MICHAEL YOUNG  CYBORG9 -

So you would say then that there's never a reason to look in your kids room to see what they are up to? You should just "trust" that they are going to be "open and honest" with you? If the parents of the Columbine shooters had maybe just LOOKED in their kids' rooms - or checked what they were up to on their computers there would be 13 less children killed. But instead they trusted in open and honest communication and had no idea what was going on.

Most kids probably don't need to be monitored very much - but if you have any indication that your kids might be up to something dangerous then you should absolutely use whatever tools that you have to keep them safe.

And sure - maybe you could say that you have failed as a parent if they can't be trusted - who is perfect - and if you can point me to the parenting manual that will show you how to raise perfect kids every time then we should all read it. But the reality is that you can raise 3 kids exactly the same way and maybe one goes in a different direction despite all of your best efforts. There's no magic formula and the best you can do is figure it out the best that you can as they grow up.  
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KOSOVAR1  Busybody, control freak parent, more likely. How do you like the idea of government snooping into your private activities? Not such a nice feeling, huh, when it happens to you? Right, I thought so. But it's fine when YOU do it. And that MY NETWORK comment...isn't it a shared family network? Go get a life, super mom!

As for the right of anyone to buy a product to observe my keystrokes without my knowledge or explicit permission, well just let me catch them at it. And government should pass laws to severely regulate the creation and distribution of these kinds of products. No, they're more interested in whether we download a copy of a 50 year old movie, or some secret homeland security entity of the gov't is monitoring us themselves!  
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MICHAEL YOUNG  No it is not a shared family network - as it's also not a shared liability if "child pornography" is disseminated on it - it is MY network and MY liability - and MY responsibility to make sure that it isn't used for illegal purposes. Busybody? I don't hink so - just protecting myself and my children from doing things that come naturally and might happen to land them in an awful lot of PREVENTABLE trouble.

I guess you don't have kids huh?  
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DONMONTALVO  KOSOVAR1, are you a responsible parent?  
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CYBORG9  If you feel the need to spy on your kids to keep them safe or "in line", I'd say that you've done a poor job of raising them; what happened to honest, open communication? If you can't trust them, then why should they trust you?

Anyway, kids can always access "verboten" websites on their friends' computers (or other computers outside of your home) without you being aware of it.  
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MSWFUJOWDFFYC  in case of protecting a family network, you can setup the network (router...?) to allow only certain sites/computers. No need to log everything. Use a network-harddisk to have shared data and use a robust router. Create a restricted account without admin-rights. That's how you control your computer-environment.   
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KOSOVAR1  I think that MSWFUJOWDFFYC is right-on about limiting access to objectionable websites (as long as it doesn't limit your kids' ability to access a wide range of materials and perhaps to even to set up a shared-use volume. I knew my original comment would bring a legion of pseudo-moralists, snoops and control freaks raining down on my head. To them, I say YES, I am a parent and I happen to have a great line of communication open with my kids. I don't have to sneak around them and install hidden key loggers on our computers or feel I have to recast their developing minds in the image of my own. At 16, 11 and 9 years of age, I can say they have never let me down and they appreciate that I trusted them. If your own kid finds out that you've been spying on him or her in such a reprehensible way, you deserve to lose their trust. Just the fact you installed a key-logger to "snare" your kids says a lot about your own skewed morality, and failure as a parent. Another commenter was already right that kids who resent their parents authority are going to do as they like anyway over at the neighbors house.

Having said all this, if you want to shield your youngest kids (without snooping on them) I recommend OpenDNS, which will also protect everyone from phishing and similar scam sites. It catches about four phishing emails in my mailbox every month and if I don't want the 9 year old to be exposed to porn, it blocks that too. It is highly configurable too. Too bad it can't filter or block sneaky old busybodies though!   
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MICHAEL YOUNG  You people like to throw out the "failure" of a parent without even considering the possibility of other things. In my case - I have been arguing the legitimate use of this - I haven't actually used it or installed it - or even downloaded it for that matter.

If you think I have failed as a parent then so be it - that's your opinion. But consider this... I have 3 kids and I am a single parent - the kids lost their mom when my middle kid was 9. I work full time and have to do ALL of the work of raising my family. 2 of the kids have been absolutely no problem to me whatsoever and I don't monitor their internet at all. The middle child has very severe issues and some extreme violent tendancies - despite filtering (which he finds ways around) medication and therapy he still has issues. Did I fail him? I guess so according to you people - even though I do everything in my power to help him. So - even though I know that he has violent and suicidal tendancies I shouldn't keep an eye on his activities? I should what - either have him locked up? Institutionalized? With a little window into what's going on in his life I can actually help him before something does happen. Busybody - right... Leave him alone on the internet entirely? Or maybe just keep an eye on his activities and hopefully there's no sign that he's going to do something very bad.

Stop being so freaking judgmental people - life isn't perfect sometimes - have a little compassion.  
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SNOWWHITESICKETTE  A violent, suicidal teen might very well need to be hospitalized, to keep him from harming himself. When I was a teen, I knew a boy who ended up hanging himself. None of his friends knew what he was planning. I understand that your situation isn't easy, but a keylogger will only tell you what your son does on the computer. That's not really enough to know where his head is at. It may give you a false sense of security, and put off getting help for the boy while you still can. A brief stay in the psych ward beats dead any day.  
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