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Dear Subscribers:

Here's our lineup for this first week of April:


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Online safety: The browser option

This week we put on our trend-monitoring hat to report to you on another major milestone we're seeing in kids' online safety. Thus far parents' options have included:

Next on the list are what you might call "super browsers" - software that combines the browsing technology of a Navigator or Explorer with filtering and other online-safety and -privacy features. This software is also a next-generation safety tool because, in addition to Web content, it's addressing the Internet communications tools kids love to use - email, instant messaging, chat, discussion boards. That's important because there's as much potential danger to kids in Web communications as there is in Web content.

Two products have come to our attention this past week: Activator Desk and Safexplorer.

  1. Activator Desk: 'Turbo-charged' browser

    Designed by software engineer Roger Heath, who has spent most of his career designing supremely simple software solutions for emergency medicine, Activator Desk is meant to be a no-nonsense, technically sophisticated browser + computer desktop that's easy on the hard drive (at around 4 MB, it fits on a few floppy disks).

    What made him go down the browser road? "I wanted to have a browser that's fun to use for me…. I'd always been disappointed in the browser technology that was out there. Netscape and Explorer were not that different from the original Mosaic. I ran a small ISP here [in Tulsa, Okla.], mostly for entertainment, and I noticed that connecting to the Internet was too hard. So I designed a one-click dialup, one-click disconnect program. Once I'd finished that, I began to look at the browser side." He began working on Activator Desk about two years ago.

    A version of it is available for downloading now, but Version 5, scheduled for launch in the next "30-60 days" (we'll let you know), is the one parents will want to wait for. [That's PC-owning parents; unfortunately, a Macintosh version is unlikely.]

    Activator Desk is a very flexible piece of software. In terms of online safety, it includes both keyword filtering and a "white list" database of 6,000 Web sites deemed safe for kids (e.g., no sexually explicit, hate-related, or violence-promoting content). All filtering criteria, as well as all sites listed in the database, are available to parents, and sites can be added or deleted. Even whole bookmark collections - for example a teacher's assigned sites for a particular unit - can be imported. The company's own updates to the database can be downloaded anytime from the server, but if a parent wants to give a teenager filtered access to the entire Web, the database-only function can be turned off (keyword filtering can be turned off, too). Free-email sites (e.g., Hotmail or Email.com), instant messaging, chat functions, and/or discussion board functions can all be turned off, together or individually. All activity of any user that is allowed - Web sites visited as well as software programs used - can be monitored.

    Activator also includes a time-out function for computer use or online time (or both). Roger tells us, "You could even restrict the use of offline games - Doom, for example - till 8 p.m., at which time productive, 'homework' programs only are permitted." Educators and multilingual families will appreciate the "Translate" button that links users directly to AltaVista's translation page.

    All functions can be configured for individual family members. Each has his or her own "account" and password (unlimited number of accounts are possible, but the home-use license allows for database use by six networked computers, max). The three basic settings are preschoolers, kids/teens, and adults; all can be customized. Each user can design the look and feel of his own desktop. Of course, this product will also be attractive to schools and corporations that want to control computer and Internet use.

    There are or will be some significant privacy features in Activator, too. Web advertisers won't be happy if this product becomes popular because it can turn off third-party banner ads, and the "cookies" they send (tracking your surfing patterns) can be turned off - the kind of banner ads and cookies that Internet ad companies like DoubleClick place in major news and health-related sites (see our report "Health sites' privacy flaw"). Roger says a later version will also be able to screen outgoing data such as credit card numbers, addresses, and phone numbers.

    We asked Roger why he thinks his product is better than filtering ISPs, for which he expressed some (not unsurprising) disdain. The obvious problem, he says, with server-based filtering (or "centralized management," as he calls it) is the fact that a child can simply put a different ISP account - for example, one that a schoolmate might have covertly provided - into his modem and use an unfiltered Internet service without Mom and Dad ever knowing. Besides, "I just laugh at centralized management," Roger told us, "because you lose the individualization. It's impossible for one system to cater to everybody's needs. It's much better when people control their own experience rather than handing control to a third party. Anyway, the server could go down!"

