Consumer 6: Tips for Parents to Block Out Those Unwanted Web Sites

Wednesday, March 8th 2000, 12:00 am

By: News On 6

Parents who are trying to protect their kids from computer dangers have a new weapon in the war against cyber pornography. A local company is offering a new filter that serves as a guardian for impressionable minds.

Children often know more about how computers work than their parents. Young people use the Internet for school projects, but also for fun. They chat with friends or read about their favorite singers.

Britney Spears is one of the hottest teen sensations around. Many of her young fans surf the Internet hoping to learn more her. But the search for Britney spears sometimes leads to unsafe sites. Type in her name in a search engine and it could lead to a porn site. A site that lures children with pictures of Spears.

However, there's a new Internet provider in Tulsa that can keep kids out of x-rated sites.
"You click it and it says access denied," said Iguardian's Jeb Dubb, "If you were on an unfiltered system, more than likely it would shoot you off to cypber erotica."

Dunn started Iguardian a few months ago. He says his service not only blocks pornography, it also blocks sites with information on illegal drugs, violence, crime or hate messages. "Up until now we were able to give users net. nanny, cyperwatch, and other programs like that which didn't really work," Dunn said. "It was effective to an extent, but it really wasn't the solution that they were wanting."

Dunn says the reason that the unwanted sites still come up on parent's computer screens is because most of the software programs have pre-programmed words to block. If the words on the site is not found in that word list, the sites can slip through it. However, workers at Iguardian update their database each month. They take the time to look at each web site to determine if it has inappropriate material. If it does, it's blocked.

Another Internet provider called scoolmates.com offers the same type of service. Scool mates has been involved with schools for years. "We are in schools all across the country with our condiments," said scoolmates spokesperson Lisa Roth. "We saw a real need for a menu program and that's kind of how we got started into blocking programs."

The company started listing their menus on their web site. Nine school districts currently use it and scoolmates hopes parents will see it and try out their filtered Internet service.

"Many parents have concerns with many things that have happened with bad internet sites that students can access," said Broken Arrow Schools Jill Buxton. "This gives the students an option."

The web sites addresses are http://www. scoolmates.com. There is no "h" in the word school. The Iguardian site is located at http://www.Iguardian.net

Iguardian also offers a service for companies to block sites the business doesn't want their workers surfing during work hours.