Manchester Evening News - 25 April 2008
A Manchester mum is joining the war against online predators with the launch of an international child protection software package. Rebecca Fuchs has secured the UK distribution rights to award-winning parental control software, which was developed in America and alerts parents to untoward activity on the web.
Rebecca, who says the software package is the first of its kind in the UK, was inspired to set up her company, Sentry Parental COntrols, after reading how US businessman William Bozsnyak developed the product as a result of his 10-year-old daughter being exposed to inappropriate content on the web.
Having gone through adoption training to get her little boy, Rebecca was very aware of how great an issue internet safety has become.
She has invested a five-figure sum in the marketing and distribution deal with US software giant SearchHelp Inc and has now signed a deal with internet retailer Amazon to sell the product online in the UK.
Rebecca, who has also set up her own web site, is being supported with an awareness campaign fronted by celebrity mum of three Coleen Nolan. The nationwide initiative will include television, print, radio, online and celebrity endorsements.
The software has been available in America for two years. In the UK, the market is still in its infancy, but wth the dangers of children online dominating the daily news, Rebecca sees this growing significantly within the coming months and years.
She says: ?As parents we understand the serious concerns regarding the safety of our children. The onslaught of online sexual predators using chat rooms to communicate and attempt to meet with our children is just frightening.
Rebecca says the majority of parents, who grew up in the 20th century, are frighteningly ignorant of the 21st century scourge of online sexual predators, as well as the worrying trend of cropping up on social networking sites that are putting our children at risk.
?Inline predators and bullies have developed increasingly sophisticated ways of targeting our children but what Sentry does is help parents keep one step ahead of any communication by being able to watch and react to any emails, instant messages or web sites their children are accessing, as it happens. Our new child protection software package provides all the tools parents need to protect their children from online sexual predators and paedophiles, and it couldn?t be easier to use.
?Parents simply insert the CD in the computer they want to monitor, download and install the software, provide an email address and password and start using it.?