  2. Safexplorer: Beyond filtering

    Safexplorer, available right now, was designed even more with kids in mind. It too is flexible and has many of the same features as Activator (more on those in a moment). What stands out to us is the fact that Safexplorer Software Corp. has 12 full-time employees - teachers, reference librarians, and other child-oriented professionals - screening and adding 900 new "safe" Web sites to their 4,500-site database a week. The criteria they use in the screening process are:

    • "Sites must have educational or entertainment value. Educational value is based on the criteria and the organization established by the National Education Teaching Standards of America.
    • "Sites may have a commercial component only if they offer a significant amount of educational or entertainment material.
    • "Sites must be composed of original content and not rely heavily on referring links.
    • "Sites may not contain bad language, prejudiced or hate messages, pornographic or sexual content or depict violence."


    The software includes keyword filtering as well as the database option (disallowing access to any site not on the white list) presented in a Yahoo!-like directory; separate, customizable settings for ages 3-5 (includes profanity filter, for example), 6-12, 13-17, and 18+ and up to 10 passworded accounts; a time-out setting for online time; look-'n'-feel customizing by each family member; Web-activity monitoring; and a firewall feature to be added later this spring.

    Monitoring in Safexplorer is fairly family-oriented. If a child tries to go to a site not in the database, such as Playboy.com, the monitoring function records even the attempt. That record can be printed out for a parent-child discussion. In our interview, CEO Patrick Earle called it their "discussion paper" feature.

    One key difference between Safexplorer and Activator is that the latter replaces, actually supersedes, other browsers. It won't allow Explorer or Netscape to run (though Roger says it includes all their features and then some). With Safexplorer, Netscape or Explorer loyalists are indulged (a grownup user might use Netscape, while a child is allowed only Safexplorer browsing). Also, Safexplorer is definitely "fatter" - 25 MB for Windows 95, 15 MB for 98, and 10 MB for Windows 2000.

    We'd love to hear from you if you try versions of either of these products. Tell us what you do or don't like about them - via feedback@netfamilynews.org.

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Libraries: Community centers for the Digital Age

Librarians are wearing many hats these days. There's the age-old role of helping people pinpoint information among the many media delivering it (the Internet, in that sense, is just another delivery tool). But now librarians are also teachers (how to use the Internet); policymakers (acceptable-use policies for Net users young and old); "after-school program" administrators (for all those latch-key kids coming in after school); event organizers (book talks, Internet classes, poetry readings). The fact that this level of flexibility and public service is going on in many communities around the US deserves celebration - at the very least recognition!

That's what "Connect for Kids Day" is all about. Connect for Kids and the American Library Association have teamed up to stage this nationwide event on April 8 to kick off National Library Week 2000 (next week) and to spotlight all that's available to kids and families at their local libraries.

In "Keeping People Connected: Libraries in the Digital Age", Connect for Kids writer Caitlin Johnson says recent studies show that many Americans "are unaware of the programs public libraries offer, and aren't sure what librarians do or what skills they have."

Reading some examples of how libraries are "branching out," we couldn't help but be amazed at what's being demanded of librarians. For example, we read in Connect for Kids that "a survey conducted by [Los Angeles County] Library staff indicated that more than 3,900 children per day use the Library during after-school hours. Eighty percent come to the library to do homework; 20% are latchkey children seeking a safe environment. In one branch library, 65% of the children using the facility between 2 and 5 p.m. were not accompanied by an adult."

Librarians, we'd love to hear from you about your library's Internet experiences. Parents and teachers, we'd be delighted to receive comments and stories about Internet programs and policies at your local libraries. In what ways does the library in your community shine? How is acceptable-use policy development going?

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Web News Briefs

  1. Web-based effort to curb school violence

    In "A Chilling Wave Hits Schools", Wired News describes a program called WAVE (Working Against Violence Everywhere) now being implemented in North Carolina schools. It "allows students to call in anonymously or fill out a Web-based form to report on classmates who might appear depressed or angry - or who just scare them," Wired reports. Do email us what you think of this program.

