K9 Web Protection - Free Home Licenses

[DigeratiPrime]

Ive been waiting for something like this for some time!

BlueCoat is giving Free 1 year licenses for Home Users to 'K9 Web Protection'. This is the same web filtering used in ZoneAlarm SecuritySuite. However since this is just the webfiltering, hardly anything needs to be installed on the computer, since all filterting is performed server side. This means it doesnt affect your computers performance, and you dont need to keep updating blacklists/whitelists of urls. This also means it can be a very small download, only 214kb! Hope this helps someone.

http://www.k9webprotection.com/

http://www.bluecoat.com/

Screenshots:

Alert - http://img519.imageshack.us/img519/6213/alert0ku.png

Advanced Settings - http://img526.imageshack.us/img526/9492/advanced6ve.png

Overrides - http://img508.imageshack.us/img508/9521/overrides3hg.png

Edited December 31, 2005 by DigeratiPrime

[DigeratiPrime]

I just read through the FAQ and found some good news. I was concerned the service might expire after 1 year and then ask for a subscription. However it looks like BlueCoat intends to always keep this free, though the reporting feature will be moved to a premium version later on. I love company's like this

http://www.k9webprotection.com/faq.html#13

Q: Why are you giving away this software?

A: Blue Coat Systems has been very successful selling a version of this software to Fortune 500 companies and other large corporations. When we became successful, and were looking for ways to contribute back to our communities, we realized that one valuable thing we could offer was a free version of our Web filtering software.

Q: Is Blue Coat affiliated with any political or religious organization?

A: No. The people at Blue Coat who work on the K9 project are parents. Because of our work on the software we make for corporations, we know what harmful stuff is out there on the Internet. We don't want your kids - or our kids - running into it.

Q: Will I have to buy K9 at some point if I want to keep using it?

A: The version of the software that you can download now will always be free, with only one possible exception described below.

There will be a premium version, which will contain new features, such as filtering controls for instant messaging and chat rooms. The one feature that will probably be discontinued in the free version and moved over to the premium version is the detailed reporting. At the moment, parents can get a detailed report of the sites that K9 blocks. Parents who want the premium version will pay an annual subscription fee.

Q: Do updates to the database cost money?

A: No. If you are using the free version of K9, they will always be free. The database is continuously updating itself as it evaluates new Web sites. (And you don't have to download database updates - the big database we maintain stays out on the Internet, and the K9 software talks to it).

Also, when you start up your Internet browser, the K9 software itself will sometimes get an update, automatically; you don't have to do anything.

[nmX.Memnoch]

This is awesome news. I'll definitely be checking it out this weekend.

[nmX.Memnoch]

Installed it today on my wife's machine (which my 4-year-old son uses to play his games on...some are web based). I was previously using the content management features in IE but this is soooo much nicer.