In a recent post on Passionate Purposeful Parenting entitled Defense in Depth, I wrote about the methods we use to protect our children from the “wild west” of the Internet. The techniques I mentioned work very well for our computers and other devices in our home.
But what about those pesky mobile devices?
You know the ones I’m talking about: iPhones, iPads, iPods, even laptops. How can these devices, that can “roam” to foreign wireless networks be protected with equal vigilance? How do we ensure that the “wild west” doesn’t reach us when we’re mobile?
Our answer? Blue Coat Systems has made its Internet filtering software available for free. They’ve created a consumer-friendly parental-control solution called K9 Web Protection that’s based on their commercial filtering technology. Any parent can get the software for free by going to www.getk9.com.
K9 is available for the Windows and Macintosh computer platforms. Blue Coat has also made the software available for the iPhone, iPod, and iPad. The computer-based software can be configured using your web browser (Internet Explorer, FireFox, and Opera are fully supported). The iOS version replaces the Safari browser and filters web browsing on iOS devices.
The best part is that K9 is free for all platforms. You can download the computer software from their website, and the iOS version is available in the iTunes App store. Just search for K9.
We use K9. However, whenever we have it on it continually flashes a note on the right of my screen letting me know it’s on. It’s annoying because I don’t know how to turn it off. Do you happen to know how I can turn it off?
Stopping by from the Carnival of Homeschooling 300th Edition.