Category Archives: Internet Safety

Filter Your Home Network…for FREE!!!

OpenDNSIt is expensive, and often confusing, to filter your computers, tablets, and game systems for inappropriate material, especially when you have lots of devices in the home. Your children are at risk on any device that has a browser, not just the family PC.  So, how can you filter all these items in your home without breaking the budget or going crazy????

Easy!  You use a free service that filters the web at your ROUTER!

Continue reading Filter Your Home Network…for FREE!!!

Should Your Family Try the New Public Betas for Apple and Android?

Apple has recently announced the Public Betas for iOS 17, iPadOS 17, and other Apple Devices. This is in anticipation of the release of the “Gold Versions” (or “Release Candidates”) of these operating systems this Fall, probably in October. Likewise, The Android Community also has Beta versions of the Android OS available for testing. So, with Internet safety in mind, should your family try the new Public Betas for Apple and Android?

Continue reading Should Your Family Try the New Public Betas for Apple and Android?

Raspberry Pi Parental Controls: What Parents Need To Know

Between the Pandemic and increasing emphasis on STEM, many youth and adults are seeking to expand their tech skills. Many are using the RASPBERRY PI series of computer-on-a-chip systems. Middle schools, high schools, and even come colleges use them to teach programming (often called “coding”) as well as other computer skills such as hardware design and programming. Despite their small size, these are capable computers. It is important, therefore, for parents to be aware of the system’s risks, as well as its benefits. So, let’s take a look at Raspberry Pi Computers and Raspberry Pi parental controls.

Meet The Raspberry Pi

You can think of a Raspberry Pi as a “hobbyist’s” computer. The Raspberry Pi Foundation created it to promote basic education in computer science in schools, and in developing countries. There have been a number of generations, with the Raspberry Pi 4 and the Raspberry PI 400 being the latest. At its most basic, the Raspberry Pi is a single board computer. Unlike the motherboards in typical personal computers, the Raspberry Pi is TINY and extremely affordable.

First off, parents must know that the Raspberry Pi also does NOT run WINDOWS or macOS operating systems. It uses a modified version of LINUX called Raspberry Pi OS. (LINUX is pronounced “LEN-UKS”).

Here is the basic computer.

Raspberry Pi 4

This computer has the following features:

  • The microprocessor (the main “chip”)
  • 2GB – 4GB of RAM (Memory)
  • 2 x Micro-HDMI ports supporting 2 x 4K displays.
  • 2 x USB-2 ports
  • 2 x USB-3 ports
  • Gigabit Ethernet
  • WIFI (802.11ac, 2.4 GHz and 5.0 GHz)
  • Bluetooth 5.0
  • Micro-SD Card slot for loading operating system and data storage.
  • 40 Pin GPIO Header for experiments and connection to other hardware

And that starts at $35.00US. NOT BAD!

Incredibly, it is roughly the size of your VISA card!

You still have to provide a power supply and USB-C cable to connect to the board. It also doesn’t have a case, keyboard, or mouse, nor does it come with micro-HDMI cables. There is not a micro-SD card or an operating system. It’s just the circuit card. So, you have to supply the missing pieces, and that includes downloading the operating system package and installing it on a micro-SD card. Seems like a pain, but this is not a computer for everyday use (although it CAN be).

Don’t worry, a number of enterprising firms have created “starter kits” that provide everything but a mouse, keyboard, and monitor. For my investigation I went down to my local Best Buy and picked up the Raspberry Pi 4 4GB Starter PRO Kit by CANAKIT. It was only $99.99US and included everything I needed except for the monitor, keyboard, and mouse. Fortunately that was not a problem! The kit also included a case, a micro-SD card w/ the OS installed, and an on/off switch.

Raspberry Pi, LINUX, and Included Software

The Raspberry Pi runs a version of the LINUX operating system. LINUX comes in many different flavors and is extremely popular with corporations and industry. Here are some stats:

  • In 2019, 96.3% of the top 1-BILLION servers ran on LINUX.
  • By the end of 2017, LINUX dominated the 500 most powerful supercomputers in the world.
  • The ANDROID system built upon a foundation of LINUX.
  • Compared to Windows and macOS systems, LINUX is far less user-friendly.
  • LINUX is seeing increasing use in “embedded systems” such as digital phone switching, TV sets, and more.
    Source: Fortune Mobile Insights, https://www.fortunebusinessinsights.com/linux-operating-system-market-103037

So as you can see, if your child is going into engineering or computer science, a knowledge or LINUX could be very useful. The Raspberry Pi systems are a good introduction to the LINUX operating system which also allows some hardware interaction.

Like many operating systems, LINUX comes in different “flavors”, called “distributions”. While the Raspberry Pi OS is the primary OS for the Raspberry Pi system, it can use many other distributions of LINUX. For this article, I will stick to the recommended version.

When your Raspberry Pi OS is loaded and your system up and running you will see a fairly familiar sight: A computer screen with a menu button in the lower left, just like with Windows. This menu has a number of programs pre-loaded including TWELVE programming environments, including JAVA and PYTHON, two very popular coding languages.

