Guarding our hearts and our internet connections

I've appreciated Pastor Scott's admonition over the past three years for us to guard our hearts and in particular guarding them in the area of our internet connections. Matthew's (5:29 and 18:9) pretty clear in describing how seriously we're supposed to treat this stuff - a good reminder for all of us.

At Grace, we take it seriously employing a content filter that's tight enough that it's a nuisance at times, but it's worth the trade off. Not perfect by no means, but we restrict access and track usage. We recently switched from using SurfControl to using St. Bernard's iPrism if you're interested. I've gleaned a lot from working with these companies. One, their databases of sites to be blocked change daily, if not minute by minute. Two, I appreciate their willingness to deal with smut day-in and day-out to protect all of us. Since they often take control of my workstation to troubleshoot problems during tech support calls, I inform them that I've turned off my monitor and to alert me when I can turn it back on while they test if the filter's working etc. They understand when I explain I work at a church and Christian school, but chuckle at how they have to deal with the junk daily and get paid to hip wade in the filth. Another tip I picked up - to test if our filter is working okay, rather than using an explicit site, I use guns.com as a test. It's blocked under the same policy as the explicit stuff, but the guns.com site doesn't run the risk of any elicit pictures coming up on my screen.

With all of that I've been surprised at the number of other organizations that I've had contact with in the past year that don't seem to take a high stance on this. Some don't use a filter at all, others use a filter but never monitor the activity. It takes time, is a nuisance and can be embarrassing to track and at times confront users who are attempting to reach inappropriate sites. It happens and we have to deal with it.

What about at home? I've heard of two products used by several families that they've found successful, if you're looking for resources:
Bsafe Online
Cyber Sentinel
I mention these for the benefit of any readers that don't know where to start in addressing this for their home use - don't take this as an endorsement.

Just like the security system on our houses, locks and deadbolts, these measures do not provide absolute protection. But we still lock our doors because it reduces the likelihood of a break-in. In the same manner, a content filter reduces the likelihood of viewing inappropriate material.

Of course, there are other measures we can take to improve our protection and the protection of our families. Place computers in a public area of your home with the monitors positioned such that anyone can see what's on the screen. Use password protection to restrict access for those who would benefit most from the protection. Just to name a few.

And that is what this is all about, protection. The filter at Grace Church is not employed because we do not trust our staff or students, it's because we want to protect them from coming across stuff they don't need to see. The leaders at Grace recognized from the outset that we needed to offer that protection to our staff. As leaders of our homes, we need to recognize our responsibility to protect ourselves and our families. Join me in doing whatever it takes to guard our hearts and our internet connections.