Community Magazine April 2012

O ver the centuries, there have been many threats to Orthodox Jewish life, but none seem to have presented as unique a challenge as the internet. Although recent years have seen a welcome explosion of Torah-orientated websites, as well as, of course, the other fantastic services, such as email, online banking, video conferencing, etc. the internet, is also undoubtedly a potential spiritual abyss. Since the problem was first addressed by the rabbinic leaders, the recommended defense was to simple stay away from the connected devices. But with the explosive proliferation over the past decade of business functions and academic activities that rely on the internet, many observant Jews are seeking ways to benefit from the internet’s bounty while avoiding its bite. To that end, we present a very basic rundown of some of the more popular filtering options available for personal computers and, as we will soon see, the free options are often as good as, or even better than, their paid counterparts. Microsoft Family Safety Nowmerged within Microsoft’s popular Live bundle, Windows Live Family Safety is a useful, and free, addition to your web filtering and monitoring arsenal. Customizable activity reports can be generated allowing parents to review their kids’ online activities, while inappropriate content – specific websites or categories of unsuitable websites – can also be blocked. A nice feature of the Family Safety package is its easy integration with Hotmail and Messenger, two of Microsoft’s flagship online products. Parents have the ability to limit their children’s e-mailing and chatting to only approved contacts, while blocking other email and messaging programs. This will obviously only be of use to those using these services, and can be bypassed by children if they are allowed access to open another email or chat account. Time limits and game restrictions also come as part of the bundle. The package is a build-on to the standard Parental Controls feature in Windows, and allows remote management for installation on multiple PCs. Safe Search Google includes an indigenous filtering capabilitywithin its search option menus. Safe Search filters out potentially objectionable search results fromGoogle searches and the setting can be locked. To turn on ‘Safe Search’, simply click on the settings icon (cog-wheel) once a search term has been entered, and chose the appropriate level of filtering to be enabled. Three options are available: no filtering (default), moderate, and strict. Once logged into a Google account (such as Gmail) users can lock Safe Search, effectively preventing other users of the PC from tampering with the settings. But while the text search filtering may be adequate, even the strict filtering of “image searches” will yield results that are objectionable by Orthodox Jewish standards. Net Nanny Synonymous with web content filtering, Net Nanny’s main products, Home Suite, Net Nanny for Mac, and Net Nanny, retail for $40 - $50. A mobile filtering platform, Net Nanny for Mobile, was due to launch earlier this year, but has not come to market for most common platforms at the time of writing. The latest versions of the software have addressed some fairly glaring glitches which existed in previous versions (most notably the infamous backdoor method of bypassing the filtering, whereby a user simply had to input “~backdoor” to temporarily disable the system), as well as addressing the concern that websites with social media widgets (such as the common Facebook “likebox”) were classed as social media websites. Some features offered by Net Nanny which are not found in free filtering products include the ability to dispatch alerts to the administrator’s phone when someone is trying to access an inappropriate website, as well as advanced time control features, allowing an administrator to control how long a user can access the internet at any one time. K9 Web Protection K9 Web Protection, from Bluecoat, has garnered a well-deserved reputation as the gold standard in free web filtering for Windows. According to the K9 website, the software offers the same level of content filtering as is offered to governmental and business institutions worldwide, but at zero cost. K9 is freeware (free software), and is downloadable with license from K9WebProtection.com The software works by matching user inputted category blocking to a web-maintained database of internet sites updated by Bluehost on an ongoing basis. A Safer Way to SURF DANIEL ROSEHILL 50 COMMUNITY MAGAZINE