bodyType

customContents

entityId

entityUuid

articlePageQuery

filter

article

articleBaseAdvertisingInfoArticle

articleListArticle

articleSeoArticle

hooksArticleAcknowledgementGateOverlayArticle

hooksTrackPageViewArticle

hooksContentInterestArticle

articleLinkingDataContent

hooksAmpRedirectArticle

articleSchemaContent

liveArticle

advertZone

sentiment

contentLock

topics

types

sections

paywallTypes

createdDate

publishedDate

urlAlias

moreOnThisArticles

sponsorType

commentCount

authorLocations

authors

corrections

displaySlideShow

multimediaEmbed

printHeadline

seriesContainer

articleSpeeches

socialHeadline

headline

images

flag

firstTopic

glossary

flattenTypeIds

image

relatedLinks

relatedNewsletters

__typename

sponsor

pdfFiles

seriesReverseOrder

series

disableOffPlatformContent

published

updatedDate

summary

subHeadline

body

keywords

readingTime

customTimezone

liveContents

A new internet filtering service, Family Net, aims to help parents police websites their children visit. Child psychologists, however, are warning parents not to use technology as a surrogate for their own attention.

Promoted as a broadband service, Family Net is a software rental business, with subscribers paying HK$298 a year or HK$40 a month on top of a broadband internet-access service from its partners, PCCW and Hutchison Global Communications.

Its main hook is a web content filtering service to help parents block from their children's view what the parents consider to be websites with objectionable content

The software keeps a log of pages visited and gives parents the ability to control how long their children are allowed internet access and which websites they visit.

Parents at work will be able to log into Family Net and monitor their children's online activities, seeing in real time the sites and online activities their children are engaged in.

They will also be able to pull the plug on their children's access to the internet from work.

Professor Christopher Cheng Hon-kwong, from the department of Applied Social Studies at City University, said: 'I don't believe using technology to block out websites should be the way. Technology cannot be a replacement for parental guidance and involvement.'

Family Net is developed by a Chinese University subsidiary called Hong Kong School Net and private company Easeful Strategic.

It consists of a basket of services that, apart from web filtering, includes e-mail and instant messaging, while voice and video conferencing are available free through internet portals such as Yahoo and MSN.

Professor Wong Po-choi, from the Chinese University's department of Information Engineering and managing director of Hong Kong School Net, said: 'We want to promote the 'healthy internet' concept.

'The Time Control feature, for example, gives parents control over how long their children spend online.'

Family Net, developed to appeal to local tastes, is rich with flash animation, sound effects and cute cartoon characters to make interaction fun for families.

The content-filtering feature lets parents filter out more than a million websites, and Hong Kong School Net and Easeful Strategic have a team dedicated to updating the filtering list.

While most web filters available in the market are based in English, Family Net serves the traditional and simplified Chinese-character audiences.

Citing an internet usage study of Hong Kong youths by the Hong Kong University, Mr Wong said that 63 per cent of children 'are subject to no parental monitoring when using the internet at home' and only 50 per cent of youngsters interviewed said their parents prevented them from visiting undesirable websites.

The survey of 509 children aged between four and 15 revealed that many of them were more familiar with the internet than were their parents.

Eighty-five per cent said they were regular internet users compared to 41.4 per cent of their parents.

Mr Wong said Family Net would help bridge the 'digital gap' between parents and their children.

'Family Net aims to help families manage the internet environment, making it safe for their children. As many parents - more than 50 per cent as the survey shows -  are not at all internet-savvy, Family Net provides the kind of support they would need to help supervise internet usage for their children,' he said.

City University's Mr Cheng said blocking websites would only drive children to other means of access, such as from cybercafes or at a friend's house.

Worldwide, the subject of internet filtering has generated debate from parents, academics and politicians.

Ho Kwok-leung, assistant professor at the department of applied social studies, Hong Kong Polytechnic University, said there was little point in sanitising the internet as children found the forbidden apple that much more alluring.

'You can't stop them. They will just find a way out that will take them further away from their parents. They could go to cybercafes, go to a friend's,' he said.

As all filters available today rely on keywords, Mr Ho said children could easily find their way to 'more obscure porn sites or websites with content parents would deem objectionable. There is no way any of these companies can screen over a billion websites, many of which change daily'.

Mr Cheng pointed out that a web filter was 'a double-edged sword because it is direct censorship with a very broad brush.

'It won't be able to distinguish between pornography and sex education so it will block sites one does not intend on blocking in the first place.'

However, Family Net's Mr Wong was careful to stress that the company had many services besides internet supervision. The service will add to its portfolio e-learning such as online English-language classes.



Internet filters start debate on parents' role