Parental Control Software allows parents to control what their children are able to access on the computer.  Parental Control Software is also employed to filter content for children on the Internet.  Many times parents are scared or worried that their children can access things such as online gambling or pornography. 

Parental control software is closely linked to content control software.  Both disallow a certain group of user’s access to information that others do not want them to see.  Many companies use content controls to prevent employees from surfing the Internet at work.

Parental Controls are hotly contested because they allow infringement on your first amendment rights of freedom of speech.  It was actually argued in front of the Supreme Court that Internet filters in a public library infringed on a child’s first amendment rights, the outcome showed that filters were unconstitutional.  Parental Control Software can be implemented on the side of the Internet Service Provider or on the side of the home computer user. 

Most Parental Controls in the United States are implemented on the side of the home user.  A parent usually purchases a copy of a program and installs it on the family computer.  These Parental Control programs can be extremely proactive blocking any search for Sussex or Essex because they contain the word “sex”.  Many of the companies that run these programs have been criticized because of this.  The American Civil Liberties Union and the Electronic Frontier Foundation also discourage the user of Internet filters.  They have taken many libraries and some companies to court over the fact that they are impeding on the first amendment rights of children. 

Many Parental Control programs can be circumvented by different techniques.  These include using FTP an alternative file protocol, or shutting down the system process in task manager for windows. 

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