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Tools for Families
Tools filtering crime
These tools are designed to prevent access to sites that advocate criminal activity such as gangs, illegal drug use, and often activity that is illegal for children (though may be legal for adults), such as sites promoting the use of alcohol or tobacco.
Most of these tools will prevent access to most material of this sort, however none are fool-proof. A tool that uses multiple filtering strategies will limit access to more sites, but it may also filter out educational content. For example, software using keyword blocking to block the word "gang" will block out anti-gang sites as well. There have been reports that some tools block informational sites that address the negative effects of illegal drug use. Also, because many alcohol and tobacco companies promote concerts and sporting events, keyword filtering of the terms "cigarette" or "Seagrams" may prevent access to other sites or material promoted by those companies.
We suggest you check our tool search engine to see if the company publishes its criteria for filtering, its list of filtered sites, or the key words or phrases that it uses to filter or block material. You may also want to visit the company's Web site and seek out product reviews.
Remember: No filtering or blocking system is fool-proof. Parents will always need to remain involved in their child's online life. Kids will always need to know what their families' rules are and how to stay safe.
