标签: netnanny

My friend Richard the roving pastor popped into my office a few minutes ago. Actually, Richard is a Corporate Chaplin, which means he spends his days visiting different companies in the area, just being there if anyone needs him. While we were chatting, Richard said "Max, I have a technical question to ask you." Well, you can imagine my delight at being given a chance to shine. Thus, it was unfortunate that Richard asked a question to which I don't know the answer (sad face). Richard has three young daughters and he wants to protect them from the negative influences one can find on the Internet. In the past, when the kids were using the family PC, Richard installed Net Nanny ( www.netnanny.com ), which – he says – worked perfectly for his needs. Actually, I just took a stroll around the Net Nanny site and it does look jolly good. They point out that most parental control software vendors attempt to make a list of all web sites in the world, categorise each one based on its content, and then use the list to determine if a web site should be allowed or blocked. The problem is that 50,000+ new websites are added to the Internet each day, which means things can easily fall through the cracks. In order to address this, the Net Nanny software performs its categorisation in real-time, as you surf. This means the content on any given web page is categorised as you browse without relying on a list, so your family is protected even when new content is added just seconds before. But now we come to Richard's question. His girls now use iPod Touch and iPad devices, which they carry around with them to their friend's houses and suchlike. So what Richard is looking for is a way to lock these devices down so as to protect his girls from stumbling across something that would be best left un-stumbled across, if you see what I mean. Now, I'm not an expert in this area, but I was rather hoping that someone reading this blog might know the answer. Have you looked into this yourself? Are you aware of some iPod/iPad app or browser add-in Richard can use?