Many people contacting TfT for support admit to ongoing struggles with internet pornography. We sometimes suggest they install software on their computer to prevent access to inappropriate web sites, through various accountability schemes. One such software product is Safe Eyes 2005. A member of TfT has been using this product for several months and offers the following review:-
"I started using Safe Eyes in July 2005 after becoming increasingly frustrated at the way the free software We-Blocker was slowing down my computer. The 15-day free trial allowed me to see and evaluate the software. After that I was happy to pay the one-off price of $50 (about £30) for the permanent copy.
Most internet filtering software is designed exclusively for the 'parental control' market, rather than for those looking to protect themselves against the lure of pornography. Therefore, I was encouraged to see the endorsement by Setting Captives Free of the product. Indeed, there are some good accountability features of the product: you can set it up to text an accountability partner's mobile phone if you attempt to visit a specified number of banned sites. Also, you can download a toolbar that allows you to monitor how other accountability partners who also use the software are doing (it will give a traffic light sign, depending on how many banned sites he/she has attempted to visit today).
Safe Eyes filters by directing all contact with the web via their servers. According to their web site, this slows down the loading of each web page by 1/3 of a second and normally I don't notice this at all. However, when the Safe Eyes servers crashed for a whole afternoon in December, I was unable to use the web (which wasn't the end of the world!).
There are plenty of different categories of web page that you can allow/prevent each user from accessing. However, you are relying on Safe Eyes staff correctly categorising the millions of web sites out there: I think they actually do a very fair job. If you want to hone the filtering more specifically for your own particular temptations, you can add keywords that the filter will look for in the web page title: note that Safe Eyes will only filter on these keywords in the title and not in the content of the page itself. However, if you attempt to do any sort of web search, you'll find that Google for example will include all of your search words in the title of the search results, and so Safe Eyes will filter on those words.
One feature that I like to help catch those web pages that 'sneak through' is the ban site button on the toolbar. If you find a web site that you would rather not have access to, you can press the ban site button to add this site immediately to your personal list of banned sites for the future. However, I must confess that this facility does not in my experience always overcome the thrill of finding an 'illicit' web site, and I am sometimes tempted to surf further rather than press that ban site button.
One other aspect to consider is that you'll need to manage the administration of your account on an occasional basis. For example, you may want to add additional keywords or restrict the time that you can access the web. However, you obviously don't want to normally have administrator access or you'll just be tempted to deactivate the filter. You can either hand over the control of this to an accountability partner or you can allow yourself to have restricted access. You can achieve this restricted access by creating a long unmemorable password (eg klj54hk2j5hj34h25) and then write it on a piece of paper that you keep somewhere else (eg at work) where you have monitored web access: this allows you to administer the account in a place where you won't be tempted to deactivate the filters for immediate gratification.
Overall, I have found Safe Eyes 2005 to be an effective and well-supported piece of internet control software to support me in my desire to use the web safe from the temptation of pornography. It provides a more immediate barrier against temptation than purely accountability-style software such as x3watch. However, it is not a panacea, and is best used with an accountability partner. My sinful nature remains devious and enterprising in looking for loopholes in the filters (see Romans 7:18-19). God is gracious, but he does instruct us to be serious about tackling sin in our lives. For some that may mean total 'amputation' by throwing your computer modem in the dustbin. I believe that Safe Eyes has allowed me to access the good material on the web with a reasonable level of protection against that which would lead me to sin."
For product information see www.safeeyes.com