Good keylogger for spying on children?

I live with my ten-year-old niece and I'm worried she's going onto websites she has no business on (I'd tell her parents about it but they're less computer literate then she is). I'd like to install a keylogger to make sure she's not say talking to strangers but I'm paranoid and don't trust any of them to not phone home to a server. Could someone recommend to me a keylogger that they can vouch for? PS: I apologize in advanced if this isn't the right forum for this.

 

I don't think it is appropriate for parents/guardians to spy on their children.
Most/many AVs detect commercial keyloggers, or at least they should.

What about the issue of trust ? If the kid finds out, there's no going back.
You don't install a hidden camera in her room, or near the playground, do you ?

Why would you relinquish supervision for spyware ?

If you think the kid cannot be trusted to access the internet without supervision, then don't let her use the internet !

There are some more respectable things to restrict the kid's access, like parental controls, certain filters etc. (I don't know much about them since I don't have any kids)

This post was not intended to be disrespectful.

 

Instead of spying on your children (which in my opinion is wrong) you should set boundaries (which is completely normal). Services like OpenDNS allow you to restrict access to certain categories of websites.

 

Fly and Elapsed - Absolutely right, especially:

Spying on a kid is one sure way to push him/her to resentment, disillusionment and vulnerability...

philby

 

I agree with Fly.

Although I don't have children, reading about their personal lives could really do your head in as a parent.

You'd be better off mentioning the 'problems' that can occur, from messaging, emailing, unknown people on facebook, unknown people contacting them etc.

I read an article recently someone posted here, and it said how keyloggers aren't stopping the behaviour if the person/child doesn't know it exists.

And even if you confronted the child, there is no stopping this person from logging on to a friend's computer, or friend's laptop while at school and engaging in the same behaviour.

Maybe I will think differently one day, if something 'threatening' was about to happen, it all depends on the situation, but I'd just research some examples, some stories from people engaging in certain behaviour, and say to the kids, 'look, this is what can happen, there are some sick people out there'.

Besides, installing a keylogger on a system someone else uses, say another adult, you might get the shock of your life seeing what another adult gets up to. You might not look at them the same way again. Best not to know!

Research what elapsed mentioned, OpenDNS, much more effective: http://www.opendns.com/

 

I appreciate the advice. I'll have to check out OpenDNS; at least I wont feel like as much of a jerk using that.

 

OpenDNS is excellent.

I have "locked down" IE8 with it and my 6 year old enjoys the "good v bad" idea of avoiding the crap to be found online. He already has an avatar and an alias and understands to never give his name or anything.

He also accumulates internet time-credits if he doesn't click on banners and controls the tabs he has open.

I think your concern for your niece is great - why not surf around with her and help her see both the meadows and the mine-shafts?

This might be of interest.

philby

 

What are the best keyloggers available?Leave alone spying children,they may be used many differnet purposes.

 

GOatfish,
what OS are you using? Vista has great parental controls- I have a different account set up for each of my children. I talked with my kids before I used them, explaining what they did and why I wanted them to be used. They were ok with it- no arguements and no loss of trust.

 

Thanks, that site looks promising.

Her computer runs XP SP3 Home Editon

 

also concider K9 web protection

its free and its meant to be very good.

 

One I have used is SpectorSoft, but that was years ago.

I would like to state, not debate, that there are those who would spy. And have no problem doing it. And I am one of them. I am the one responsible for the upbringing of my children. For what they are exposed to. For teaching them right from wrong. If they are young, and still impressionable, I find no cause not to spy on them. I could stand over thier shoulder or I could let software do it for me. But as they approach teen years, it becomes as you say, more of an issue with them.

I remember what it was like to be a kid. Just because your parents say you should not does not mean you won't. My oldest if I were to do this, would know about the software. I would just tell him, you are being monitored. He can then take the responsibility for his actions, and I still have some teachable moments without him rebelling.

As for the young ones, which I have 2 under 10, they have no choise in the matter. If they want to text or facebook (which i don't like) or any other such 'community' event, I am going to watch. I don't see the point in them learning things that they should not, especially at that age, that I don't know about.

