Hi.

Last night my wife informed me of the extent of my son's Internet activities. I knew that he was up to something, but it was mainly connected with games- both on-line and advice for his Game-boy.

She opens the laptop to find that he is using Yuniti- a social networking and dating site.

Now, in fairness, there does appear to be a lot of children on it and a quick look around showed that if you are registered as a minor (he was) then some content is blocked. However, he has adults- male and female- listed as friends including someone known as Sex Kitten. Now stop me if you think that's reasonable.

When I managed to log onto his site on the main PC where he had obviously ticked to stay signed in, there was a message from an adult asking why a 9 year old had looked at his profile and left "That" comment. I have no idea what it was, but the guy was either quite cross or very curious from the tone of his message.

Anyway, after checking what was on his profile- not much- and deleting some pics of his brother and his football team I blocked this and another site that he has used.

So, now to my question. I am considering covering this in a session at Cubs one evening. With two computers and some LAN chatting software I could get them thinking that they are chatting with other children and then reveal that they are in fact chatting with adults- one of each sex if I can get some friends or maybe the community police officers to help.

I note that there is lots of LAN software out there, but it costs money. Is anyone aware of a free product or free trial product that doesn't look really cheap and tatty compared to something like Windows Live Messenger and includes smilies access for one thing?

I could use MSN Messenger and two laptops with people at their house, but for two things- 1. I haven't got access to the 'net at the Scout hut and 2. I want them to meet the "children" that they've been chatting with.

Thanks for actually reading the thread.

Scary stuff, but I'm happy to hear you're on top of it.

A very brief Google threw up this - http://messenger.softros.com/ - which doesn't appear to be that different from MSN. Certainly enough to make your point.
Well done for taking the initiative in this way as well, I hope it wakes the kids up a little. My niece and nephew have had it drummed into them that they don't 'friend' anyone on a social network site that they haven't met in person.

It's very kind of you to have looked. I did a quick Google, but I thought someone would know already. It's nice of you to have gone to the trouble. Thanks.

It is scary, but rather than introduce it as an evening of 'Net security, I thought we'd have half an hour/forty minutes where they can chat and then have them reveal what they've learned.

I think it might come as a shock when they find out that Jose from Argentina is in the cupboard.

I am not a leader- I am the Group secretary, but I am trying to help out. Given that the leaders are all at least fifty (and I say 50 to be kind) I think that some input from someone younger with young kids should be considered, so I'll mention it to Bagheera tonight.

Very sensible. My sis is 14 and I'm constantly keeping an eye on what she does with my Dad's PC. She is very good and listens to her big bro because "he knows about computers", but I guess this isn't always the case. Well done for getting on it. Unfortunately, I'm not aware of any software that could help you though. Sorry.

have a look at openDNS it gives you very good off site control of how and what is available
its not a cure just a tool that maybe of use in this situation …

and sorry its not an answer to your question in relation to LAN software …

link to openDNS …
http://www.opendns.com/

You could use the network thingie in DXDIAG under Windows XP. IIRC that lets you send messages over LAN.

Thanks for the input guys.

At the moment, I have simply added the domain names to the "hosts" file. That has blocked the sites, but I notice that while the bulk of the site is www.site.com some is games.site.com

As I haven't added the "games" domain to the hosts file, he can still play the games, but he can't socialise.

The ironic thing is, that if he had been honest about it, I would have allowed him limited access, vetted by me, although my wife might not be quite so keen. Now, he's likely to get a very negative response if he asks to be allowed back on.

I have to admit, bally, that I have no idea what you are talking about (the network part- I know what DXDIAG is) and I have to go in the garage now to find a computer with XP on, after the XP laptop died last week.

I did get a message prog a long time ago and I might still have it somewhere. It did allow you to send silly things like dynamite sticks that would blow up on your contact's screen, but I don't think that it would look even half as polished as Messenger. It was a while ago.

Your idea about getting the community support officers involved to pose as the 'kids' at the other end sounds like a good one to me assuming they reasonably computer savy and that they'd be willing to participate. Alternatively, could you get a couple of volunteers from the Scouts or Explorer Scouts (that replaced Ventures right? It's been a very long time since I was a scout leader). That way they will probably be more likely to know the lingo as they will be closer to the kids age than PCSO's.

As for doing this at Cubs, would it not, perhaps, be better to use something like MSN but set up using three throw away accounts created specifically for the purpose? That way they'll more than likely already know their way around the interface and it won't be some weird application they've never heard off before (which will look more like a set-up).

Most Windows machines since 3.11 have come with Netmeeting. Start - Run - conf

Since it's probably already installed on any PCs you can use, then it's definitely the cheapest and easiest option. It does not need Internet - it works over the lan. You'll need to run through the wizard on each PC, and it would be easiest to give all the computers static IPs and nice friendly names. There's no smilies, but most regular IM or text users will recognise the standard ascii versions.

Alternatively, if you have a goodly amount of time to prepare a local server then there are lots of PHP based chat or dating forums with instant messaging built in. It would take quite a while to get it looking professional, so it rather depends on how you want to play it.

What kind of network will you be using? How many computers? A cheap wireless router borrowed for the day would make life easiest. It'll still join the network together, even if there's no actual internet.

Some of these very young kids will probably not be very good with computers, and some might be barely able to type or even read. It might be best to have one "hidden" person and one shared computer which you can use in a group activity, with the cubs all volunteering questions and hopefully laughing at some of the answers. That might keep their interest long enough to make the point when you do the big reveal.

You should definitely talk to the leaders before you go any further.