By Tan Weizhen

INTERNET filters have been touted as a way to shield children from the worst of the Internet, including pornography and websites that promote hate.

But response to filters - password-protected programmes that block out certain sites - has been lukewarm here.

One reason is that they are not sophisticated enough to monitor conversations in chatrooms, places where many sexual predators lurk. Tech-savvy children can also circumvent the firewalls.

In Singapore, a Government-backed panel recommended that a Web-filtering service, the Family Access Network, be offered for free to households. Operated by three Internet service providers (ISPs), it now costs $2 a month.

But the panel - the Advisory Council on the Impact of New Media on Society - found that the filter has a low take-up rate.

Said housewife Judy Tan, 41, whose seven-year-old son is already proficient online: 'I had not heard of the service before, but I don't think it will be effective in blocking out all harmful sites or people.

'I prefer to put my computer in a spot where I can see what my child is doing.'

Research from Norton, an Internet security firm, revealed that few parents in other countries have set up filters. Only 39 per cent of parents in China and 5 per cent in Japan restrict Web access for their children. In Australia, there are plans to test a nationwide Web filter that would require ISPs to block access to thousands of sites containing illegal content.

The initiative has attracted scepticism, though, because it would not monitor peer-to-peer or file-sharing networks, where most child pornography and other illegal content are exchanged.

Mr Ang Poon Wei, a market analyst from research firm IDC, said these filters also occasionally block legitimate sites. Besides, he said, there are many ways for tech-savvy teens to get past filters. Psychologist Judith Jamieson has seen cases of teens who manage to hack past such programmes or uninstall them altogether.

Internet security firm Symantec said it is working on a technology that can track and even control who children chat with on instant messaging platforms.

However, Symantec's Mr Effendy Ibrahim suggested that technology should not be the main tool to keep children safe. Parents should set clear boundaries and make sure their children do not reveal personal information such as addresses and phone numbers online. 'Children must be careful of who they allow to join their social networks,' he said.

This story was first published in The Straits Times on 29 December 2008.

For more The Straits Times stories, click here.