A New Idea for Internet Accountability
I was thinking of solutions to combat Internet pornography addiction the other day. While there is some good software on the market already, I see a need for a reliable, fool-proof solution. Something that combines technology with a true desire to help people who struggle with this addiction.We all know the stats, Internet porn is a plague that lots of people, both inside and outside the church, struggle with.
Like I said, there are some solutions out there but I think there’s room for something different. Something dependable and tamper-proof. Something that’s installed blindly and only able to be administered by the person you designate.
This idea’s for free. If you’re in development and see a way to make this happen, go for it. It’s all yours:
- Automatic Screen Capturing. The program would run in the background. You’d be unaware it was active for the most part, and that would be a good thing. The software would capture your screen image at random intervals throughout the day. You’d have no idea when your screen was captured, thus leading to the accountability part. If you know that someone could potentially see what you’re looking, you may be less inclined to surf to the places you don’t want to go. Knowing that someone else will see what you’re looking at is a powerful motivator.
- Email Screen Caps to Trusted Friend. The software would have the ability to automatically email the screen caps to the trusted friend of your choosing. All you would have to do is put that person’s email address in the preferences and let the software do the rest. Obviously this person will be seeing what you’re looking at, so you’d have to make sure this was someone you trusted. This could be the feature that excels where other applications lack. A consistent delivery system remains to be seen for Internet monitoring software. The other programs I’ve participated in as an accountability partner deliver sparse and unreliable results. If you could nail a consistent system, you’d easily have the best product on the market.
- Secure. Privacy would be of utmost importance for software like this. The goal is never to shame, but to bring light into the dark world of some of our Internet viewing habits. If you developed this, you’d have to be a pro at securing the data that’s going to and from the user’s computer. You don’t hear of too many people being embarrassed out of Internet pornography. Keeping someone’s digital life shielded from unwelcome eyes would have to be the primary goal in development.
That’s my idea. Have any suggestions to add? Have you had a good experience using existing accountability software? Let us know in the comments.
Sounds great…but my only concern is with the screen captures. With a lot of the software out there, actual links don't come through to be clicked on on your partner's end. That way, if they may have even the slightest inclination to struggle – they may be tempted to click links. I think that is a great feature to have. I think telling me that my buddy visited “Miss Clara's House of Perverted Pleasures XXX Site” is all I need…I dont need to go there to verify.
Now, we take your idea. Yes, it would scare me to death to think that if I visited a porn site, my AP could see the screen shots of what I was seeing…but it also has no warning for my AP. In other words, if I am an accountability partner and I get my weekly, bi-weekly, or monthly queue of my partner's activities and go through them, and he has visited porn sites. I now am subjected to physically SEEING it myself. There isn't an intelligent way to say “this site was family friendly, this site is not.” The AP would have to view it to make that determination.
I do think you are on the right track, though. I am currently tested several softwares to see which one I will start recommending on gotworship.net … and find that, sadly, most all of them are very easily manipulated. I agree with a public view of “if you want your partner to help you, then don't try to game the system”. I also know that if a person had enough self-control to refrain from gaming the system, they would probably also have the control to not view the porn to begin with.
Bottom line, there HAS to be a way that is fool proof, that the end user ca't turn on and off and can't get around by using various browsers in different states of privacy.
If you ever find that or get it developed…let me know.
I appreciate, as always, your articles and heart.
In Christ,
Jason Whitehorn
I agree that the screen capture has to be thoroughly thought through in order to be viable. One concern that I have is that while a buddy may trust me to hold him accountable on porn matters, he may not be any too thrilled that I've been made privy to his checking account information and his wife's spending habits.
On the other hand, I like that screen captures can also catch “porn site alternatives” that could exist on public sites or through private messaging. I'm not an expert on how MySpace, Facebook, Twitter, etc. govern pornographic material, but I'm guessing that there are ways around it. So, I may be getting an email from one accountability site that says no questionable sites have been visited, but my friend may be getting a truckload of porn through various means that don't require visiting a XXX site.
Hey Justin,
I am not sure if you have seen http://x3watch.com from XXXChurch.com – they have it for phones and your computer. Basically you have an accountability partner and they get a list of your URLs. I have had friends use this and tell me how it has helped them.
I think that a list of URLs is a better way of going about ones viewing habits, because then you can verify. Some software red flags items that have been flagged pornographic or contains nsfw material. That right there would be able to give you the accountability partner a quick overview of what is being looked at rather than a random screen shot. It would also let the addicted person be able to know that someone who cares is looking out for them.
Anyways – that is the 2 cents.
I'm a developer, but I'm not sure the idea works as-is. If I trust my accountability partner with my porn habit, then odds are I also trust him to see my online banking or anything else that may be onscreen, that's not a problem. But what about the people who did not consent to that invasion? ie. the people who send me private and confidential emails and messages that will ultimately end up in the screen caps.
