The Blog For Entrepreneurs

After a busy few weeks I finally get the time to sit down and write a post. Since that last one I have covered another 15,000 miles or whatever it is (Brisbane to Florida via LA and back), watched the Space Shuttle launch at 4am, indulged on Super Bowl Sunday, with great company and have become pretty sick of airplanes…. but the trip was well worth it. I have been developing the business plan and structure for a very cool business in the US and it was made all the more exciting by dealing with the people who run it. Isn’t it just the case that business is much more fun when you are dealing with motivated, intelligent people? Can’t tell you anything about that one yet, but will use it as a case study in the future.

One of the businesses however, is operating on a theme that has been close to my heart for some time now, and that is Internet safety for kids.

Having read various reports that outline the actual threat to kids online I could have easily been lead to believe that there is no problem at all; a Harvard report even went so far as to infer that the threat to kids was ‘overstated’. I don’t disagree that there is some scare mongering on the Web but this never takes away from the harrowing stories you read about people meeting up with minors for nefarious reasons, suicides caused by ‘cyber bullying’ and other such abominations.

You only have to watch an episode of Dateline’s ‘To Catch a Predator‘ to have shivers running down your spine, especially if you have kids yourself. My stepson is now a 6’2″, 190lbs lean-mean-self-defending-machine, thankfully, but when he was younger I worried about his online activities everyday.

In the spirit of entrepreneurship there are now a million solutions that are being provided on the Web for just this issue, these blockers provide protection but not an alternative solution to the ‘unsafe’ social networks. From router based blockers to browser based blockers many of these solutions don’t take into account the fundamental activity that young people crave; social interaction. Many of these solutions are also cost prohibitive and intrusive.

Free Parental Control Software

The business that I have been working with is called Koini.com, and I have to say, I think they have hit the right balance. Koini provides a complete Internet safety tool, using state of the art technology they provide parents with the ability to manage the factors that matter to them most; Where a child can go online and who they can interactive with.

The Koini solution is a downloadable web-based browser that provides young people with a safe-list of web sites that is updated by Koini and, importantly, by parents themselves. The browser also blocks outside IM messaging while providing its own IM messaging system which can be controlled in conjunction with the young persons parents, who can decide what age group, gender or individuals that their child can talk to.

Integrated into the system is access to The Koini Club where young people can interact, share and talk like they can on any other social network. Think of it as a young person-safe Facebook.

The key to the safety aspect is that each parent signing up for the system on behalf of their child is asked to provide a proof of who they are. While this does not necessarily block predators it does, along with IP logging and monitoring of the site, give security way beyond that provided by MySpace or Facebook. The logic being is that why would a predator go to the extreme lengths of trying to get around the system when monitoring is in place?

Parents can’t talk to kids unless they have been made a member of the kids ‘Kioni Families’ section so as limiting who can actually interact with children on the site. The ‘Koini Cafe’, however, gives parents the opportunity to chat with each other in their own social network setting.

In a monumental ‘movement of the free-line’ all of these facilities are offered for free. The business model is based on users signed up and the addition of paid extra services when membership grows to a substantial level.

I love the idea of kids learning to use social networking responsibly and I love the idea that this business gives the parent a tool which young people will love for its extensive functionality while giving the parents peace of mind.

Nice job guys.

Regards
David
@OneLifeNoFear