$15,000 for Tauranga's Safe Surfer to protect kids from porn

Aaron Sinclair and Rory Birkbeck have set up a website called Safe Surfer to block porn on family devices. Photo/File

A local solution to protect children from exposure to online pornography has received a $15,000 grant.

The money would be used to promote Safe Surfer and encourage people to join 7000 other families already signed up.

Safe Surfer was invented last year by two Tauranga fathers and IT experts, Rory Birkbeck and Aaron Sinclair, who were frustrated by their offspring's accidental exposure to porn.

"Off-the-shelf software programmes have to be installed across multiple devices, be updated regularly and tend to over-block the internet," Mr Birkbeck said.

With 30 years' combined experience in IT the men developed Safe Surfer which was installed on internet routers.

Once set up Safe Surfer blocked harmful websites and objectionable material using tools such as Google SafeSearch and YouTube restrictions.

Any computer or device that connects to the broadband or Wi-Fi would be unable to access inappropriate websites or videos.

Safe Surfer was a social enterprise, meaning there was no fixed price.

"You can choose to pay a one-off or recurring amount of your choice. We hope families who can afford it will pay something regularly to help us sustain and grow Safe Surfer so others can benefit too."

Mr Birkbeck said the $15,000 grant from BayTrust would go to operational costs and help spread the word to local families.

"There's a real opportunity for Tauranga to be a leader here and say we do not want the porn industry to be distorting our young people's views on love and relationships in the real world."

BayTrust chief executive Alastair Rhodes said there were mounting concerns about the harm porn has on society and children and teenagers who could easily access it on smartphones, iPads and laptops.

"A lot of families naturally want to protect their children from harm online and Safe Surfer is a great example of how communities can come up with their own solutions to problems they face.

"Our vision is to help make the Bay of Plenty the greatest place to be and we're happy to support Safe Surfer and the efforts they're making to provide families with an affordable solution and some control about what images and videos children can see online," Mr Rhodes said.