Parental Controls

[Nom-de-Nook]

Parental Controls and other security measures are great ideas.

So is doing some research and buying a device that has them OOB

[Colleen_Rose]

How do you watch a prono on an e-reader?  If you can stream movies, aren't their controls on those accounts (my netflix account has them)? Did you discuss your expectations with your daughter or just expect her to do the right thing?  Sounds like weak parenting rather than weak programming.

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motherBG wrote:

I had buy a nook for my 13 year old .....come to find out when I walk into her room that she was watching porno,it was a disappointment I was sad that I had buy something to help her and she was misusing it ,I do want a way to block all those nasty sites feel like I had lost Percent of the trust I had on her ..I am sad.

 I took away the nook and am not planning for her to get it back I feel like I waste money and I had lost a lot more. I lost trust on my daughter....I had buy that to save money on buying books I had spend over $2000.00 dollars on books for her and my son in the last year and since on the nook are like 1/2 off I really though it was a great idea. But NO its NOT

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[SlaughterS]

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sygram wrote:

I'm sorry, but are you people for real?

The last few post here seem made up to me.  Does everyone really want the Nanny State to take over for you?....

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You are choosing, not the state. 

And, YES - you do need to filter what your children see and what they do.  But, remember you will probably only be successful about half the time. So the trick is not to shelter your children to the point of stifling their exposure to the outside world.

My advice is to not let software (or any single approach) be a crutch.  The most sucessful "Parental Contols" I've seen, is the constant active interest of concerned parents.

13 year old 

[MyHonestView]

I read your post as well as some of the repsonses.  I totally agree with your request.  Those who say that you who should not have bought a reader for your kids if you want to keep them secure have their heads in the sand.  Another reposnse says that we should not depend on devices to do our job.  In all actuality, we should not have to worry about items that are designed to "overide" our parental wishes.  If you have good kids, and you want to keep them good, then you need to control and moniter everything that they do.  Don't be sneaky about it.  Let them know that you are watching them.  They will thank you for it when they get older and have a succesfull job with a good education,

[MyHonestView]

What "Perfect World" do you live in??  Things don't work that way.  What happen to "Lead us not into temptation, but Deliver us from Evil"????

[Euphronius]

I'm with the original poster. I asked about financial security and parental controls at the store, and now on Christmas afternoon with my 10-year-old daughter in love with her nook, am feeling a little lied to by the sales person.

Orignal poster wrote a while ago, and now it is nearly 2012. It is reasonable to expect that B&N would program in some basic ratings, and let users opt in. I'm not throwing my ten-year-old in a furnished basement with a nook and a book of pizza coupons and telling ehr to raise herself. She has a good moral compass, and will be generally using this device to read books, not play games, and be within sight of her mother or me. I'm not asking for a rent-a-parent.

But, having used home computers since the late 1980s, I think it's entriely reasonable to expect some modicum of internet safety to be included in this device when it is specifically marketed as appropriate for kids. As well as fiscal safety, but that weird oversight is a separate issue.

I was thinking of readablility, battery charge, and available library when I vetted this device, comparing it to  Kindle Fire, Sony and iPad (which is too pricey for now).  I was blind-sided by the lack of attention to basics. I did ask the right questions, and recevied deceitful answers. When I buy a car, I don't expect to figure out my own emergency braking system or how to illuminate the higway during night driving, you expect a reasonable attention to user safety to be covered by the manufacturer.

To all the snarks who dog-piled on the original poster, do anti-locking brakes mean a stupid person can't drive off a cliff? No. But they might keep an out-of-town driver from slipping over one by accident. If my ten-year-old daughter is hell bent on pursuing pornography and bomb making instructions, is it B&N's fault if she finds them? No. But there should be a reasonable rudimentary parental control system in place for software marketed to children so those books don't come up in the first page of results for "Catching butterflies."

My daughter's in love with this thing, so I'll continue to see what I have to do to perform B&Ns due diligence retroactively, but I will not be recommending this to friends with kids.

My kids will eventually explore things that I would be uncomfortable with, and I am not naive or surprised by it, but they deserve a fair crack at childhood while they are children, and when a ladyporn book called "Rding the Cock Horse" comes up in the first five returns from the search "Free nook books for children," (my daughter's first search, while I was figuring out why free books wouldn't download without a credit card) there is work to be done.

[ChipPM]

The nook uses the credit card to encrypt the book to the users account.

[cnbmom]

I totally agree with you.  I too, went to the store and personally talked to customer service reps who said that I would be able to control what my 10 yr old does on his nook.  He received the Simple Touch because we did not want him to have open access to the internet and games.  We wanted him to be able to read age appropriate kid friendly books at e-book prices and without having to carry multiple heavy books. 

Like stated in another review from today...I searched "free books" and the first page that popped up offered HG Wells Time Machine, which is likely age appropriate....but it was listed on the same page as "Lap Dance" and "Not Just An Orgy".  I have set the nook so that it will require a password to purchase a book.  However, I would like to be able to allow him to "shop" for books while monitoring his usage without having to answer questions like "Mom, what's an orgy?" 

I've had my own original nook for almost a year, and it goes with me everywhere.  And while yes, it is my responsibility to monitor everything he does, I should surely be able to sit on the couch to help him find a book without instantly seeing the titles I mentioned above.  When we physically go into a book store, I would not return if those books were on display near the cash register or on a display table near the kids section.  They would hopefully be in an appropriate section....one that I would not allow my children to visit. 

