At home parents use several tools either for internet activity monitoring or to control the content that their children are able to view by using internet content filtering software that prevents their child from accessing certain objectionable sites or that limits the time they can spend on the internet when the parents are away from home.
Sometimes such software is used by people who struggle with internet addiction - for example, addiction to online gambling - to enable self censorship.
Organisations Educational and Public Institutions
Organisations such as schools, universities and public libraries also often implement internet activity monitor systems for various monitoring purposes such as to find out how much time a student spends on the internet and what sites they are browsing. Software may also be used to block certain sites from being accessed, for example in the children's browsing section of a public library. Organisations may prevent users from downloading certain applications, such as messenger services, as this could lead to the user occupying the computer for long periods of time when there is someone waiting to do research work.
Organisations Companies and Government Agencies
Most businesses that employ large numbers of people adopt some sort of an internet monitoring program. This is done in order to limit wastage of company's resources and time, to increase productivity and to protect the company's intellectual property. Institutions such as a police force or a government agency use such software to monitor internet activity to find out who is trying to access their confidential data. If information from such institutions falls into the wrong hands it could lead to serious consequences and could put peoples' lives in danger as well. Software also exists to monitor and prevent cyber attacks directed at the electronic systems of such organisations, which could easily cripple their entire functioning.