To keep children safe online, parents should inculcate healthy internet hygiene in their wards from an early age.
To keep children safe online, parents should inculcate healthy internet hygiene in their wards from an early age.
How can parental controls protect children’s privacy online?
Inappropriate content, cyber predators and bullies are challenges children face online today. The pandemic exacerbated children’s reliance on technology and digital platforms. But several parents lack information and skills to keep their wards safe online.
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Antivirus company Norton recently raised concerns about children’s online safety in a survey. According to the report, 86% of Indian adults said it is now more important than ever for parents to talk to their children about cybersecurity. They also equated cybersecurity with teaching kids healthy habits. The survey further pointed out that three-quarters of the Indian parents surveyed (78%), found that their children had done something on their smart devices without their consent.
To keep children safe online, parents should inculcate healthy internet hygiene in their wards from an early age. Here are some ideas for parents to set up controls on various online platforms run by major tech companies.
Alphabet
With Family Link, parents can set up a supervised account for their children by setting digital ground rules for their child’s account, such as limiting content, approving app downloads and purchases, setting screen time and more while their children learn, play and discover online.
The app also allows to block or hide inappropriate apps from kids, remotely lock their devices, see the location of their logged in and active Android devices, manage kids’ access to specific websites when they use the Chrome browser on Android and ChromeOS, the content, access, and other settings for YouTube experiences, including YouTube and YouTube Kids, and view children’s app permissions, such as access to microphone, camera, and contacts on Android and ChromeOS.
It also allows users to manage settings such as SafeSearch for Google Search. The SafeSearch feature helps filter explicit results, such as violent images, during a Google search. It is already enabled by default for all logged in users under the age of 18, including those with accounts managed by Family Link. It can also be enabled for shared home appliances that children may be using. However, SafeSearch only works with Google search results and does not block explicit content in other browsers.
Parents can download the Family Link app on their devices from the Play Store. They can then access settings on their children’s devices and set parental controls to connect to the Family Link app.
Microsoft
Microsoft offers a Family Safety app that helps parents monitor their kids’ online activities and locations, develop healthy habits, and create a safe space for kids to explore online.
The app allows you to set parental controls to filter out inappropriate apps and games, and set up browsing to kid-friendly websites on Microsoft Edge.
It helps track kids’ online activities, balance their screen time by setting limits for specific apps and games on Android, Xbox, or Windows, and device limits on Xbox and Windows.
Other features include tracking kids’ locations and their driving history, such as top speed, driving routes, and managing spending on apps and games.
Parents can download the app from the Google Play or Apple App Store, sign in to or create their Microsoft account, add family members via email or phone number to create a family group, follow instructions to connect to their Windows , Xbox, or mobile devices and enable Family Safety Features.
meta
Meta has invested significantly over the years to ensure the online safety of children on its platforms. It introduced a Child Safety Hub on Facebook to support parents, carers and educators with policies, resources and tools for the safety and well-being of young people online. Available in 13 Indian languages, the hub centralizes and expands with Meta’s expertly informed, research-based programs in online safety, digital literacy, wellbeing and bullying prevention.
The company also launched a parent guide available in English and 7 Indian languages on Instagram. It aims to help young people to be safe, by informing parents about all the safety features present on the platform.
Meta has also developed warnings and safety notices on its platforms to inform people about who they interact with. These notices discourage inappropriate interactions with children on Messenger and Instagram and restrict adults from finding and following teens.
In India, Meta is supporting the RATI Foundation (Aarambh India Initiative) to launch ‘Meri Trustline’, a helpline that aims to provide support to children under 18 who are in need of online safety issues such as cybercrime. bullying and loss of control over sensitive media, including self-generated child sexual abuse material.
The helpline, which is available Monday to Friday between 9am and 5pm, is available in both Hindi and English to children and other stakeholders, including carers, parents/guardians, teachers, siblings, young adults and allies .
The initiative will provide support in a variety of ways, depending on the need and severity of the problem. Technical support includes assistance with removing content that the child believes to be intimate/private. Emotional support will be offered in the form of counseling to callers in psychological distress. Social support will extend to callers requiring social work intervention. Informative support includes factual and expert knowledge related to the problem. Legal support, including legal advice and intervention for victims and families, and referral support that connects victims with organizations across India and institutions, including law enforcement.
What are some other security issues parents should be aware of?
While the parental control solutions can help digital parenting, some of them can also pose serious security and privacy risks for children and parents because they have access to a significant amount of privacy-sensitive data, according to a report by researchers from Concordia University, Canada.
The teen monitoring app, TeenSafe, leaked thousands of children’s Apple IDs, email addresses and passwords. Family Orbit has uncovered about 281 GB of data on children, the report said.
Between 2015 and 2017, researchers from Citizen Lab, Cure53, and OpenNet Korea published a series of technical audits of three popular Korean parenting apps commissioned by the Korean government, Smart Sherif, Cyber Security Zone, and Smart Dream.
The security audits found serious security and privacy issues in the apps. Smart Sherif failed to adequately encrypt data on storage or in transit, while Smart Dream allowed unauthorized access to children’s messages and search history.
It is not possible to validate all parental control apps available in the market. Instead of opting for third-party parental control apps, it is always advisable to use the built-in tools or apps on Android or iOS devices that restrict the use of selected content, Arindam Mitra, Co-Founder, CTO, and President of Services , ProcessIT Global, told The Hindu.
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