But the point is well taken, that spying behind thier backs can certainly lead to resentment and cause many problems. One has to ride a fine line between still being thier parent and mentor while also giving them that freedom that they need to develop.

I have no idea of SpectorSoft phones home or not, as I have not used it in some time. Personally for me I use ipSec rules and router configs to limit where my kids go mostly. But as the social networking becomes more thier thing, I will have to consider a way such as keylogger etc to monitor them from time to time.

Being a parent definately did not come with a handbook, so we all wing it in the way we think is best. And that is for the best lest the family police tell us what to do, say and think as well as teach.

This is just an opinion, nothing else. You might disagree which is fine.

Sul.

 

More than resentment or any kind of reaction like that, I think it just sets a bad example. It's doing something dishonest. IMO, would be much better to use a more subtle approach like OpenDNS and just block content, or just outright discuss with them and develop some trust. Just another opinioin.

 

Yeah, I agree with that. If I am going to do that to my older kid, he will know about it. Behind the back stuff indeed does not set an example I want to set. Not so much a trust factor from my experience as a judgment factor on a childs part. If you discuss and explain the situations (which you should) are they mature enough to make the right judgement call? So far, my kid does maybe 80% of the time. While you don't want to rule thier lives and not let them learn from thier mistakes, at the same time they are still developing and I believe it is my job as a parent to help them. It is so touchy though when they start the teenage years and want thier own 'personal' space.

The problem I see comes when they use some sort of social network or IM, if the parent allows that. Restricting websites is easy. It is the chatting and similar actions where a child can meet anyone, and be exposed to anything. I guess that is more in lines with what I would use logging stuff for rather then if they go to a bad website or something. I don't believe in totally sheltering them until they are 18, but I also know the kind of things they can be exposed to both online and offline. Shoot, I even know peeps whose kids have been sending rather 'mature' content over thier cell phones. Can't cover all the bases all the time, but you can try to control the ones you do have access to.

Of couse though with my kid, he has been around computers for too long already. He is now playing with html. I suppose it won't be long that I can really restrict him anyway with his knowledge.

How does that saying go, opinions are like harse-wholes, everybody has one lol

Sul.

 

Good free blocking without the spying.

 

Try Norton Online Family. Its free till Jan.2010.
http://onlinefamilywelcome.norton.com/

You can monitor, limit and guide your child with this.

 

K9 has good spying capabilities . By default it logs each and every visited web site no matter if it is blocked or not .

 

Very true.

 

Their is nothing wrong with Monitoring underage children's online activities, this just shows that you care about her and her wellbeing, I mean come on, the INTERNET is so full of pedophiles and creeps its not even funny!

This is not your child, her parents need to be informed, you will need to get permission from her parents first if you are going to install a keylogger on her computer Period...

You can easily add the keylogger to the white list of your security application by approving its activity when you get a popup window that asks for permission for the app to run!

I don't really understand what your afraid its going to send? but OK?

Keyloggers only phone home to a server when activating the product, or checking for updates, they do not send any personal information wile calling home besides your registration details and the version of the software, DO NOT use any keylogger from any warez site Period, as the keylogger may be setup to monitor you and send logs to some hacker, I would go into this subject further but, please just take my word for it..

Alternatively You can obtain logs from your isp, Or like the above post said Use OpenVPN to log/monitor and block sites visited...

OpenVpn is a best first step to see what sites are visited, and you can also use it to block certain sites too, Keyloggers are used to get into details, they all vary, and some only log keystrokes wile others like spector pro will log every detail of activities, but spector being the best of all keyloggers in my opinion, can be expensive, and on older machines with low cpu/ram it can slow the machine down to a halt..

Anyways here is a site to some of the Best Keyloggers available on the net!

http://www.keylogger.org/


keylogger.org DISCLAIMER: Logging other people's keystrokes or breaking into other people's computer without their permission can be considered illegal by the courts of many countries. The monitoring software reviewed here is ONLY for authorized system administrators and/or owners of computers. We assume no liability and are not responsible for any misuse or damage caused by the keylogging software. The end user of this software is obliged to obey all applicable local, state, federal and other laws in his country of residence.