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A while ago, someone in my family (most likely my dad) installed this horrible parental filter called “Cybersitter” on the computer. At first, I wondered what the icon in the taskbar was, so I hovered the cursor over it and it said “Cybersitter”. I knew it was probably a parental filter, and I never really look at pornography anyway, so I didn’t mind.
Not long after that, I realized that IGN.com was acting really strange. I could go to the homepage and the other system main pages, but nothing else – none of the articles or anything like that. I was beggining to get really ticked off a day or two afterwards when E3 was starting and Nintendo was having their press conference, and IGN.com, where I go for video game coverage, was not working. That’s when I finally thought that the problem was probably being caused by Cybersitter. Cybersitter.com says all of this fluff like “Most children are more computer literate these days, so we made Cybersitter tamper-proof” but of course that is a bunch of bullcrap. I went into the registry editor and deleted the keys pertaining to Cybersitter.
All went well after I killed it, until just today when I got back from school. I guess my dad installed it again. I want to remove it again, but I’m worried that my dad will confront me about it and get mad at me. I can honestly say I am surprised that my parents would think I am looking at pornography. Cybersitter sends all kind of reports to the adiministrators email address listing the sites visited, violations, and stuff like that, so it does a pretty good job of “protecting” me, if that’s another word for “invading my privacy”.
Right now I’ve temporarily disabled it, but I haven’t completely deleted it just quite yet. I’m thinking of just deleting it again and then installing my own site blocker to block all pages with “cybersitter” and “parental filter” on them. :p That way, knowing my parents, they probably wouldn’t know how to remove it (and even if they DO know how, then that’s ok, as long as I can keep removing THEIR filters…) I’m tempted to do that just because I’m ticked off, but I don’t want my parents to get angry at me.
What I really wanted to ask is do you think it’s ok to protect my privacy? It’s kind of uncomfortable knowing that my parents can see all of the sites I visited, including the “violations” and my keystrokes. My age might make a difference here, because I am in my early teen years and therefore I am stupid and immature, so it’s ok for my parents to invade my privacy, right? I wouldn’t like to believe that, but I want to know what other people think about this.
I wouldn’t be surprised if I got some angry replies from this post, but oh well.
why not bring up the issue to your parents, show them specific sites that they wont object to, and ask them to modify it so that you can view those pages. if they understand what sort of pages you’re trying to reach and can’t, instead of just “deleting it” they can adapt it.
Well I have three kids oldest 16. I do not have filters although I had thought about it as I never seen it as invading his privacy but keeping him safe from others who like to harm kids. I am sure your parents are thinking they are protecting not invading but the important thing is not the program but the bond you have with them. You delete it once and pretty much got away with it. parents can over-look once twice well is another story and pulls hard on a trust issue and nothing worse then if they do not trust you or you do not trust them.
No your not a stupid kid in fact your a very smart young person who has issues but also feelings and you being a teen need to feel that your growing up and need a little roaming room. Not a thing wrong with that. want to get your parents to see eye to eye with you show them how much you have grown asking them to sit down with you.
show them how educated with the computer you are explain to them that your aware of all the dangers that linger in cyber world then ask them for some trust that you will come to them the first sign of trouble but you will never be able to learn if they wont allow you to get your feet wet. If you are honest and show respect while you talk to them they wont see just a child but someone who is ready for more resposibility. but after doing all this you must listen to them and accept their side of things because if you get upset and lash out they will continue to see a young child and you really dont need that.Ditto what Tigerblade and WilliamLee said. As a parent and teacher of kids around your age, what worries me most about their on-line time is not what they seek to find (who wants to see the nasty stuff out there? :sick:), but rather the stuff you might stumble upon. You never know what a link may take you to, and I’m guessing your parents are trying to protect you from those stumbles just like they protected you from running into the street, bumping your head on a table, the mean kid at the playground, sticking your fingers in the electric outlet and other dangers when you were more dependent on them.
Talk to them. Let them know how you use the internet. Let them know what you do if you stumble into one of those places they don’t want you to be. If it has happened before, let them know that, and assure them that you did the right thing then and will do the right thing if it ever happens again. Let them know you respect and appreciate them wanting to keep you safe, and you would like some sort of filter to keep the bad guys and images away without limiting your access to the places you need to go.
This is a big turning point in your relationship with your parents. They are allowing you to explore computer-land. And it can be scary (for them)! Open up a line of discussion with them and keep it open so they can see how you are using it maturely and responsibly. Invite them to join BBB 😮 or another place you visit to see what it’s like; and realize there are lots of good folks out there.
And about the privacy . . . nothing on the web is private . . . for anyone. And again, this doesn’t seem like they want to spy on you or stop you from using the computer. They just love you and want to keep you safe. What’s more important than that?
Are you the only “child” using that computer AwesomeSauce? If you aren’t then maybe your parents are trying to protect them more than you. Surely your parents must realize that you are far too computer savvy to be taken in by those creeps out there that want to harm children? Maybe your parents truly don’t know how much you do know about computers. If you get caught deleting “cybersitter’s” registry then you may very well end up losing all of your computer priveleges. You should consider approaching them and explaining that “cybersitter” is blocking some harmless sites that you enjoy. Then show them exactly what is on those sites. If they see there is nothing they’d object to there, then maybe they will do something to fix this situation. You are an exceptionaly intelligent young man. I’m sure your parents will listen if you talk to them the same way to talk to everyone here. Remember, in the end, it is their home and they make the rules. Time for you to try for a compromise.
Well first of all, I actually share the computer with my older brother. Perhaps my parents put the filter there mostly for him, because me and my sister have talked about the possibility that he looks at porn because sometimes he stays up really late on the computer, and he’s been having religious problems and some stuff related to that.
But I do realize that it is there because my parents care about me, and I am grateful for that. I think I sounded too harsh earlier. I love my parents, and I would never trade them for any other parents in the world. I realize that I will have to talk to my parents about this, like you guys said. I definetely do not feel very comfortable doing that, but I realize it’s probably the only way to keep their trust, so I’m going to accept it and not wait for some other magically easy way to get over it.
Thanks, people. 🙂 I’m still open to any other comments.
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