Network and Kids

Mongose101

Limp Gawd
Joined
Jan 18, 2001
Messages
465
I have 4 computers networked up (Win XP Pro) my question is, Is there anyway to track where the kids go on the net, Log IM usage and the like? Not that we don't have trust, but it would be nice to see there ain't some men/boys try'n to talk our 14 year old girl into things. anyhow the wife has been ask'n me to log this stuff and I am just unsure what is possable.

Mongoose
 
have your kids use trillian as their instant messenger client. that automatically keeps a log of every conversation that they take part in.

or there are usb devices that you plug into the back of your computer and that keeps track of what they type
 
I think she is using Yahoo messenger or it could be MSN...


The USB thing sounds kinda cool.. any links to one?
 
Mongose101 said:
I think she is using Yahoo messenger or it could be MSN...


The USB thing sounds kinda cool.. any links to one?

Trillian supports all the major networks, MSN, Yahoo, AIM, ICQ, etc. At least they do when the companies aren't trying to block them. :) Seems to work well though.
 
j4zzee said:
These two got good reviews in a PC Mag review:
http://www.cybersitter.com/
http://www.spectorsoft.com/products/SpectorPro_Windows/index.html

Um... don't feel bad spying on your kid's online sessions. Someone needs to look out for them; all of the crazies, pedophiles, and pornographers out there won't do it. Just tell them upfront you will now be monitoring all internet activity and that you truly care about their well being... tuff luv stuff

Monitor the hell out of 'em, its your job. :) If more parents did, then we'd have less crappy kids. :)
 
Thanks For the Links!

Looks good, have to show the wife.. I think it would be well worth the money..

Mongoose
 
For chat purposes, Trillian works well, you can log everything there and periodically grep through for suspcious phrases - or just read the whole thing.

For web surfing, I'd say to set up a Linux/BSD machine as a local proxy, run Squid on it, and log what activity your kids do - you should be able to set up logging based on what machine it comes from, that kind of thing. Then you can go over the logs later and see what they're up to.
 
There's this useful buddy which is about as unobtrusive as it gets for logging keystrokes on a child's PC. Easily swaps from one PC to the next and requires ZERO software!

I also second trillian for logging chat, however - you get to see the entire conversation they have with people. Then you lock the log files down and give them only read/write access, not delete access, and disable their user accounts from listing the contents of the log directories.
 
aside from the montoring solutions, you can edit the hosts file of her pc if you check i.e. history (or better yet firefox history) and don't like what you see...
 
I went with Eblaster and I must say, this is a nice little program. It cost a bit though, but it was easy to use and set up, and it's doing what we needed.

Thanks for all the help!

Jim
 
or you could trust your kids and not spy on them. Good morals taught in the beginning and you wont have to wonder what they are doing online
 
twest17 said:
or you could trust your kids and not spy on them. Good morals taught in the beginning and you wont have to wonder what they are doing online
That'd be fine if we were talking about adults. But kids haven't gotten their decision-making process sorted out yet. Good kids make bad choices; it's always been true. And especially teenagers, who generally don't think of the consequences of their actions, or think of themselves as indestructable. Wouldn't a better option be to actually be a parent, and take the time to see what your kids are doing?
Don't listen to this person...I applaud you.
 
OldPueblo said:
Monitor the hell out of 'em, its your job. :) If more parents did, then we'd have less crappy kids. :)

quoted for great justice :)


edit
see post below too for moar justice
 
Just a question to play devil's advocate: Do you plan to record their phone conversations?
 
On my network here, I run a linux gateway with a transparent proxy ( squid ). Nothing is masqueraded, so if it goes out, it's gotta be through the proxy.

That said, there was a thread about this in General Software a couple weeks ago. Someone had a good suggestion: Log their chats, and make sure they are aware of it. And tell them that you will only look at the logs in case of an emergency.

Drill your kids about the dangers out there, repeat it everytime you see them online, until they are so sick of hearing you they get off the computer when you come by. And trust them. You will not be able to protect them from everything or everyone, not any more. They are already too old for that. Your only real option is to make sure they understand the dangers and trust them to make the right decision.

Think about it like this: They know you read their chat logs. They will work out a way to get around what ever measures you put in place, or their friends will tell them. And it'll be a constant battle to keep up with them, and one you will eventually loose.

Or worse: They don't know you read their chat logs, but then find out somehow down the road. God, you are in for a shit fest then.

I've thought long and hard on this subject, being a geek father of a daughter ( granted, she's only 6 months right now ).
 
No I do not plan on tap'n the phone, But on the phone she knows who she is talking with.
 
Hm... how smart are your kids? If my parents said they were monitoring my chatting I would just edit the log or something. If you are blocking websites this is easily avoided. Some kids in our school were looking at porn by using an image search on google.
 
Ibanez3434 said:
Hm... how smart are your kids? If my parents said they were monitoring my chatting I would just edit the log or something. If you are blocking websites this is easily avoided. Some kids in our school were looking at porn by using an image search on google.
yeah, all you have to do is search the url you want to see with google then click view cached page, and nothing blocks that, so we would do that all the time in school to look at sites like newgrounds, college humor and spark notes :)
 
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