CovenantEyes vs. K9 Web Protection

Well, I canfisthand tell you that I had K9 and I broke through it so well that it was under my own password and I

k9 is very nice but very easy to get around, and even without having to get around anything, there is plenty harmful stuff accessible

Ender, just ask your LOR.

Malbim: Read what people say before responding to them.

I Personally think access to the internet should be restricted to men and women over the age of sixty…

In my opinion, just like locks are there to keep honest people honest, same with a filter. If you want to get around it, you can. If there’s a will there’s a way, no matter how strong the filter

While having WebChaver does give you a reason to stop and think before clicking, if you choose someone you are not necessarily embarrassed of falling before, it won’t work. Just something to keep in mind.

I woof to that

“What are the pros and cons of each?”

Filter (K9 is an example, and in my experience has the best, though not foolproof, information about and detection of inappropriate sites):

Pros – You are forced to define your standards before any use of the Internet, and cannot access anything problematic

A) accidentally or, for that matter, B) intentionally.

Neither of those is fully prevented from occurring by a monitoring system, and I assume this is important from the viewpoint of halacha.

(You can get many filters – K9, for example – for free*.)

Cons – Your access to something necessary may be restricted, and at times, it may not be possible to reach a technician to allow the necessary access. Speaking of which, you obviously cannot have control of your filter. Have someone else – TAG, perhaps? – set the password (K9 has an option to allow you to block specific sites without needing the password).

Filters are not foolproof, of course, but that hardly seems a con – I don’t know if anything is absolutely foolproof.

“Well, I can first hand tell you that I had K9 and I broke through it so well that it was under my own password and I could unblock any site for like an hour and no one would know.

I found out how to break thru on the internet, but if you think whoever it is won’t go through the required steps to break through that took a half an hour, go ahead and install it.”

This does need to be addressed.

1. Categories including sites that might inform one as to how to disable their filter should be blocked. Failure to do so is failure to properly filter. (If the user has non-filtered

Internet access in another location, the purpose of having a filter may be somewhat defeated, especially considering the possibilities for saving or creating access to objectionable content.)

2. The last 3 days of administrative actions in K9 cannot be deleted (unless perhaps one can locate the file they are stored in – I don’t know). This includes enabling specific or general access – and any sites visited during all-access sessions. Inspection every three days, or perhaps at random, should deter any such actions by users who have somehow gained control of the

settings. (If such inspections cannot be carried out because the password has been changed, there is obviously a problem.)

Monitoring program:

Pros – If you access something problematic, you will have to account for it. This is useful both for prevention and, if necessary, intervention. Just be sure to choose the right person to act as supervisor.

(I don’t know anything about the availability of free monitoring.)

Cons – This does not technically prevent access. Multiple users may thus present an issue. Unsupervised use by someone other than yourself would be a definite no-no.

(I don’t know if these generally record the times at which sites were visited, or if they can be set up to distinguish between user accounts on one computer.)

Now, there are two points to be made here:

The first is that sites which are not objectionable on the whole may nevertheless feature inappropriate images or advertising. To deal with this, you can add ad-blocking and image-blocking plugins/extensions/whatevers to your browser. Mod-42 recommends

“adblockplus, flashblock, and […] imglikeopera.” I don’t know if ImgLikeOpera works with the current version of Firefox, but ImageBlock definitely does, although its function is limited to

being an on/off switch.

These will likely remain under the user’s control, but turning them off shouldn’t be much of a temptation.

Nativ offers, as part of their services, the filtering out of skintone from images – I don’t know if this is available elsewhere, whether for free or not. Speaking of which…

The second point is that these options – filter and monitor – are both client-side solutions – that is, they’re programs you install on your own computer. Some might prefer a server-side solution – buying your Internet service from a company which does their own filtering. However, devices with wireless access to service from other companies would still need a client-side solution (in this case, this could be removing the wireless capability from the device). Additionally, service could be surreptitiously purchased from a second company and used to access problematic content, likewise necessitating a client-side solution.

*

I am aware of a certain ad campaign urging people to buy Internet safety products rather than rely on free ones, with the implication that free products can be presumed not to be as reliable as paid ones – in common parlance, “you get what you pay for.”

To anyone familiar with the phenomenon of open-source software, this is ludicrous. Perhaps the readers have heard of such products as the Linux operating system, the Firefox browser, or VLC Media Player? They’re free.

One problem with K9 is that the Safe Search includes results that the filter blocks, which is very annoying.

It’s slightly less serious but still very relevant.

Depends if it’s pay-per-click or pay-per-view.

For those of you who would like an ad blocker for your phone and thought there wasn’t one.

There is.

Dolphin is a really excellent browser for iPhone.

Comes with an effective ad blocker that can be toggled.

Lots of other nice things about dolphin also

Have we noticed that so many of us are makpid on so many things, zman krias shema and tefilo, large shiurim for tzitzis, reviis for kiddush and havdoloh, zmanim for ending Shabbos, etc. Try Cholov Yisroel, Pas Yisroel, Yoshon, and countless other kashrus stringencies. Such a list of chumros can go on and on. Why is it that we, such high level machmirim in halacha, need any filter on the internet? Wouldn’t we expect to be risk free regarding such serious violations as getting into schmutz?

It is apparent that the issue is with the privacy that is perceived in internet use. No one watching. What about if all internet activity is under scrutiny, not by the NSA or some other government body (it already is), but by a chaver, a rov, even a therapist? The filter should always monitor, not just block. People can find ingenious ways around a blockade. But the risk of embarrassment is a far greater motivator. Rabbi AJ Twerski addressed this in an op-ed some time ago. He cried that the missing factor is Yir’as Hashem. Good point. The chumrah of the month club has no claim to it. Keeping mitzvos does not create Yir’as Hashem. Rather the midoh of Yir’as Hashem brings one to keep the mitzvos. We should not confuse the precursor with the result.

As a society, we have become obsessed with image. We always need to “look good”. This comes at the extremely high cost of building up our characters, to where our neshamos are true and holy, through and through. Just peek at the photos that are spread of every Rosh Yeshiva, Chassidishe Rebbe, etc., performing their functions of their jobs, participating at simchos and other events, etc. When when was the last time that viewing such pictures brought someone to a higher level of Yir’as Hashem or Ahavas Hashem? If we can insure that others think highly of us, then the image obsession has been satisfied, and we are free to privately satisfy our other desires and gratifications. Yes, we need filters. But is that enough to insure that our Avodas Hashem is that which HKB”H demands of us?