TescoNet blocks X-rated sites to attract family users

TescoNet - the ISP offshoot of Tesco - is to provide its users with free Internet surveillance software produced by Security Software Systems Inc (SSSI).

In a lucrative deal for the Chicago-based software company, Tesco has licensed up to a million copies of SSSI's Cyber Sentinel technology.

Software that makes the Internet family-friendly is also a selling point for services such as AOL and WHSmith Online. However, TescoNet said it has opted for technology which does not block certain URLs, but actually analyses content.

The spokesman for the retailer said: "The fact that Cyber Sentinel enables parents and teachers to monitor and control the content of the children's chat room, email and other conversations with external users on the Net, and help guard against predators seeking to establish inappropriate relations with the child, makes this an invaluable offering to our TescoNet members."

The technology has been supplied to TescoNet via Modems Direct and Distributor Services International.

Bill Jenkins, Modems Direct managing director, told Silicon.com: "Even the best site blockers recognise, at most, only about 10 per cent of sex sites. But Cyber Sentinel is the only software of its type endorsed by Microsoft, and has a sophisticated recognition engine that analyses downloaded files and chat room nasties as well as Web pages."

Language patterns and phrases from past paedophile cases, as recorded by the FBI, are used to identify offenders, and then parents can be warned, material captured, and browsers closed.

SSSI claims the TescoNet deal is the largest site licence ever for online protection software.