CYBERcensor

"Where can we not go today?" This seems to be an all too common phrase among users of the internet blocking program CYBERsitter and other blocking software. For those who are a bit foggy on what internet blocking software is, it's a program that denies access to certain web sites. The original concept was used to block material such as pornography and other "highly offensive material" from young children that could not be monitored 24/7 on the net. CYBERsitter is a perfect example of what it has become now-a program blocking out any pages including ideas that are considered to be bad including pages such as National Organization for Women, pages on gay rights, pages about hate groups such as the KKK and nazis, etc. CYBERsitter also filters words out mail and web pages such as homosexual, gay rights and safe sex. To make things even more difficult, they encrypt the list of sites they block, so not only does the kid not know what they can and can't see, but the parents don't either. Until PeaceFire created a program that de-encrypted(is that a word?) the file finally allowing users to view the list of sites that they weren't allowed to view before. CYBERsitter and programs of the like have taken advantage of 90's parents who in today's world cannot watch their kids every minute of the day to make sure they don't visit any "bad" sites. Many parents purchased the product probably believing that they would be censoring out porno sites and would no longer have to worry about their children viewing "indecent" material. Instead, they were bringing a program into their home that would block their children of sites that can be valuable for educational values. Hate spawns from ignorance and this program is a hate breeder. Most of the things people hate or fear, they don't understand it. How will we ever stop the transmission of STDs if parents are using products such as this to block vital information that can help prevent in the transmission of AIDS and other diseases? After CYBERsitter's big scam if you want to call it that was uncovered, they began blocking sites that discussed how your program worked and how to de-encrypt. It seems that now CYBERsitter is blocking sites to protect sales, not children. Perhaps they should just ban everything...or maybe that'll be in the next version. At any rate, the programs such as CYBERsitter are blocking too many sites for stupid reasons. It seems like the program is attempting to protect kids from real life which they can't. Most of the stuff being blocked on the net can be found somewhere on your T.V. or probably even in your own town. So why try to filter sites? To make money. That is what CYBERsitter is all about about. making money. Not to mention that their CEO is an asshole. If you start a program, you can expect negative responses to it. Apparently CEO Brian Milburn from Solid Oak Software (creators of CYBERsitter) can't take criticism. Sarah Salls sent this letter to him complaining about Solid Oak's harassment of PeaceFire and the blocking of anti-censorship sites. He responded by mail bombing her account with over 446 messages. When interviewed by C-Net, he gave this quote: "Certain people aren't going to get the hint. Maybe if they get the email 500 times, they'll get it through their heads... If they send it to my private email account, they're going to get what they get." Gee, wonder what he has stuck up his ass.

By Sean X

Credit should be given where credit is due. Parts of this essay are direct out takes from a Peacefire email about CYBERsitter mail bombing. The Abuse Dangereux pic was done by Jerome Thorel CYBERsitter-For a Censorship Internet by Sean X.