I frequently correspond with online gamblers seeking solutions to stop themselves from gambling. They face a difficult situation. They can’t totally eliminate the Internet from their life but the temptation to gamble online can be too hard to resist. Some people are not able to get professional help or if they do, are still faced with the difficulty of having easy access to gambling online wherever they have an Internet connection. It’s just too easy to gamble online whenever you are on the computer. Imagine a recovering alcoholic being forced to be around alcohol while he is just getting started working on recovery. It would make it much harder.
Some customers have reported trying out other software solutions before deciding to use Optenet PC as their gambling filter. I wanted to share the feedback they have offered and to share some of my own insights. It seems like products dedicated solely to filtering gambling sites are using a questionable method of protecting their software from workarounds – -they refuse, under any circumstances, to allow the user to uninstall the software. While I can understand why they do this, as a technology professional, I am concerned about the risk of installing any software that can not be uninstalled. Consider how complicated computers are and the potential problems. Imagine if Bill Gates had a no uninstall policy for Windows! I think such a policy takes advantage of the desperation of the user:
1. I am not going to install one of these other gambling blockers because I know I can’t uninstall it. But I am wondering how clear that is to the users who do install. Do some people install without knowing what they are committing to?
2. Some may think it is a good way to prevent any possible workarounds. First of all, we hear from some of our users that they managed to find a workaround to those other programs. That is not surprising since nothing can truly be 100% full proof. But I think it may be a lazy solution to avoid needing to handle password protection.
3. Those solutions may be most appealing to the gambler who wants to keep his problem quiet and try to solve it on his own. With a gambling block that can not be uninstalled, the gambler does not need to enlist the help of a sponsor or acquaintance. But we actually think it is important to involve a sponsor, even if this causes some initial discomfort for the gambling addict.
4. There are always going to be potential good reasons to uninstall — not satisfied with product, need to move the license to a new computer, need to sell the computer, decision to use another product, software conflict with other applications requires removal . . . If you have a sponsor with the password, that person is capable of deciding if the reason is valid and can reinstall when the time is right.
On one of the sites I reviewed for a Gambling blocker, I could not find a way to contact the company – not by phone and not by email. That really concerned me. I also searched for how to uninstall these programs and found many frustrated users posting on forums. Granted, some are frustrated because they want to gamble and can not but most seemed to have run into genuine problems with no technical support to assist them.
Bottom line — in theory, it may seem like a good idea to help a compulsive gambler by placing a gambling lock on their computer that can absolutely not be removed. But in reality, software has bugs, no one can predict possible problems in a given installation and no matter what the condition of a customer, if they don’t want to use a product, they need to have the right to uninstall. Preventing workarounds can be easily rectified by bringing a sponsor on to help the problem gambler and be responsible for the web filter.
