AT&T Launches Parental Controls for Cell Phones
While it's easy for parents parents to monitor their childrens' Web surfing on home computers (thanks to multiple software programs), the task of monitoring a child's cell phone activity is much more difficult. What's more, modern phones (particularly smart phones) can view just about everything a computer can, which includes pornography and other questionable sites for monitors. AT&T is one of the first to address parental cell phone control with its Smart Limits program. Smart Limits allows parents to prevent phone use during certain hours, block text messaging, and filter the sort of Web-based content that can be viewed on the phone.
According to an overview at WSJ.com, the program isn't perfect: While it will filter Web access through the AT&T network, it doesn't block Internet content when accessed via the iPhone's Wi-Fi connection. So, if you bought your (lucky, spoiled) kids an iPhone, maybe you'd better hurry up and have that talk about where they can and can't go online, lest they find someone else's version on YouTube.
From textually.org and WSJ.com
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