Shielding kids.BeNetSafe.com, which launches today, is an Internet-based subscription service designed to enable parents to track their kids' online activity within the social networking See social networking site. social networking - social network environments like MySpace.com, Friendster.com and conceivably, Utherverse.com. "Trying to monitor our own kids' lives online, we realized the need for a service that provided parents with critical information about what their teens are doing and who they are hanging out with online," said Brad Weber, co-founder and managing director of BeNetSafe.com. Using customized search technology, BeNetSafe.com can provide parents with information on individuals their children may interact with online. Their contact's friends, hometown, sex, age, body type, school, sexual orientation sexual orientation n. The direction of one's sexual interest toward members of the same, opposite, or both sexes, especially a direction seen to be dictated by physiologic rather than sociologic forces. , occupation and photographs are profiled. "We turn the data uncovered via our automated search technology into simple-to-read reports that demystify de·mys·ti·fy tr.v. de·mys·ti·fied, de·mys·ti·fy·ing, de·mys·ti·fies To make less mysterious; clarify: an autobiography that demystified the career of an eminent physician. postings on a teen's MySpace site, so that parents can easily see if their kids are sharing personal information with strangers and if someone inappropriate is hanging out on their site," said Michael Edelson, co-founder and managing director of BeNetSafe.com. Civil libertarians civil libertarian n. One who is actively concerned with the protection of the fundamental rights guaranteed to the individual by law: "Civil libertarians tend to assume such tests must be an illegal invasion of privacy" may raise privacy objections and the potential for lawsuits, should posted data prove false, would seem significant. Law enforcement officers, however, are on the same page. "BeNetSafe will be a valuable complement to our ongoing traditional law enforcement efforts to bring online predators An online predator is an Internet user who exploits vulnerable people for sexual or financial purposes. Children and the elderly are most often the victims of online predators. to justice," said Philip Rosenthal This article is about the television producer. For the columnist, see Phil Rosenthal Philip Rosenthal (born 1960) is a television person who is best known as the the creator and executive producer for the long-running sitcom Everybody Loves Raymond (1996–2005). , an investigator with the Rockland County Sheriff's Department in upstate New York Upstate New York is the region of New York State north of the core of the New York metropolitan area. It has a population of 7,121,911 out of New York State's total 18,976,457. Were it an independent state, it would be ranked 13th by population. . "It's truly a brave, new world for even Net-savvy parents An interesting business model note: BeNetSafe charges $9.95 a month to protect kids against sex, which is about six times more expensive than buying into sexually oriented sites. Everyone knows that sex sells; for concerned parents, protection from exposure to sex in the unregulated world of the Web may become an even hotter commodity. |
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