6% of Internet searches include a sexually-explicit result

Kids are naturally curious. With the Internet, they can freely explore without restriction. Including adult content parents wouldn't want their kids to see.

So what are your kids searching and seeing online?

Without proper internet filtering protection, keeping kids safe online from inappropriate content is nearly impossible. Search engines deliver results depending on the search terms typed in by the user. Unless an internet filter is activated and locked for strict content filtering protection, the Internet is not naturally a kid-friendly zone.

Kid-specific sites -- such as AOL's "KOL", Nick.com, Disney, etc -- keep content safe within its own site. But what happens when your kids surf elsewhere on the web?

Google's SafeSearch tool and ratings filters controlled by the browser (such as used for Microsoft's Internet Explorer, Safari or Firefox) help but don't always do the job parents expect. Adult content still slips through search results because content is judged through code and algorhythms, not by people.

Last month, the U.S. Justice Department -- seeking to revive and strengthen the 1998 Child Online Protection Act to block content "harmful to minors" -- released a comprehensive study on the Internet, specifically addressing adult content. Both the Supreme Court and the American Civil Liberties Union, supports the importance and usage of internet filters.

Among the findings:

-- About 1 percent of Web sites indexed by Google and Microsoft are sexually explicit (the most recent estimate of the web's total amount of webpages is 11.5 billion. 11.5 billion times 1 percent equals 115 million estimated sexually explicit webpages)

-- About 6 percent of searches yield at least one explicit web site

-- The most popular search queries return a sexually explicit site nearly 40 percent of the time.

-- Half the sexually explicit web sites found in the Google and MSN indexes are foreign, making them beyond the reach of U.S. law.

Award-winning Safekeeper is a new KidsSafe Blocker software tool to give parents effective internet filtering protection. Safekeeper employs an active team to constantly update its custom Internet filtering restrictions as the Internet continues to grow and evolve. And, if you find a site you want blocked for all Safekeeper users, it is easy to submit a site for community blocking.

Safekeeper makes it easy to tailor the level of Internet restriction you need for your family and keep the Internet age-appropriate.