I stumbled across something neat for parents who want their children accessing the Internet safely.

Parental controls are nothing new, but the problem has always been how to run a Web blocker that was convenient for parents, difficult for children to bypass (especially by accident while tinkering), and reasonably effective.  Blockers running on the PC suffer from the problem of not blocking everything or being easy to bypass.

But the OpenDNS folks launched a new, cross-platform service that makes that simple.  And installing it is as simple as configuring static DNS settings: a piece of cake for even budding network administrators.  Removing it is just as simple.

The way FamilyShield works is by performing DNS resolution for you and your children. When you type in an address containing a domain name or click on a link containing a domain name, that name is translated into an IP address, which your computer then makes contact with in order to show you and your children that site's content. If FamilyShield blocks that site, the IP address returned is the IP address of the FamilyShield service instead of the actual site, and you see a notice that the site was blocked instead of the actual site.

However, like any parental control software system, it's not a be-all and end-all solution.  Your children will be exposed to objectionable material, both in the real world and on the Internet, eventually, no matter what you as a parent do.  To be truly effective, a parental control system should buy the time needed to raise children into adults capable of making independent and well-reasoned decisions about right and wrong, good and bad, and the whys of each. To be truly effective, a parental control system needs to be backed up by plain old good parenting.

This looks like it'll help.

• FamilyShield by OpenDNS.
• Set-up instructions for popular routers and popular computer systems.
• OpenDNS Launches FamilyShield, Free Parental Controls Service for Web - ReadWriteWeb [RWW].

DNS settings for FamilyShield:

• Primary DNS: 208.67.222.123
• Secondary DNS: 208.67.220.123

This is similar to their addresses for their general DNS resolution service:

• Primary DNS: 208.67.222.222
• Secondary DNS: 208.67.220.220