IMsafer - a good privacy/security trade off?
Dancho Danchev had an interesting post about an IM monitoring tool for parents/kids.
Now, I don't have kids yet, there is no reason for me to think about how I'd handle these things with my kids. I guess I'm some kind of weirdo to think about how I'll communicate with my kids in 10 years about internet predators.
In any case, the IMsafer seems to strike a balance that I would consider something reasonable for a parent and a child (assuming of course that it works). Apparently IMsafer monitors the IM conversations and only alerts the parents about parts of a conversation that might be suspect. That would be something that I'd be happy with as a parent. It would also allow the children to have private conversations about other topics without the parental knowledge, and that would work for me as a parent too.
I'm all about not pandering to children, and I believe that they should be treated like small adults. To those ends I think IMsafer works for me in those manners. Of course, healthy two way discussions with the offspring about internet predators and such is also a good course of action.
I'd live to hear more technical bits on the product. I'd especially like to know how many perverts that it took for the company and law enforcement to compile the metrics that it took to determine “you’re a good girl” is indicative of the building of a sub/dom relationship.