FAQ Friday: “But, I didn’t go to that website!”
People use Covenant Eyes accountability software for a variety of reasons. Some are severely struggling with or addicted to Internet pornography and they want a trusted friend to walk through the recovery process with them. Some have rarely struggled with the temptation to view Internet porn, and they use the software to make sure they never do.
I can imagine the frustration anyone must feel if their accountability partner calls them up and asks them about a high scoring site on their report . . . a site they don’t remember visiting.
When we take calls at the Covenant Eyes office, this is one of the most common comments heard: “But, I didn’t go to that website! Why is it on my report?” This is a great question. If you are a Covenant Eyes accountability partner, it is important for you to understand how to accurately read the report(s) you receive.
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How to Read the Report
It is important to understand that when a Covenant Eyes user visits a Web page, the report doesn’t show the overall score for that page alone. Each Internet page is made up of several, perhaps dozens of little parts—text, banners, pictures, ads, stories, video clips, links. Each of these parts has its own separate Web address, its own URL, and each of those addresses receives its own score by our scoring system. If you see a high score on a report, you can find out what “parts” of that page were specifically scored high by looking at the more detailed logs.
For example, my own report reflects that I visited YouTube.com last month (I go there all the time). YouTube appeared in the “Highest Scores” section of my report. Next to site name, youtube.com, I see the high score number. If my accountability partner is concerned about this score, then all he needs to do is click on “youtube.com” in the report to open up the detailed browsing logs. After this is opened, he will be able to see every individual URL that my computer accessed from YouTube, and beside each URL he can see the scores for those URLs, with each high scoring address highlighted.
Inevitably, if I surf the Web, I will likely run into a high scoring addresses, perhaps even something pornographic. Even if my intentions are pure, the page I am viewing may contain an ad, a banner, an image, or a link that has a high score. If I don’t click on that link, then my detailed logs will show a few high scoring hits, showing that I possibly ran into some kind of temptation.
If, however, I had clicked on a high scoring link on YouTube, it would have taken me to a different page, a page with its own links, stories, pictures, and banners, many of which are likely to be scored high. The more I click on these links, the more the detailed report will reflect a greater volume of high scoring hits.
In other words, the detailed reports reflect the temptations we face and the choices we make online.
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So, I did go there?
Yes and No.
Yes, each URL on your report was accessed by your computer, even if you weren’t aware of all the URLs on each page you opened.
No, every URL on your report was not something you “clicked on.” When accountability partners understand this about the report, this will make the accountability process much easier.
For more information about how to read the accountability reports, our video tutorials will walk you through each part of the report.
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i notice that IE has an in private viewing option whereas the pc does not store the viewed history. If this is an option for prople then how will Covenant eyes accurately account for viewing history ? Gaili
Thanks for your question, Gaili. I wrote a post about this back in September last year. You may want to read that. Our software stores the browsing history on our servers and isn’t dependent at all on the user’s Internet history stored on their computer.
Does Covenant to Eyes trap history of browsing on the computer before Covenant to eyes installation/activated date?
@Greg – Good question. The answer is no. Covenant Eyes will begin tracking a computer’s browsing after the installation, but anything viewed prior to installation is no recorded anywhere in our servers. Thanks.
gr8 work guys @ CE!! Was wondering if a package could be customized for our organization a church. We aren’t comfortable with offshore logging but like all the features offered by CE!! As a tool to protect as many internet users in our congregation, it would be best if the logging of visited sites is enabled while IP logging is anonymized or partially blanked out 111.111.11x.xxx. The reason is that we require a non-discriminatory prevention and cure measure. We would like to deter, assess and monitor access to undesirable content but would like e privacy of our users maintained. With the detailed reports of multiuser accounts we will be able to advise or promote safer content via redirection. So we hope this service will offer kid & teen safe redirection. We plan 2 have as many accountability partners possible right down to individual users. So system acts like a early warning system. If we happen to notice unhealthy trends we would be able to advise or address e issue in both open and confrontational manner. Quality internet use would be encouraged by peer influence & accountability etc. If there is no anonymization, most members will not support our collective accountability decision & opt out. So it would b gre4t if such feature is added real soon. It also helps protect our church fr baseless allegations of members having addictions to this & that.
many thnx!!\\
Kent
Thanks for the comment, Kent. I’ll have one of our associates get back to you ASAP.
Well said, but my experience is that this simple truth seems to be falling on deaf ears. Every month, hosts seem to be lowering their prices and offering packages which are clearly not financially viable, and potential customers just lap them up, going for the lowest bidder, and then getting disgruntled when they can’t get a hold of customer service or the server is under a supposed “ddos attack” for days.
I am currently holding someone accountable and have read your faq section, but I still have some unanswered questions. I have seen in the course of say a few months how the report looks when he goes on something thats actually considered pornographic, versus something that is questionable, versus what your report view as the report is looking good. I have some questions regarding Facebook specifically, is the covenant eyes literally like a giant eye that sees all thats enterd/typed in emal ect as well as what links are gone to on the internet? I am noticing that the score for Facebook has gone up signifigantly, is that something to address, since there are sometimes when his score is as low as 7, then recently sometimes its been 13-14. Now for the first time ever its a 25! The thing is normally I can view the detailde report this time however its not letting, it keep saying that it cant be found. How exactly are you basing these scores when they vary as much as they have? Please help me with this, its a big concern!!!
@Veronica, thanks for you questions. Let me try to unpack some answers for you.
Facebook is a word minefield. I mentioned this in a post about MySpace a while back. Because people can write anything they want on their Facebook pages or the pages of their friends, and because these pages change so quickly because of the number of people adding comments, scores on a specific page can change considerably in a short span of time. For instance, my Facebook page might have a lower score of 7 one day, but then a person might write a comment including an objectionable word the next day and the score will go up to 13 or 14 or even 25. If there is a greater density of these objectionable words, the score might go up even higher.
To make matters more difficult, people can delete those comments or change them, so the page as it originally looked when it was accessed may be no longer be viewable.
Generally speaking a score of 25 is a higher score, but still in the range of what is considered “questionable.” Usually 25 does not mean a pornographic link was displayed or accessed. That would be for scores 30 and above. If I were this person’s accountability partner and I saw a lot of these on a report, it would be cause for a good conversation. But keep in mind, (1) I am not this person’s partner. If you know this person well, you might know what their specific weaknesses are. You know best how to craft your conversation with them. (2) Covenant Eyes doesn’t just hold you accountable to the “porn” temptations you face online, but also to the “gray” areas that might be titillating or suggestive. I wouldn’t start the discussion with, “So, have you been looking at porn?” Instead, I might say something like, “So, I’ve noticed you spend a lot of time on Facebook and at times you get scores that are as high as 25, which means there are probably some questionable words or images on the page. Have you noticed these? How have you dealt with them?”
If I get more information from you, Veronica, I’d love to give you a more specific answer. Until then, I hope this helps you understand our accountability reports better.