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Unofficial Child Surveillance Day: IMSafer and MySpace upgrade

IMSafer, the surveillance service we profiled back in October, has added support for Macs and Windows Vista. Meanwhile, MySpace is working on a tool to let parents track what their children are doing on MySpace.

Josh Lowensohn Former Senior Writer
Josh Lowensohn joined CNET in 2006 and now covers Apple. Before that, Josh wrote about everything from new Web start-ups, to remote-controlled robots that watch your house. Prior to joining CNET, Josh covered breaking video game news, as well as reviewing game software. His current console favorite is the Xbox 360.
Josh Lowensohn

-- IMSafer, the parental IM monitoring system we covered in October, got a big upgrade today with support for Mac OS X and Windows Vista. The app keeps an eye on your child's (or spouse's!) instant messages, and alerts you via e-mail if the analysis tool finds inappropriate content. Previously, there was no Mac support.

-- MySpace is planning to launch an app that lets curious parents or significant others track MySpace log-ins on the family computer. Code-named "Zephyr," the app will make note of username, age, and location, then save the data to your machine. If there are any changes to that information, the program will alert the admin, although there's no word yet how the program will deliver that alert. MySpace users also will be told they're being watched by the program, no doubt leading to awkward parental talks about privacy and trust. (News.com)