Filtering Software - Additional Information   Some Functions Provided by Internet Content Filtering Software or Internet Service Providers' Value-added Services   Some Internet Content Filtering Functions Filtering software can filter out materials not suitable for children and youngsters according to their age and study needs Parents can set up for each of their children a personal login account and decide for them the items of content to filter and the level of filtering (e.g. maximum or medium filtering level) The most common categories of content filtering include: sex; chat; criminal & phishing; drug, alcohol & tobacco; gambling; hate speech; violence and weapons Some filtering software requires parents to input the age of the child concerned for automatic setting of content filtering categories and suitable filtering level   To establish an Allowed List or Block List Parents can establish a Block List, where necessary, to limit the scope of websites their children can visit. They only need to input the website address concerned, and the website will be filtered out even though it has been included in the database of allowed websites for their children. Parents can also make up an Allowed List to limit their children to the list of websites they assign or to widen the scope of websites their children can surf. For the latter, parents need only to input the website addresses concerned, and the children will be able to access the websites even though they have been included in the database of blocked websites for their children.   To provide monitoring reports on online activities Some filtering software programs provide the function of monitoring users' online activities. Parents may learn from the monitoring reports the list of websites their children have surfed and the time spent on browsing them.   To provide time management Some filtering software programs allow parents to pre-set the time period and the rooftop of the time their children can go online so as to help the children to manage their time.   Other Suggestions to Cultivate a Proper Internet Using Habit   Apart from using the Internet yourselves and installing filtering software, parents may consider adopting the following measures: Put the computer in the sitting-room (preferably right from the moment of installation) so as to make it clear to your children that they are to share the computer with the other members of the family. It also enables you to know better how your children are using the computer; Enforce the rules set up for the use of the family computer, e.g., rules in respect of time management and computer users; and Parents should know some basic uses of the computer and keep the passwords to the settings of the computer and the filtering settings confidential.   Top 20/12/2007