Monitoring your Children`s Online Activity with SafetyWeb - Similar Services

Though SafetyWeb is obviously a great new choice for parents who want to monitor their children’s online activities, there are other viable options that offer similar services. Criddle, an expert in the field, has a number of recommendations to make sure kids are being safe--and most importantly, smart--while online.

CyberPatrol, for one, has been “protecting people online from inappropriate content” for over 15 years. Not only is it award-winning software that’s used by parents, schools, libraries, and businesses around the world, but it’s also considered the most trusted name in parental control software. Each CyberPatrol product was “specifically developed for ease of use to help protect families and businesses from threatening online activity” and according to Criddle, it’s one of the best on the market.

Another recommendation from the expert is K9 Web Protection, which enables parents to protect their home computers with a security solution that’s updated in real time. In other words, the company’s Blue Coat K9 Web Protection does away with security patches and upgrades; instead, it offers parents the same kind of advanced web filtering technology utilized by enterprise and government institutions worldwide--all with an incredibly user-friendly interface that enables parents to seamlessly control Internet use in their home, ranging from content to duration.

Criddle also recommends ReputationDefender, which enables parents to track information about their children online. Not only is it considered the world’s first comprehensive online reputation management and privacy company, but parents can use it to search out all information about their children throughout the Internet, while also utilizing something the company calls “destroy assistance.” This particular service helps parents remove inaccurate, inappropriate, hurtful, or slanderous online information about their children, and the same approach can be taken for personal information listed online, such as address, phone number, and full name.

Admittedly, some of these services and software suites cost a pretty penny, but according to Criddle, McAfee and Norton, which are found on most computers these days, come equipped with features that can prove to be just as effective without costing anything extra.

According to the Pew Internet and American Life report, while 75 percent of parents report knowing “a lot” about how their kids spend their time online, 33 percent of teens report that their parents know little or nothing about what they actually do while online. And with 93 percent of teens ages 12-17 going online on a daily basis, it should come as no surprise that parents are scrambling to find an effective way to monitor their children’s online behavior without their children feeling as if their privacy has been invaded or they’re being treated unfairly for doing nothing more than having a Facebook profile. As mentioned previously, it’s a delicate balance, but one that can be obtained by using SafetyWeb and other services like it.