As part of my work and a class I taught at Berean Baptist Church, I've assembled some materials on Internet Filtering and Internet Accountability software.
The following are products I have either reviewed, use, or have been recommended to me by trusted sources.
Filter Software
- www.safeeyes.com and www.besafe.com are recommended based on Christian leaders meeting with those who produce and promote them. I have no personal experience with these two products yet.
- www.scrubit.com : Provides a free DNS service, usable on your main cable modem router or DSL modem in most cases. I use this one.
- www.getk9.com : K9 Web Filter by Blue Coat. This is a realtime proxy which looks up sites on the fly. It doesn't need to download a large blacklist. It isn't bulletproof by any means (there are hacks around it), but to prevent inadvertant viewing it's great. I use this on a couple machines in addition to ScrubIt.
- www.dansguardian.org : Free, but requires a lot of work to set up. It's for the Linux geek. Our church uses this filter.
- www.bsafehome.com : Not free, but very popular and recommended very often in the media.
- www.integrity.com : Not free. Recommended often.
Accountability Software
- www.x3watch.com : Provided free by the controversial "triple X church dot com" organization. It does work well. My wife and I use this one.
- www.covenanteyes.com : Not free, but very highly recommended.
Monitoring Software
These are not cheap, but they're rather effective if you suspect problems already exist. Please keep in mind the ethical, moral, and legal ramifications of using this software.
- www.spectorsoft.com : Provides several monitoring products at prices from $70 to $100, but that's a one-time purchase price, not a yearly fee.
- www.pctattletale.com : NOTE I have NOT reviewed this myself yet. $50, but may have a free trial version.
Anti-Virus and Anti-Spyware