The best implementation I can think of would scale the captures down to 320 pixels or so, so that faces and text are obfuscated, but images would still be recognizable. It would take an undisclosed number of snaps a day, adding them to a grid for quick browsing by the accountability partner.
Definitely not email delivery, too insecure. I'd store the images encrypted and make them available in a web interface, where they would be deleted after being viewed once by the partner.
The only real advantage of this idea over existing solutions is that it would bust you for looking at inappropriate images on Facebook, Myspace, torrents, RapidShare etc. Or for drawing inappropriate pictures in MS Paint. Or for arranging your desktop icons into provocative poses.
I actually wrote this very program! Although, I wrote it without seeing this post, but in seeing a need in my own life. I have two versions as of right now. The one takes the screenshots and uploads them to a webserver in a private folder where it can be viewed. Although, I currently have it overwriting the picture each time it is uploaded, that can easily be changed though. And the other version runs a miniture webserver on the computer and the AP can go to the computer's address and it will immediately snap a screenshot and display it.
For technical reasons the second one was the first one developed and used, I have a static IP address so setting a hostname to it was easy. The second was developed after others expressed interest in the same type of program.
I'm glad to see someone else thought this was a good idea.
Arranging icons in an inappropriate way. That's a new one I haven't heard before. Do you have experience with people who do this?
We'll never know, unless someone builds this, but I'm guessing it happens all the time
Tom … That is wild! Do you have a link that you can share with us? I'd love to see it!
I don't have it ready for public consumption as I had only written it for use with a couple of friends. And the security isn't there at all at this point. For the one running a webserver on my own computer I am using another program as a proxy between that filters based on IP address so only computers I permit can see. For the other, it is uploaded to an FTP on a webserver that anyone who knew the password could see.
If you have any further ideas feel free to email me (tom at tom.am, and I'm considering putting some more effort into this after seeing that I'm not alone in thinking this is a good idea.
I don't have it ready for public consumption as I had only written it for use with a couple of friends. And the security isn't there at all at this point. For the one running a webserver on my own computer I am using another program as a proxy between that filters based on IP address so only computers I permit can see. For the other, it is uploaded to an FTP on a webserver that anyone who knew the password could see.
If you have any further ideas feel free to email me (tom at tom.am, and I'm considering putting some more effort into this after seeing that I'm not alone in thinking this is a good idea.
One initial problem with automatic screen captures is that it exposes your partner automatically to any content you are seeing.
For instance, not too long ago I was investigating a screen-blogging service that takes mini-snapshots of your screen and allows them to be viewed by certain trusted people. While they did try to protect privacy by scaling down screenshots so the text was illegible, this did nothing for the pictures on-screen. Partners can view these pictures at any time, and without warning be subjected hurtful images.
When we created the Covenant Eyes accountability service we knew this was a potential danger. So we created a scoring system that actually rates websites for sensual content. The partner never has to visit or see the site in order to know it is bad. The ratings also allow the partner to get a relative sense of how bad the sites are.
Accountability is a great way to avoid Internet temptations if it is set up well. No matter what people use, the accountability service should have reports that are custom-made for good conversations with accountability partners, not just presenting raw data.
Luke,
Are you guys thinking of possibly developing this screen capture solution? If you are considering it please do it. There are many of us who are subscribers to your service, which is the best accountability service around, and we have our wives as our accountability partners. The screen capture would be a great solution for us who send our reports to our wives because they wouldn’t be tempted when seeing the images.
For the regular guys that struggles once a month with looking at porn and doesn’t really care about finding a way around the covenant eyes solution ben covenant eyes works great. But for computer guys like me who see circumventing covenant eyes as a challenge and adventure the screen capture would work wonderfully.
Also, if we are truly serious about not looking at anything inappropriate then why wouldn’t we send our screen captures to our wives instead of another guy?
I am a programmer myself and have been thinking more and more about developing this solution myself.
In my circle of geeky computer friends porn is a huge problem. Most programmers I know spend a ton of time on the Internet and therefore are more likely to stumble. And they are more likely to be able to circumvent the accountability program. Something is needed for these guys. Trust me, it’s a huge problem with programmers. We need something bulletproof.
Ultimately though guys will need to stand on their own (with Christ) and not have to rely on software to stay pure. But for the first year of addiction recoverythis is very very hard when we are on the coumputer all day. I have known guys to quit there jobs as programmers just to get away from the temptation.
Thanks. Sorry for any typos. I am typing on a smartphone and tried to proofread as much as I could.
Oh that reminds me! The next big area where the screen capture would work best is the smartphone arena. Covenant eye has a solution for the iPhone but you basically have to lock the phone down for it to work (covenant eye-if you are reading this please contact me and I will share some insite into the problems). My brother just just got a droid and I was thinking of developing a screen soit solution for him.
Please comment!