Kidzui, Keeping Your Children Safe on the Internet

Working as a computer tech, parents would often ask me how to keep their children safe while browsing the Internet. I took this very seriously and researched the issue.

I don't like content filters or blockers because it shows something is available but the parent has not allowed the child to see it. This can cause conflict between parent and child. I know that sounds ridiculous, but what happens when you tell a child they cannot have something "simply" because you don't want them to? Right.

My recommended solution is a web-browser called Kidzui. Instead of blocking specific content, which cannot block everything, Kidzui uses a "white-list."

A black-list, or block list, allows everything in the Internet except for what is on its list to block. This is great on paper. Someone has taken the time to find and block "all" of the bad websites right? Well, not exactly, if a new website with questionable (or worse) material is set up the black-list may not have (or possibly never will be) updated in time and that site will be accessible.

In contrast, a white-list only allows what is on its list of accepted websites. This means that unless it has been reviewed and added to the white-list, it cannot be accessed by the child. It is not necessary for the individual parent to create the white-list, it comes ready to go. The parent need only to modify it, if necessary

The white-list allows children to browse to only parent approved website and can be further
restricted or opened based on the parents needs. Sites outside of the white list can be added by the parent as well.

Using Kidzui allows your children to access the Internet without a parent needing to constantly monitor the child's activity. That said, there are monitoring tools available.

For Firefox users, there is a plugin to enable the use of Kidzui without changing browsers. I have not used the plugin. I would love to hear feedback on how the FF plugin works

Kidzui is free, although there is a Paid option available.

The Kidzui browser is available for Windows and Mac. The Firefox plugin is available for Firefox users on Windows, Mac, and Linux.

For a bit more information:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/KidZui

For a list of the monitoring tools and other useful information for parents look here:
http://www.kidzui.com/learn_more_parents

For a list of more kid-centric features look here
http://www.kidzui.com/learn_more

Main Site:
http://www.kidzui.com/