CYBERSPACE – According to research by Pew Internet & American Life Project (PIP), more and more parents are taking steps to hamper their children’s access to questionable material online.More than half (54%) of American families with teenagers use web site filters, which represents a 65% increase from 2000.

About 19 million teens live in homes with internet connections. The number of youths living in homes with internet filters has jumped to 12 million, from 7 million in 2000.

“We are seeing parents turn to filters as a technological solution that complements other protection measures such as restricting access to the Internet and monitoring teens’ Web surfing activities,” said Pew research specialist Amanda Lenhart.

Recent polls suggest that parents may be overwhelmed with the amount of content available online, and are turning to internet filters to protect their children. Lenhart added that parents who are frequent internet users with young children are more likely to use filters than parents who are less tech-savvy or who have older teens in the house.

“What’s interesting is that there is agreement among parents and their teens that teens are not as careful as they should be online, and that teens do things online their parents don’t know about,” she said.

A new struggle is coming to bare between parents who want to protect their children, and teens who want to be independent, online and otherwise.

The report reveals that parents also use other measure to monitor their children’s online activities. About 73% of families situate their computer in an open location inside the home, and 64% of parents indicate they establish rules about the time their teens spend online.

The report comes at a time when a federal court is preparing to review the federal Child Online Protection Act (COPA) which was passed in 1998.

The legislation required web sites containing “material harmful to minors” to employ an age verification system to ascertain that site visitors are of legal age.

The American Civil Liberties Union as well as other civil rights groups sued the government, stating that COPA is an unconstitutional infringement on free speech and privacy rights of adults.

“Filters are attractive to parents because they can be customized to sift out sites that some individuals find objectionable but others may not have a problem with. Parents can impose their own values through the use of this technology,” Lenhart said.