Re: Belkin router parental control feature no longer works

"dejablues" <deja.blues@gmail.com> wrote in message
news:dmbd3b$8jo$1@domitilla.aioe.org...
>
> <perfb@yahoo.com> wrote in message
> news:1133021590.229258.35270@g47g2000cwa.googlegroups.com...
>> Anyone use the Belkin router's parental control feature? Provided by,
>> I think, 'Cerebian' or somesuch company. It used to work pretty good,
>> now I cant get the login screen or anything.
>
> Why don't you *personally* monitor your kids web access, ie: look over
> their
> shoulder once in a while?
> If you're such a great parent, why don't you trust your kids (or your
> wife)
> online? Haven't you taught them what's good and what's bad? You don't
> trust
> them?
> All this "parental control feature" crap is just that. Crap. If your kids
> are in junior high, or high school, they *know* how to get around your
> 'parental control features". These controls are no substitute for
> actually
> TALKING TO and GETTING TO KNOW your kids and WHAT THEY ARE INTO.
>
> Maybe it doesn't work because your kids (who are undoubtably smarter than
> you) have hacked it!

1. Monitoring one's kids every minute they're on the Internet isn't
feasible for everybody.
2. Search results often yield unintended results even for well-intentioned
and disciplined kids.
3. Properly implemented parental controls on a capable edge device cannot
be bypassed.
4. Blocking a 10 year old from hardcore porn andd racist hate is not about
trust. There are some things they shouldn't see until they have matured
enough to make proper judgements about it. It's a parent's job to decide
what that is. Parental blocks on the Internet are simply a tool to employ to
that end.
5. None of this is intended as a *subsititue* for talking to and getting to
know your kids and what they are into. If you think it is, you have a very
narrow minded view.

The devices that I deal with, when properly configured, can't be "gotten
around", no matter what your skillset, without using an entirely separate
Internet feed of some sort.

My trustworthy, informed kids wouldn't try though. Because they understand
what the controls are, that they're for their own protection. They feel
free to surf around without being watched extremely closely, because they're
safe. Plus, they know that I can view full logs of where they've been,
should I feel like a spot check-up.

Just because *you* can't figure out how to sensibly deploy parental
controls, doesn't mean nobody else can.

-Russ.
Received on Sat Dec 3 04:18:29 2005