Cyber Patrol
Reviewed by Anise Hollingshead
Published by The Learning Company

Age Group: Adults Type: Computer Toolbox Price: $34.95 US

Description:

Cyber Patrol is a net safety program that allows parents to limit what their children can see and do on the internet. It comes with a built-in list of banned sites, or you can customize your list of sites. There is a Chat Guard feature that prevents the passing of specific personal information (as listed by the parent in the controls) which is especially nice for parents with teenagers who love to chat.

When I installed Cyber Patrol, I was a woman on a mission. I popped in the CD, set the controls, then set off to see what I could find. The settings were as follows: None on the Chat, Filtered on the WWW, None on Newsgroups, and Filtered on Games & applications. The first site visited was MTV to see if it was on the HotNot list. Since it was accessible, it was evidently not on their list of banned sites. Then it was off to check the chat areas, where most of the attempted chat was banned, but the chat on Planet Girl and the Freezone chat (both kids areas) were both availible, even though the settings were for no chat at all. All attempts to reach newsgroups were unsuccessful, as were attempts to reach web sites with those special keywords we all know and don't need to mention specifically.

While I was at MTV, I visited Marilyn Manson and downloaded two film clips of him on stage. They were pretty graphic, and the background mentioned several unsavory things about him, as well. However, Cyber Patrol's criteria for banned sites is not about crudeness or lasciviousness, it is about specific words or acts as detailed in their manual. If there is a certain site that you don't want your kids to see, then you can add it to the list yourself. And that is what makes Cyber Patrol a good choice for parents, the ability to decide for yourself what your kids can see or not on the Internet. Let's face it, there isn't a software title out there that can completely censor the internet and we all know the best supervision is from the parents themselves, but having a program like Cyber Patrol can take some of the guesswork out of it, especially with the Chat Guard feature.

Features:

• HotNot list
• HotYes list
• Chat Guard
• Ability to add or delete from lists of sites
• Time limit

Technical Aspects:

Installshield did all the work! The program ran well after installation with no noticeable glitches.

Report and Conclusions:

I was impressed with Cyber Patrol and its ability to block so many sites. True, I did get on a couple of chats, but everything else was blocked that was on their list. And as for MTV, if I had wanted it blocked, I could have added it myself! I haven't really understood the criticism these types of software have received from some people, if they don't believe in censorship for their kids, then don't buy products that censor! And if they want a perfect solution, then they need a reality check, there isn't one. As long as there is ugliness on the web, there will always be instances of it peeking through when least expected. We just need to be aware of what our kids are doing while on the net and check up on them periodically, like we do in other areas of their lives. In other words, we need to maintain a presence on the street.

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