  2. Free DSL

    Even though the service launched on April Fool's Day, FreeDSL.com wasn't fooling (we hope). Using the old ad-supported model, according to CNET, the basic DSL (digital subscriber line) connection, providing downloads three times faster than the fastest dial-up modems, "will be free as long as subscribers agree to keep a standard Web advertising banner on their screens at all times and allow their movements online to be tracked by a targeted advertising service." Faster connections are available for a fee. Atlanta, Dallas, Chicago and Los Angeles will be first, the company says, followed by San Francisco and Seattle.

  3. FAQ on Microsoft trial

    For anyone following the US vs. Microsoft antitrust case, CNET has provided a real service in its FAQ on the trial. The New York Times is helpful in explaining the unusual "shortcut" Federal District Judge Thomas Penfield Jackson is taking to get the case quickly to the Supreme Court. Reuters via SiliconValley.com provides the dates by which the US Justice Department and the 19 states involved in the case will propose "remedies" for Microsoft's antitrust violations. And Computerworld offers its opinion that everyone loses in the failure of the government and Microsoft to settle.

  4. TV for Gen Y

    For the far-from-passive viewers of Generation Y, TV works best when it gives them exactly what they want, when they want it - basically, when it acts like the Internet. A profile of MTV host Carson Daly in the New York Times Magazine shows that - by being simultaneously on the air and in person (with teen viewers right on Times Square), by having viewers on screen with you, and by responding to emailed and called-in requests while on the air (whew!) - you're not only a fairly remarkable TV host, you're demonstrating the future of television. Actually, you're demonstrating what "media convergence" means. We appreciated the insights this article gave us into Gen Y and what its members are demanding of media, and we think you'll enjoy it too.

  5. For the digitally daunted (audiophile)

    Could it be possible that audiophiles are somewhat daunted by the array of "toys" available to them these days - CD players, MP3 players, and MiniDisc players, and that's just players?! "Welcome to the confusion of the digital audio gap - where nothing is standard and everything is apt to change," writes Chris Oates of Wired News. His penultimate paragraph (of Page 2 of this very readable piece) offers some sound - if brief and vaguely unsatisfying - advice to audiophiles who happen to be technophobes.

  6. Credit card firms tough on porn sites

    It may not be politicians or conservative groups who "drive pornographers off the Net," ZDNet suggests, but Visa and MasterCard! ZDNet reports that the credit card companies have imposed stricter rules on pornography Web publishers, requiring them to keep their charge-back rates to a minimum or face stiff fines. "A charge-back is created when a cardholder refuses to accept a purchase on a monthly statement," ZDNet explains, "and - as a group - adult sites have traditionally generated high charge-back rates due to card fraud and poor customer service."

  7. Seeing what others seek

    We're not sure what the benefits are (if you know, please tell us), but several search engines now offer "live search display," USAToday reports. With it, you can "take a peek" at what other search engine users are asking or searching for at any given moment. CNET.com calls it "Savvy Snoop," Kanoodle.com calls it "Search Spy." Maybe, by exposing the thoughts of thousands of fellow Net users, it gives one a sense of community? Tell us what you think about this tool - or why you like it.

  8. E-auctions: Uncle Sam's watching

    E-auction fans will soon see some new protections built in to their buying experience. The New York Times reports that two of the biggest online auction sites - eBay.com and Amazon.com's auction area - have agreed to link to the Consumer Product Safety Commission's Web pages that warn buyers and sellers about "products that have been deemed hazardous, or in some instances even outlawed." Meanwhile, Reuters (via Wired News) reports on the latest investigations involving eBay.

  9. The 'gadfly' graduates…

    …to school technology. Back in 1995 the techno-literate technology critic (as well as author and astrophysicist) Clifford Stoll tried to deflate the hype about technology's benefits to society. Now he's challenging the idea that it has much to offer schools - and students - with his new book, "High Tech Heretic: Why Computers Don't Belong in the Classroom and Other Reflections by a Computer Contrarian." The New York Times interviewed him and put his views in the context of the education technology debate.

  10. Email and grammar

    For anyone following the debate on whether email has harmed the English language (or any other language!), the Associated Press (via USAToday) offers views on both sides. Some people say email readers can tell the difference between typos and misspellings, and typos are to be expected - and they like the "informality" of communicating quickly by email. Others say email writers are just plain sloppy. What do you think? Send us an email (you don't have to spell-check).

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That does it for this week. Have a great weekend!

Sincerely,

Net Family News

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