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Published on 05/22/1995 All articles from this issue

Los Altos firm develops anti-smut software for the Internet

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By Clyde Noel / Town Crier Staff Writer

Every day more people are connected to the Internet. And every day, more sexually explicit material becomes available on the World Wide Web. Currently, there are more than 250 Internet "news groups" with erotic material and there hasn't been a way to censor it. Until now.

SurfWatch, a software company that originated in Los Altos, has a breakthrough software product that helps deal with the flood of sexual material on the Internet. The software allows parents, teachers and even company bosses to block access to sexually explicit material on the World Wide Web.

The company's product is making headlines nationally. In addition to local media coverage, the Wall Street Journal has already featured Surfwatch, as has the NBC Nightly News.

Because of the free and open nature of the Internet, the software, which costs $49.95, allows users a personal choice to more than 1,000 Internet connections of World Wide Web, Gopher service and chat lines.

Jay Friedland, SurfWatch's vice president of marketing, said the software will also allow users to filter out files such as bomb-making manuals and neo-Nazi screeds, which have been circulated by hate groups on the Internet.

The software was developed by Bill Duvall, chief executive officer of SurfWatch, who was inspired by the realization that there's plenty of seedy material to be found while surfing the Internet.

What Duvall observed astounded him since he is the father of a 14-year-old daughter.

He called Friedland, and the company was started with Ann Duvall as president.

Technically, Bill Duvall was responsible for sending the first piece of information that went over the Internet in 1969 when he was a programmer at Stanford Research Institute. The SRI program ARPAnet, sent a message to the University of California at Los Angeles (UCLA).

Once SurfWatch was developed, the Cupertino Union School District tested the product. A test version of the computer network blocking software was placed at four schools and the inappropriate material was successfully blocked.

Friedland said that corporations should also use the blocking software. "It will dissuade employees from doing their personal Internet surfing on company time," he said. "Surfing can waste a lot of company time, but more important, it can prevent lawsuits from employees who are exposed to racy material by co-workers," he said.

Friedland said SurfWatch pays a team of college students to cruise the Internet in search of "cybersmut." When they find new sources of material, they add it to the censorship list.

By paying a monthly subscription fee of $5.95, users can have their databases automatically updated as new sexually explicit Internet sites come on line.

SurfWatch 1.0, the company's first product, was shipped this month in an Apple Macintosh version. A Microsoft Windows version will be available in July. The software is not adapted to work on on-line services such as Prodigy or CompuServe.

The software program offers an additional feature, company officials said.

"After the kids go to bed," Friedland said, "there is an off-on switch that will allow the parents to browse the Internet undeterred."

Surfwatch Software Inc. is located at 105 Fremont Ave., in Los Altos. For more information, call 948-9500.