Portal designed to keep an online eye on children
July 14, 2009
By Lauren McLaughlin
Not long ago, Christine Mason decided she was going to do something to make the Internet safe for children.
“My children were starting to spend more time online and my daughter wanted to get an e-mail address, so she could write to her grandparents in Arizona,” Mason said. “I did a little research and I just didn’t find anything that made sense for kids.”
So Mason,of Sammamish, created ZillaDog and ZillaMail, an Internet portal intended to provide a safe Web site and e-mail server for children. The site links to Web sites that Mason said are favored by children. There are trailers for movies rated G and PG, games, and links to other child-friendly Web sites.
Billy and Carle Mason play online games at Zilladog.com.
“My kids are on it everyday,” Mason said. “The site’s links keep them clear of YouTube and other questionable Web sites.”
“We aren’t a net nanny or a lock down site,” Mason said. “But there’s no search engine, so it’s difficult for kids to stray from the Web site.”
Online safety expert Linda Criddle noted that, just because the Web site does not have a search engine, doesn’t mean children will not be able to connect to a site that does. Still, she said the site has value for younger children.
“It’s good for kids 10 and under,” Criddle said. “Kids those ages don’t feel particularly adventurous and are happy staying on sites they know.”
For younger children, the Web site is a safe environment, Criddle said.
“(Mason) has a nice site with great, fun content,” Criddle said. “It’s a nice playground for kids.”
According to Mason, the Web site attracts a monthly average of more than 30,000 visitors.
But parents do not choose ZillaDog just for Web browsing. ZillaMail, the Web mail service, is a big attraction.
ZillaMail is designed so parents can control the people their children connect with via e-mail. Parents can set up their child’s e-mail so they receive a blind carbon copy of each correspondence, message filtering and set preferences for the account.
ZillaMail removes profanity from the child’s e-mail. There is also a filter where the parents can customize additional words that they deem inappropriate for their children.
Criddle said ZillaMail doesn’t employ all the techniques it could to make the e-mail accounts safer for children to be on the Internet. For example, Criddle said ZillaMail should guide children to choose an alias that does not allude to their age, name or location when they create an e-mail account. Also, she thinks ZillaMail should help children select passwords that can’t easily be guessed.
The Web site and mail server are designed for children ages 6-13, Mason said.
“If they want to use it after they’re 13, we’re not going to boot them out,” Mason said. “But e-mail is something kids outgrow like everything else — they get cell phones and start texting.”
Criddle agreed that children 13 and older would not be inclined to continue their e-mail accounts with ZillaMail. The older they get, the less likely they are to be OK with their parents reading all their e-mails, Criddle said; they will go and find other e-mail address.
According to Mason, ZillaMail is close to reaching 7,000 subscribers, even though Mason has not marketed the site.
“Most of it’s word of mouth, but we have been mentioned on a few blogs,” she said. “A lot of Fort Smith schools in Arkansas are using the Web site. Even some international schools in Thailand and Australia are using the e-mail for pen-pals.”
While local schools may not use the Web site, many local children and their parents are. Justin Park, of Issaquah, has used it for about two years.
“I think it’s great. It makes me feel much more secure. I know who my daughters are e-mailing and what they’re saying, and they know I know,” Park said.
“I had an 11-year-old who wanted an e-mail address. ZillaDog was something she liked and I could control, so it worked for us.”
For more information, visit www.zilladog.com.
Intern Lauren McLaughlin can be reached at 392-6434, ext. 244 or samrev@isspress.com.
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ZillaDog designed to keep an online eye on children…
ZillaDog designed to keep an online eye on children In this article, published in the Sammamish Review, Criddle provides comments on ZillaDog , and ZillaMail, the Internet portal and email clients that provide a safer online experience for children….