One of my colleagues has bought the new Windows SteadyState to my attention.
Oh boy! This looks like fun. Why do I get a bad feeling when an IT vendor boasts "set and forget".
It appears the bulk of SteadyState is just a nice interface to Window's Group Policy functions. That's good to simplify it, but group policies are a powerful tool that can leave systems in a quivering heap.
I'll be looking forward to having a look at this over the next week.
Monday, August 27, 2007
The Federal government web filter
The Federal government was always on a hiding to nothing with their free web filtering software. Some kid was going to crack it in ten minutes flat and indeed they did.
Any technology measure can be circumvented and web filtering is no different so it's no surprise a computer savvy kid cracked it. It's just disappointing these programs don't make it harder for the smart kids.
The difficulty with web filtering is that it's an incomplete answer. While it might protect kids from the odd rude word or dirty picture, it does nothing to protect them from online predators, bullying or other inappropriate behaviour.
No web filter is a substitute for proper supervision. I've said before that most important thing is to keep an eye on what the kids are doing. The first step is to get the computers out of the bedrooms.
I'm trialling these products over the next few days as we're discussing them on this week's Nightlife spot. I'll be posting some of my observations and findings here.
Any technology measure can be circumvented and web filtering is no different so it's no surprise a computer savvy kid cracked it. It's just disappointing these programs don't make it harder for the smart kids.
The difficulty with web filtering is that it's an incomplete answer. While it might protect kids from the odd rude word or dirty picture, it does nothing to protect them from online predators, bullying or other inappropriate behaviour.
No web filter is a substitute for proper supervision. I've said before that most important thing is to keep an eye on what the kids are doing. The first step is to get the computers out of the bedrooms.
I'm trialling these products over the next few days as we're discussing them on this week's Nightlife spot. I'll be posting some of my observations and findings here.
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