Tuesday, September 18, 2007

Tempting Internet Content

Hardly a week goes buy where I don't hear of someone in ministry who has resigned or been let go because of porn addiction. This is a serious problem, and it's not personal! We simply have a very smart enemy who knows what we respond to, and who knows that many will respond to the lure of online porn.

We Need To Do Something!
Maybe my faith is weak, but I believe this is not an area we can clean up. What we need to do is to protect ourselves and those with whom we work.

I just released an article detailing many of the ways we need to protect our computer systems and team members. This is one of the areas I spotlighted in that article.

Can We Talk?
Let's face it. We see this problem with both male and female computer users. We can filter web content, but the smart folks can figure ways around our filters. The best solution our firm has found is Covenant Eyes-- an accountability solution that works very well. It doesn't slow Internet use or access, it simply records every website a user visits, scores them, and lists them on reports sent to the user's accountability partners. There's no way around it, and uninstalling it sends an email to the accountability partners too!

Covenant Eyes took their name from Job 31:1 in which Job says, "I made a covenant with my eyes not to look lustfully at a girl." They are all about helping us in this area. And if you ask, they'll tell you about their special pricing for ministry teams.

I Implore You!
Please check this out and make it a part of your system policy. It will save lives! Really!

4 comments:

Unknown said...

Nick, I think you've hit on an important topic here, and one that's changing over time. Seven or eight years ago, we introduce content filtering as part of our solution and felt pretty good about things. We've cranked it up many times since.

Years back, when most of the world was dial-up, we didn't give much extra thought to notebooks. When the notebooks were outside our LAN, the risk seemed low. Now that WiFi is pervasive, it suddenly hit us that we weren't doing the protection for our staff when they were away! We've chosen x3Watch as our solution for now. Similar to Covenant Eyes in it's operation, but the price is really right!

A few months back, a new concern hit us. We've been deploying WinMobile devices. So far, we're not doing anything for content filtering there, but I'm looking for a manageable solution. Would love to hear of simple, effective, and low-cost solutions. And "simple" means simple to install and administrate, and hopefully invisible to the user.

Nick Nicholaou said...

Cellular phones and PDAs with web access are definitely the next hurdle in managing Internet porn. I emailed Covenant Eyes to see what their plans are in those areas and will let you know what they say.

Anonymous said...

Thanks for your comments about Covenant Eyes software. It is very helpful to hear constructive comments from our customers. It is good to hear more and more about others who are serious about the fight against temptation and impurity. God bless!

Luke Gilkerson
Internet Community Manager
Covenant Eyes

Anonymous said...

Hey Nick,
Thought you might be interested in the new video that Covenant Eyes just made. You may want to pass it on to those who could benefit from Internet accountability.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8ICTrHtUkx8

Thanks, Nick!