Internet Filters Now More Critical With Demise of COPA, Says Net Nanny Provider ContentWatch, Inc.

March 30, 2007; 06:46 AM
Although it would seem that any initiative to protect children from pornography is a good one, leading Internet filter company ContentWatch, Inc. (provider of Net Nanny) has made a formal statement today in regards to last week’s federal court ruling that formally struck down the Child Online Protection Act (COPA). ContentWatch maintains that more work is still needed to get appropriate legislation in place that balances free speech and the protection of children on the Internet.

ContentWatch agrees that the original intentions for COPA were sound. The 1998 act makes it a crime for an Internet site operator to display pornographic material without requiring proof such as a credit card to prove the viewer is an adult. However, the shifting sands of Internet usage have rendered COPA ineffective in the years since it was enacted, court officials maintained.

“At ContentWatch we strongly support all three pillars to addressing pornography and protecting children on the Internet: Education, technology, and legislation,” ContentWatch President and CEO Jack Sunderlage said. “We applaud the Federal Court for supporting efforts to educate the public on the dangers of the Internet and for recognizing that the best means of managing content is through Internet filtering technology. As a legislative approach, however, COPA could only be applied to sites hosted within the U.S. Furthermore, the trends of social networking, sites that publish photos and video, gambling sites and chat and messaging programs are creating an entirely new set of Internet dangers for children and adults that COPA did not address.”

“With the ruling of the court on COPA, more responsibility is placed on parents and families to determine the appropriateness of material that their family will view,” Sunderlage maintains. “Equipping families with the best possible tools to keep their children safe and to enrich their Internet experience is the best strategy for combating the problems of pornography.”

Research from TopTenREVIEWS notes that the average age of first exposure to pornography on the Internet is currently 11. Among children ages 8 to 16, 90 percent have viewed pornography while online, and most have accidentally encountered pornography while doing their homework.

“We’re extremely pleased that the dynamic contextual analysis in Net Nanny (formerly ContentProtect) allows ContentWatch to stay ahead of the trends that are affecting today’s tech-savvy teens,” Sunderlage said. “Our product offerings include the ability to remotely monitor what’s occurring with teens when parents are away. Our remote reporting lets parents know what sites their children are visiting, how often, and how long their children are staying in the various sites.”

“Net Nanny addresses the time management aspects of Internet access as well,” Sunderlage added. “With our products, parents can manage the time of day and also the number of hours per day, week or month their children can access the Internet. We are continuing to commit ourselves to develop the technology, and to support the education and legislation needed to stay ahead of these trends.”

About ContentWatch

ContentWatch, Inc. is the leading technology provider of Internet management solutions for the home, library, education, government, and small/medium business markets. In January 2007, ContentWatch acquired Net Nanny, the most trusted brand of Internet parental controls, and is now merging that leading product with ContentProtect’s patent-pending technology to provide homes and businesses with the safest, most productive Internet experience possible. Most recently, ContentWatch has become a partner with Microsoft and Dell to provide Family Safe Computing technologies to keep children safe and secure while online. Based in Salt Lake City, ContentWatch has customers in all 50 states and 125 countries. For more information on ContentWatch products, visit http://www.contentwatch.com/.