It also comes with a very capable office suite: LibreOffice. And this is FREE.

Raspberry Pi Parental Controls

The basic package of Raspberry Pi OS also comes with an Internet browser (Chromium) and an email program. This is the major vulnerability. LINUX is NOT supported by the vast majority of parental control software. And the Raspberry Pi O install package has no Raspberry Pi parental controls included. The parental control solutions that do exist in the LINUX world are very technical and are mostly limited to web site filtering based upon web sites YOU input manually. Given the thousands upon thousands of inappropriate sites that we don’t want to expose children to, this is a cause for concern.

There is a solution. You can filter and control a Raspberry Pi by using network-level parental control. Examples are OpenDNS, CleanBrowsing, or (our #1 recommendation) CIRCLE Home Plus. These solutions only work for systems are in your home, on YOUR network.

So, what parents need to know is:

  • Raspberry Pi systems are a great way to learn coding and computer science.
  • Since they have a browser and connect to the Internet, there is some risk of access to inappropriate content/persons.
  • Easily-implemented safeguards are available to the diligent parent for filtering at the network level via products like OpenDNS, CleanBrowsing, and Circle Home Plus.

Resources

To learn more about what we’ve talked about, here are some useful links:

More Webinars Added!

We have added more dates for THE TECH-SAFE HOME Webinar!

This 4-part webinar is presented in 2 sessions:

Session 1:

  • Introduction
  • First Steps to a TECH-SAFE HOME

Session 2:

  • Defense In Depth (Software and hardware)
  • The Dangers of Pornography & Predators

Each session will last approximately 1 hour and requires separate registrations. And, I just lowered the price 50% to $10/Session!!!

Register NOW!

Monday, 24 August

Wednesday, August 26

Saturday, August

The GOTOWEBINAR platform will be used via your browser. Viewing the webinar on a small screen is not recommended.

Like our FACEBOOK page to keep up with more webinars coming in the next few months!

Who should you tell?
Email them this link to this blog post, now!

Parental Controls Review: Circle Home Plus

CIRCLE HOME PLUS is a combined hardware/software approach to parental controls that builds upon the previous CIRCLE WITH DISNEY product that came out in 2015. This new system improves functionality and addresses compatibility issues that the earlier product had with some routers and gateways.

The CIRCLE HOME PLUS system provides the following parental control features:

  • Location Services
  • Assignment of individual profiles
  • Assignment of specific devices to specific profiles
  • Usage reporting
  • Content filtering
  • Bedtime Controls
  • Time limits
  • Off Time (no internet access)
  • History
  • And the ability to PAUSE the Internet….remotely!

Let’s take a deeper look at CIRCLE HOME PLUS!

Continue reading Parental Controls Review: Circle Home Plus

NEW: Knights’ Quest Ministries’ Social Media App Quick Reference Guide 2019 is available for download!

Click the link to the left to download!

We’ve created a new Quick Reference Guide for social media apps. It provides a quick description and assessment of risk for children for roughly 40 popular social media apps used by children. Obviously it does not include every app!

Please feel free to share the file with friends and family!

Apple’s “Ask To Buy”: What Parents Need To Know

Controlling what apps your child uses is an important part of modern parenting. For those families where both parents and kids are using Apple mobile devices (iPhone, iPad, & iPod) Apple has provided a feature called “Ask to Buy”!

Let us take a look at this very useful feature!

Remember:

  • An Apple ID is required for each person you wish to add to “Apple Family” and they must be signed into iCloud and iTunes
  • Have an iOS device with iOS 8 or later, or a Mac computer running YOSEMITE or later.
  • Android or Windows Phone users cannot be part or an Apple family

Continue reading Apple’s “Ask To Buy”: What Parents Need To Know

HELP! My Child Hit A Porn Site! What Do I Do NOW????

Even with the best filters, etc., it is possible that, somehow or somewhere, your child will accidentally hit a porn site.

Sad, but true.

So, WHAT DO YOU DO???

Screaming, panicking, and ranting are not the paths to take.  You don’t want to say/scream things like:

  • “What they (the people in the movie) are doing is WRONG!
  • “That is NASTY!
  • “Don’t you EVER watch that kind of stuff, ever!”
  • “That is so SINFUL!

Fortunately there is a good, systematic approach you can take that fosters an understanding of God’s boundaries and the development of a healthy attitude about God’s design for sex.

Continue reading HELP! My Child Hit A Porn Site! What Do I Do NOW????

So, You Think You Can Trust Your Kids On The Internet?

Updated for 2024

“We don’t need to install filters, we trust our kids.”

“Our kids wouldn’t be interested in that, and know that it is wrong, so we trust them with their computers in their rooms.”

Those are two common sentiments that I encounter as I do seminars on Internet safety around the country.  Sometimes it is voiced by a seminar attendee.  Sometimes by the person on the plane next to me.

I understand their feelings, but I think that they are “trusting” their kids…
in the wrong way!!!

Continue reading So, You Think You Can Trust Your Kids On The Internet?