The newest release of Internet-filtering software Net Nanny has upped the ante by including a new, porn-free search engine with their software.
Version 5.1 of Net Nanny, from Internet search company LookSmart, is Big Brother software used by parents, schools and libraries to filter pornographic and inappropriate content from the Web, and it now contains a search engine.
“The biggest problem with Net Nanny 5.0 – and all of its competitors – is that it ignored Internet Search engines,” said David Kopp, vice president and general manager of Net Nanny. “These are the most powerful tools on the Web for finding pornography. Yet competitors’ products don't give parents the option of shutting off these engines in favor of a powerful but porn-free search engine.”
The Net Nanny search engine filters out more than 70 million adult-themed Websites by using semantic patterns, URLs, and keywords.
Entering a sexually-related term as simple as “sex” or as niche-related as “foot fetish” returns an alert that states, “You have entered a search term that may be a request for adult content,” and shows no results. Periodic updates to the filtering mechanism will be offered throughout the software’s lifecycle.
In addition to the search engine, Net Nanny is able to record Web sites, newsgroups, chat rooms and Internet applications visited, prevent the release of personal information, set time limits for Internet use, and block or monitor instant messages, among other things.
Still, while the aim is true – to stop children from viewing adult content – Net Nanny is not likely to be the end-all solution.
“It is certainly difficult to filter out all pornography, but that is one of the reasons that it is so important that parents teach their children to use a porn-free search engine – which has much more powerful algorithms for filtering porn than do stand-alone applications,” Kopp said.
