Thanh Hoa province's Union of Informatics and Transfer Technology has successfully programmed software to help parents better control their children's access to the Internet, reports its director Nguyen Huu Hung.

The Manage Access Network (MAN) was designed to prevent access to web sites that do not suit a child's age and development, he said. The list of forbidden web sites could be updated automatically via the union's system or manually.

The software included measures to check or schedule access to the Internet for a day or a month.

MAN would also help users monitor the duration of access to host computers and automatically make payments.

The union is installing the software in the province's Quang Trung, Nguyen Van Troi, Dien Bien, Minh Khai secondary schools and Ham Rong high school.

A union survey shows that two-third of the students at the schools have home Internet access, but parents have little effective control of its use.

"This software is expected to join hands with parents to control their children's Internet use including access to on-line games and porn sites," said director Hung.

It was planned to expand MAN to other provinces.

A 10-day free trial version of the programme is available at www.ccn.com.vn or the software can be bought for 268,000 VND (13.4 USD).

Vuong Hien, of Hanoi , the mother of a 15-year-old son, said that she was always worried about what her child accessed on the Internet.

But the new software would help her control the content her son was allowed to access as well as the time he was on the Internet and its price was affordable.

The Culture, Sports and Tourism Ministry's Copyright Information Department granted the union software copyright last month./.