Controlling or even monitoring what your children see on the Internet was never going to be easy. Not surprisingly there are many Firefox parental controls available in the form of add-ons for the browser to make it easier to keep tabs on where your kids are surfing or to restrict them from visiting sites that you deem inappropriate. Here are five of the better content filters available for Firefox, and they are all very easy to set up. Hey, you’re paying the bills.
Except as noted, these extensions are all free of charge with appeals for donations.
The FoxFilter add-on you a choice of using either custom keyword filters to block inappropriate content or block specific sites that you designate. Comes with a list of porn related keywords. Many children are computer-savvy enough to uninstall/reinstall a Firefox extension so there is password protection.
$10.00/per year for the deluxe version (no ads).
Glubble for Families: this extension is probably appropriate for families with younger children, as it involves making a “family page”, which is private, that lets you stay on top of the sites that your children are visiting, and approve or disapprove sites. It features photo upload/sharing functionality called the Family Photo Timeline, as well as chatting and games. Glubble also uses Ask for Kids, a search engine designed for children.
ProCon Latte: this add-on gives you two ways to filter Internet content. First, it replaces inappropriate words with asterisks, although it does not by default block access to sites containing these words. For that however, you can use ProCon Latte to set either a blacklist, which will block specific sites that you designate, or a whitelist, with which you specify only sites that may be visited. Note that you can use this extension to block any kind of site (gambling, etc.), not just porn. A password is required to change settings.
LeechBlock is interesting because it’s designed to do a lot more than block children’s access to objectionable websites: it’s to help you block your own access! If you find yourself updating that Facebook page every five minutes you can use Leach blocked to create sets of sites that do not want to be able to access, specifying dates and times of day when you want to deny access. If you’re unable to quit entirely during these periods, you can even designate an amount of time each hour where access is allowed. It’s probably a productivity tool as much as a Firefox parental control tool.
BlockSite is designed to remove the option of visiting certain websites entirely. You can also use a wildcard character to restrict access to sub-domains as well. If you stumbled across links to these sites while you surf this plug-in will disable the hyperlinks, leaving only text. You may also import a list of undesirable sites that you want to block. Block site is currently being updated for use with the most recent version of Firefox.
Parental controls for Firefox are a first, easy step toward having some say in the internet content your children consume, if it’s your browser of choice. If you have a Firefox add-on that I’ve missed, please let me know in the comments.
