Sunday, November 13, 2005
Blocking malicious websites
Question : Can you recommend software that could block access to certain Web sites?
Answer : What you're looking for is probably "Internet filter" or "content filter" software. These software attempt to block sites that are deemed by many to be "objectionable". Due to the spontaneous, ad hoc and largely unpredictable nature of the Internet, and indeed of this species of primate the biologists term "homo sapiens", make it almost impossible to censor anything online, and not risk throwing the baby out with the bath water. It doesn't mean that people don't stop trying though. We can't really recommend any, because we haven't actually seen one that worked. Radiant Morning's Naomi (www.radiance.m6.net) seems to work quite well, and at $0, you can't really beat the price. Even so, however, it's nowhere near perfect - some sites that should be blocked are not, and some sites that shouldn't be are blocked. On the commercial side, Cyber-sitter (www.cybersitter.com) has had good reviews.
Answer : What you're looking for is probably "Internet filter" or "content filter" software. These software attempt to block sites that are deemed by many to be "objectionable". Due to the spontaneous, ad hoc and largely unpredictable nature of the Internet, and indeed of this species of primate the biologists term "homo sapiens", make it almost impossible to censor anything online, and not risk throwing the baby out with the bath water. It doesn't mean that people don't stop trying though. We can't really recommend any, because we haven't actually seen one that worked. Radiant Morning's Naomi (www.radiance.m6.net) seems to work quite well, and at $0, you can't really beat the price. Even so, however, it's nowhere near perfect - some sites that should be blocked are not, and some sites that shouldn't be are blocked. On the commercial side, Cyber-sitter (www.cybersitter.com) has had good reviews.
# posted by No technical problems @ 10:09 AM 
