About Parental Technologies

The term "parental controls" refers to the ability to restrict the viewing of content based on a rating. The acceptable rating level is defined by a parent and protected with a password. When a child attempts to view certain content, the rating of the content (if known) is compared to the acceptable rating level. The content is then blocked or allowed according to these factors.

Content can also be blocked depending on keywords found in the URL or in the content of the site. However, using keywords is not always reliable. If the category of gambling is blocked using the keyword "gamble," a news article that may interest a high school student for a research paper might be blocked. Most parental control programs use keywords in a limited fashion.

The concept of parental control does not only apply to computers. A variety of everyday devices such as DVD players normally feature some type of parental controls. The following compares general parental control methods used for web browsing versus other types of controls.

Note: The information contained here describes general parental control concepts and does not apply to any one particular software or device.

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