According to research by the London School of Economics, whilst 57% of children have come into contact with pornography online, only 16% of parents are aware of this. Brightfilter is inviting all UK Primary and Secondary schools to spread awareness to parents of the need for effective web filtering.
As the new academic year gets underway, parents face a series of concerns about their children’s necessary access to the Internet from home - for research, school projects and general leisure use.
Whilst most schools employ network level filtering to protect pupils from unsuitable material online, many home PCs are not covered to the same extent, and do not deliver the same quality or control. This can be an additional problem in an era where children are frequently more computer literate - and familiar with the web - than their parents.
With this in mind, Bath-based web filtering company Brightfilter has launched a partnership project with the UK’s 29,000 primary and secondary schools, offering them an opportunity to introduce parents to one of the most sophisticated, new generation filtering products on the market. Through the scheme, letters will go out in bookbags and via standard school/parent information networks, offering information about the product, and free trials to parents.
According to Brightfilter Founder and CEO, Peter Hodgson, “A recent survey by the London School of Economics found that while 57% of children have come into contact with pornography online, only 16% of parents are aware of this. Children are protected at school, but they may be lulled into a false sense of security when they get home. We want to educate parents to the fact that a real solution exists to tackle this problem. In addition, the Brightfilter solution blocks access to identified phishing and spyware sites which typically attempt to steal personal data, even credit card and bank details to commit serious fraud.”
Although a few Internet service providers do offer some protection in their more expensive monthly packages, these solutions typically require a bespoked browser, can be complicated to set up, and require specific email addresses for each family member. Brightfilter’s creators believe their product is different. As Hodgson says, “You can set up Brightfilter in a couple of minutes, it works with all browsers and ISP’s and requires no technical know-how. Film censor classifications, U, PG, 12a, 15 and 18, are the default profiles so each child can be protected appropriately in seconds. Parents can choose unrestricted access for themselves, even on the same PC that the children use, and all users are protected from identified spyware and phishing sites.”
Brightfilter is a subscription service and is priced at £24.99 per year to protect up to three computers. Says Hodgson, “We already supply 10,000 schools in the UK with their network-level filtering solutions, and we believe schools are ideally placed to spread awareness to parents of the need and availability of high quality home filtering products such as Brightfilter”.
