I'll Explain Why Software filters will not work!

I recently found Covenant Eyes

Use Coupon Code paulstechtalk15 and save 15% off your order!I really wasn’t sure when I heard this service, if it would be a very useful way to keep children from seeing mature material on the internet.   After all, If a child wants to do something they will find ways to do it.   I did however want to touch base on a few observations on why this will never work with some of the kids.   It might work with your kids but probably not all kids!

At first glance!

We see that in order to use this software, as with a lot of other software base monitor services, you will need to install software on the computer(s), Tablet(s), and all Cell Phone(s) you currently have possession of all.  Which is all free as long as you have an account with them.   I do find their methods a little questionable and I understand why it would be rather difficult to uninstall some of this but it just worries me that it will either slow down my Android device(s) or break something.   It is after all another program that I have to keep running on my devices to monitor what my kids are doing on the internet.  

Ownership of the Device!

This can be a bit tricky and could cause major legal issues if you do it wrong or if you do not own the device in question.   After all, the teen may get it in his head to avoid being watched by his/her parents he can just buy a Virgin Mobile, or Straight Talk Phone and not have to install that particular software!  This is one major reason why it wouldn’t work buying this subscription. It just depends on what the law says in your area if you can force your teen who buys a phone to install this software on their phone.  

Probably Easily by passable!

You can easily prevent snooping by using a VPN like Vpn4all to prevent anyone from seeing what you do online.   I am sure like any other software based companies they are utilizing a server to grab all this stuff you are searching and surfing habits.   I am pretty sure just using a VPN on your tablet or even cell phone would prevent the logging and keep people from seeing what you do.   This hasn’t been tested but it does make a lot of sense because in order for any filtering software to report back to the main user it has to be able to see what you are typing and searching for but if it is encrypted, it shouldn’t be able to.   I do not know if they install their own Certificate Authority but it maybe a way they try to get all encrypted data.   Although if it is encrypted before it gets sent out to the CA, then it will still look unreadable.

On a laptop or desktop, it could be as easy buying a USB Drive and installing Kubuntu or Ubuntu as a live CD and Thus they can do all their exploring of the internet without being watched.   The only problem about this is that you as the main Admin would need to password locked your CMOS and prevent any loading of USB or CD drive in boot up.  You’ll have to figure that one out on your own.   Each CMOS is different and there for it is a complicated process!

Reseting a Device!

This can be the easiest way to get that monitoring software off the system in the first place.   I can easily do that with any Android device and you can do a hardware reset without any administration intervention!  You can basically do this to all Android and IOS devices with no help from the admin of the device.   So it really could be a pain to use these types of services for kids who are shall I say AT RISK to do the most exploring.  I’ve pretty much told you everything that could happen if a teen wanted to not be monitored by their guardians or parents.  

As I’ve stated in this post, it is to show how someone could do these things.   I hold no liability if someone uses this information to do what was talked about in this post.   This was a way to open people’s eyes on how it may or may not help your situation.   Each child is different and thus must be judged accordingly.

2400 Baud -- A walk down Memory Lane!

Those were the days!

Some of you probably are to young to remember some of the stuff that I've seen and others probably know more than what they let on.   In this article, we are going to go back in time and discuss some of this that you probably don't remember or remember vividly.   Depending on old you are, this could be a walk down memory lane or you could learn something that you never knew.   Either way, you will want to share this with your friends and maybe they can learn something too.

What is or was a BBS?

Before we had the internet, we'd have to call a BBS [Bulletin Board System] and connect to the Intranet.   It was a way to find out information or play ASCII Games.   They had their own newsgroups through a network such as FidoNet.  Anyone who is old enough to understand this will tell you this was cutting edge stuff in those days.   I used to watch Star Trek and dream of some of the stuff they'd create in the future.   Well it happened and I am really glad I saw the first data pad.

That used to be the ASCII Art for Fidonet, but it has changed it still looks really cool!

Speeds!

Before we had Cable Companies and DSL modems we had 300, 1200, 2400, 28.8, 56k baud modems.   What we have now is light years faster than what we had in those days.  That was why we used ASCII Art all the time, it was way faster and we really didn't know how to do some of the stuff with HTML then like we do now.   Although loading images and downloading programs or files was a really LONG process could take up to an hour for a 10 meg file.   You'd also have to have a dedicated line to dial out on or by chance someone would pick up the land line and kill your connection.

My Old System!

When I first began using a computer, I had a TI-994a system man was that an old system for some.   It was in competition with the Commodore 64.  Each one had their uses and could be very picky with loading programs.  Some of them you used a TAPE to load the programs onto the system.   Again you'd have to be old enough to remember those days but it was nothing like we had with Hard Drives and available space we have today.   

I did this post because I was feeling a little nostalgic and thought it was a good time to remember some of the things we did then to get to where we are now.   I do hope you learned a little bit about old technology and hope you will share it for others to learn just what it was like in the early 1990's to 2000's.   

Paul Sylvester