There's a story in the Houston Chronicle today that really troubles me. The article talks about two teenaged girls who vanished from their homes just outside Houston nearly a week ago. The girls are thought to have left home on their own accord, possibly to travel to California to meet a person or people they met over the Internet. The girls' parents and the police have pieced that much together based on remnants of digital conversations still on their computers. (The girls deleted any other conversations that could be used to trace them. Computer forensic experts are digging deeper to see what else can be learned.)
What bothers me is that a software package that costs about $30 could have prevented this situation. My company has been testing a product called ContentProtect from ContentWatch. The consumer version of the product makes it possible for parents to monitor their kids' activity online, including email and IM conversation, and visits to websites like MySpace.com. Had ContentProtect been installed on the girls' computers, their parents could have viewed logs of entire conversations, or been notified of trigger words such as "sex" or "drugs."
Instead, the girls apparently flew to LAX after arranging to meet "Dan the Man" somewhere in southern California. They've been gone for a week, and their whereabouts are still unknown.
I wrote about the enterprise version of ContentProtect a few months ago. Yes, network administrators can use this tool to oversee employees' online activities. Perhaps more importantly, parents can use the consumer version of the tool to keep their kids safe. As the mother of one teenager and one pre-teen, I view 30 bucks as a small price to pay for the peace of mind of knowing what my kids are doing online.
Musthaler is a principal analyst at Essential Solutions Corporation. She also writes Cache Advance and the Tech Exec newsletter.
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Parents need to parent
Hi Linda, great post! I totally agree that parents of teen-agers need to stop trying to be their kids "pals" and get serious about protecting them from the dangers in the world today. I don't recall anything in the Constitution that says parents don't have the right to spy on their children.
True, software is one layer of protection that can help parents see what their kids are doing online, but other layers need to happen to. Like talking with your kids about the dangers before they even get online. Encouraging them to do things other than go online. Be a positive influence in their life.
Unfortunately I don't have all of the details in this case and don't want to generalize, but the feeling is that parents need to start parenting a bit more.
Yes, parents do need to practice better parenting
I absolutely agree that parents need to be more aware of what their kids are doing. These girls didn't just decide one day to hop a plane to California. The plans must have been in the works for a while, and the parents didn't even know it. My point is that the content monitoring tools could be one way for parents to learn what their kids are doing.
BTW, this story -- unlike many others -- has a happy ending. The girls were found unharmed on a beach in southern California. Their parents flew out over the weekend to retrieve them and bring them back to Houston where, no doubt, stronger supervision awaits them.
How Much?
Hi Linda:
I'm happy to hear the girls were found unharmed. I was in law enforcement for 15 years. I left that field 16 years ago when I became a IT professional. I also have five kids -- four have grown and left home. It doesn't mean I'm a great parent, so much as, we got lucky. In the same vein, while monitoring packages will help reduce the likelihood of events like this, it's still up to the parent-child relationship to prevent such things.
Parenting
The information indicates Teenage, but not how old. If they are under 17 years of age, the parents have REALLY got to take a look at themselves and ask themselves how close of a relationshiop they have with their children. Sounds to me like a significant failing in their relationship with their children.
Yes, parents can throw $30 at the software monitoring solution, but these girls will find another way to get themselves into trouble that can't be so easily monitored.
The message about parents being responsible for safety of kids.
Good Day,
Your message in reference to the two runaways who have been lost from Internet communication with a predator is a powerful one. Since the inception of our organization when the Internet first began, we have been in constant vigil to fight against such threats and re-educate people of the risks that exist and likewise the solutions to fight them.
Your mention of [Content]Watch was an excellent example. It saddens me that many parents today have turned their responsibility to their children's safe upbringing, to the television, gaming system, or the Internet. Programs such as [Content]Watch provide the solution to help avoid issues such as this becoming a reality.
Thank you for the direct message you conveyed that will surely move the emotions of many and just maybe encourage a few parents to re-evaluate the importance of their children and the time they devote to them; (as well as spend the $$$ to purchase solutions to monitor them), in their own best interest.
Kudos for your effort which has moved my staff to strive all the harder to continue with our efforts.
Cordially,
Rev. James G.w. Fisher - CSI Corp Founder
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