Remote Monitoring Software
Posted by Richard Kuhlenschmidt Thu, 01 Jun 2006 18:34:00 GMT
In today’s issue of the Wall Street Journal there is an article by Sue Shellenber called “Remote Control: Parents use Software to Track Kid’s Online Activity from Work” (subscription req’d).
The article states that more and more working parents have very major concerns about their children’s internet usage while parents are at work. Many have turned to using software programs that allow them to monitor their kid’s internet usage from the office.
The following software programs are mentioned in the article:
SafeEyes ($49.95) reports instant messaging chats. Web use and file-sharing, with alerts via phone or e-mail.
eBlaster ($99.95) e-mailos copies of chats; reports Web use with e-mail alerts.
ContentProtect ($39.99) reports text of IMs and tracks Web activity; e-mails alerts.
IM Einstein ($40.00.)records IMs and chats, with alerts via e-mail, phone or pager.
Cybersieve ($39.95)online logs of Web use with notice of forbidden activity.
What makes these programs different from older monitoring programs that have been around for years, is that they allow monitoring from a remote computer. And there is no software to be installed on the monitoring (parent’s office) computer.
One area of debate is whether parents should tell their children that they are monitoring their internet activity. On the one hand, if you keep it secret, you may find out some things that you wouldn’t otherwise. On the other hand, some argue that doing secret surveillance could result in a breakdown in trust.
I’m more inclined to believe in the latter, that internet usage should be treated in the same manner in which you monitor TV and movie habits.
