 1968. "But I do have an uneasiness about what a free society brings. . . As a parent I have to safeguard my child's developing mind."
Cullen says the company has sold around 500 copes of NetSnitch since July, mostly to parents, but they also plan to target the corporate market.
Employees who use the Net in ways they shouldn't are not only costing a company money in wasted time; they may also pose a legal liability, especially if they are viewing pornographic or illegal material.
Cullen's 13-year-old son Daniel says that for him, NetSnitch does work. "I think it works a little too well sometimes," he says. "But I think we probably need something like it, because otherwise I might be kicked off the computer altogether."
NetSnitch sells for $39.99 through the Web site at www.NetSnitch.com. More information from webmaster@NetSnitch.com
Sheila McDonald is at: smcdonal@iol.ie.