I’m no stranger to Web filtering technology. As a former geek power-user and current father of 10, family online safety has been an interest and project for over a decade. I’ve researched and fought with home networks and monitored and analyzed and put many programs through their paces. I’ve used BESS, Cerberian, WinProxy, and NetNanny 5.6 from Content Watch, which is a decent program. All of these operated in our Windows home network environment. I even bought a BESS proxy server and started a venture when no alternative could be found in rural Kentucky.
Then we bought a Mac.
What a rude awakening! Filtering options are limited in the Mac world. When I faced serious customer service issues with the most obvious choice (to the point of being afraid to call them!) I was motivated to search further. That was a serendipity.
The results: I found K9, from Blue Coat Systems, which now offers a robust filtering solution for the Mac. Better still, K9 (Mac or Windows) is completely free to families and home users. Highly recommended.
K9 offers an impressive, fully-customizable array of blocking categories, easy Web interface, usage reporting, email alerts of questionable use, a three-strikes-and-you’re-out option I’ve wanted for years, custom site overrides (permanent and temporary), P2P and IM monitoring, a safe search engine option that ensures search engines are accessed for the safest results, time limiting, anti-phishing, an online site rating checker (missing for NetNanny 5.6) and more.
Wow!
If you are a corporate or organizational user, you’ll need to buy a license (presumably after the beta period is over if you’re a Mac user) at a price not disclosed on the web site at this time.
Feel free to post your own experiences and comments about K9 here.
