I have a 12 year old and I walked into the room and he quickly closed the browser.

He had an "oh shit" look on his face.

How can I see where he was before I confront him about this?

Just relaunch the browser and look at the history file. Or, if he's cleared the cache and history files, just read the index.dat file.

You'll need an index file reader, but just google it, you'll be able to find a freebie reader easily enough.

Internet if for pr0n ffs, don't you feel like betraying the very geek spirit of teh internet Giena? :P

Kids will find porn, no matter how hard you try to keep them from it. If you don't know how to view the history file, your kid is gonna be able to get around anything you set up. For me, it was always a combination of key loggers and going to off the map websites. :D

Age 12....daily exposure to television and print advertising....provocative clothing being the norm for kids these days....opposite sex becoming something other than "yucky"....hmmmm, what could he have been looking at?

Doubtful he would be closing browser from his stock portfolio page that fast.

I read "Internet History" and thought this would be a thread concerning Al Gore. Maybe he was looking at Al Gore websites?

I read "Internet History" and thought this would be a thread concerning Al Gore. Maybe he was looking at Al Gore websites?

Al Gore Porn?

Ok, that made me throw up in my mouth, a whole lot.....

Not as disgusting as the words "Hillary Clinton Porn"

*retch*

If he doesn't yet know the art of deleting the evidence, I'm sure he soon will.

If its a real concern, and if you're not afaid of feeling like a helicopter parent, you could always get a program like e-blaster.

Its a hard dilemma. Most of us didn't have as free of access to the internet at that age, so it wasn't a huge concern to our parents. Times are differnt. While its important for parents to give their children privacy, the internet can be a dangerous place for them. With your son, he could very well have been looking at porn... he could have been looking at something more innocent (maybe he has a crush on a girl at school and was looking at her myspace or whatever 12 year olds use)... or it could have been something more sinister like talking to a random person on the internet that has told him "she" is a 12 year old girl. The problem is, without snooping, you don't know.

What lengths are "too far" when it comes to protecting your children? Thats for you to answer.

Some friends of mine have E-Blaster installed on their home computers. They've had it for years and their daughters are now 17 and 18 but they still have it installed. They caught them doing some things when it was first installed, and thats when they (the girls) found out about it. Knowing about the presence of it I'm sure prevented them from doing anything their parents wouldn't like on the computer. Thats not to say they weren't any trouble.. kids are going to get into trouble... just, none of it was internet-related.

On the flip side, one of the things that E-Blaster can do is send you all of the emails that a person reads (including webmail). The father in the family I mentioned used this and always browsed through the emails his daughters were reading. Personally, I felt this was kindof just being nosey and not allowing the girls enough privacy, seeing as how email is used as a major means of communication now.

I am not a parent, and am glad I am not having to deal with these things (yet). I don't envy those of you that do have to make these decisions. It seems like not matter what choice you make, someone is going to look down on you; Helicopter parent or not protective enough of your kids.

Eh, I've got no issue monitoring my sson to be childrens internet access. At 12, I fully expect them to check out some porn every now and then, but there is a difference between peaking at a Playboy and some of the truly raunchy stuff thats just as easily available.

Of course, its easy for me to say when my first child isnt even born yet, so who knows, my opinion may change once he/she arrives. But for now, if they're one of my computers, you had damned well better believe that I'm going to have an accounting of what they're doing. Not only for their protection, but also for mine.

Damned internet bullying!

I walked into the room and he quickly closed the browser.
Which room?

If he has a computer in his bedroom get it out of there ASAP.

Kids should only have access to computers in "public" areas of the house like the kitchen or the family room where getting away with less than desirable browsing activities can be thwarted more easily.

Even by placing the computer in a "public" area it won't curtail all of his online "experimentation" but it will help you limit it, and in the best case will allow you to talk to him about these more obscure (to him) subjects sooner rather than later.

Cheers,

You can also configure your router (if you have one) to block access to anything you don't want your kids accessing like myspace, etc.

But then it's a pain when Bise wants to browse the same sites!!

Nah you can specify it by IP :)

Okay :) found a few things out. He was actually looking at "pick up lines". I asked him what was up and he said he wanted to ask an 8th grade girl to the next dance (he is in 6th so the boy has more balls than I did at his age).

Also, we have a computer "room" so the PC's are out in the open. So that was a very valid question to ask.

Heaven only knows what trouble I would have been in when I was a kid. Luckily for me Gore didn't event the internet until much later.

We had dirty phone calls where you could call up and listen to a recorded chick making noises ... we ran the phone bill up in the coaches office to over 1 grand :)

All is well that ends well. I trust you then tutored the young padawan in the great art of pick up lines?

Luckily for me Gore didn't event the internet until much later.



I was thinking about this yesterday. If Al Gore invented the Internet, Was Bill Clinton the first person to look up porn in it?

All is well that ends well. I trust you then tutored the young padawan in the great art of pick up lines?

Well my suggestion was to just politely ask and not the one " Are you from Tennessee? Cause your the only 10 I see"

I also told him that know everywhere he goes on the internet and can read everything. A bluff on my part :)

You hear the one about the 4 ton polar bear? It broke the ice.