[morgrace]

I have recently purchased a Nook color for my 10 year old.  I was using the password protection for her so that I had to enter a password before an app or book could be purchased, but she was coming to me constantly because she was finding free apps and books to download and they also needed a password.  I finally decided to trust her and gave her the password, but linked her account to my e-mail so that I get notifications with all of the books/apps that she purchases.  That way, I can monitor her via e-mail (not only to make sure that she's not spending money, but also to make sure that what she is choosing is age appropriate) and give her some freedom with her nook.  But she knows that I'm monitoring her and if she does something she's not supposed to, that password will change very quickly lol.  

[ProfReader]

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morgrace wrote:

I have recently purchased a Nook color for my 10 year old.  I was using the password protection for her so that I had to enter a password before an app or book could be purchased, but she was coming to me constantly because she was finding free apps and books to download and they also needed a password.  I finally decided to trust her and gave her the password, but linked her account to my e-mail so that I get notifications with all of the books/apps that she purchases.  That way, I can monitor her via e-mail (not only to make sure that she's not spending money, but also to make sure that what she is choosing is age appropriate) and give her some freedom with her nook.  But she knows that I'm monitoring her and if she does something she's not supposed to, that password will change very quickly lol.  

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Good for you,that is an excellent way to approach this. 

[luvmypyrs]

Believe me, I completely understand what you mean about parents responsibility, but with this internet age, and how easy it is to access these things, I think companies have responsibilities too.  We have raised 2 kids in this internet age.  It definitely presents a whole host of new problems.  I know that most people don't understand what it is to find out their child that they have raised with all the right "appropriate behaviors", and have taken all the right precautions, is now in the fight of their lives, because they are addicted to pornography at the tender age of 13.  And this is happening to kids as young as age 8 years old!  It used to be mostly boys, and now it is happening with greater regularity among the young girls as well. It is devastating, and it can happen completely by accident.  Our oldest son found himself in a porn site when he was searching the internet for cheats for one of his Nintendo games!  Then, the site wouldn't let him out, and it just kept bouncing him from one site to another.  I think they call it "webbing".  Billions of dollars are spent annually to try to get our kids (and adults as well) addicted to it, because it is a multi billion dollar industry. 

Please do NOT misunderstand me. We, as parents have a huge responsibility to help our kids through this maze, but it doesn't stop there.  We cannot do it alone.  We need the help of these companies that put out these types of devices that could get our kids into trouble.  There is an excellent web site on this subject.  It is covenanteyes.com.  They also have an excellent software (not sure if I am calling it by its right name.  I am a computer illiterate!) for computers.  It doesn't just block sites, you have a manager (usually a trusted friend or family member) that gets a regular report, showing what sites you have been to, to hold you accountable.  It i excellent, and there is excellent information there.  Read the blogs.

I love devices like e readers, and computers (We are old enough that we remember when computers first came onto the scene!).  They are great devices, but they also bring with them new problems.  It isn't a case of just keeping magazines away from our kids anymore.

[RHWright]

While I agree B&N could provide better search and filtering tools, I have a few points to make. (Some may be duplicated from my posts in similar threads.)

1) Search is pretty basic, and it's GIGO (garbage in, garbage out). If you do a general search like "free books", yes, you should expect to get every type of book in those listings. Though my recent sample searches still turned up less than 10% erotica among the first page results when this was done. More specific searches, like "free mystery" or "free sci-fi" reduced or eliminated those type of listings. "Free kids" and "free teen" produced no inappropriate content.

2) B&N's terms of service for the site specifically state (emphasis added):

"VIII. AGE OF USERS
Our products and services are marketed for and directed towards purchase by adults or with the consent of adults. Individuals under the age of 18 ("Minors") are not permitted to use Barnes & Noble websites without the supervision of a parent or legal guardian. Furthermore, we do not knowingly collect or solicit personal information from children under the age of 13 or knowingly allow such persons to register for an online account or to post personal information on our websites. Should we learn that someone under the age of 13 has provided any personal information to or on any of the Barnes & Noble websites, we will remove that information as soon as possible."

So, they are basically telling you flat out, "Don't create an account for a 10-year-old or let them shop here without direct supervision." B&N is intended for adults and marketed to adults, so despite good intentions to keep the kid's section uncluttered, there is a chance that your kid will see adult material if they use this site.

What they're saying, in essence, is don't send your minor kid into the store unaccompanied. They may end up, despite everyone's good intentions, in the wrong place.

You wouldn't send your 10-year-old into the B&M store by themselves would you? At the very least, you'd walk them into the store, to the kid's section, and (I hope) stay nearby in the store.

If you're worried that you might have to explain naughty words to your child, or that left unsupervised they might be enticed and become addicted to erotica, you have an effective option that still allows them to use the device: don't register it to an account, and purchase and sideload all their content yourself.

It may not be as easy as giving them free, unfettered access to a full-blown B&N account, but it is still relatively easy.

Yes, B&N needs to improve the search function in many aspects. I get irrelevant results all the time, even with specific searches.

I just think this whole parental controls/inappropriate content discussion, across multiple threads, is just getting blown way out of proportion.

[popov]

 Of course you need parental controls on reading devices. Duh. It's not some liberal agenda or some kind of slippery slope for the nanny state - it's common sense. I have evolution psychology books in my library that contain explicit sexual content and I don't want my 10 year old reading it, even though the descriptions are fairly academic. 

You can't sit there every second looking over your kid's shoulder to make sure they don't stumble into the wrong books in your library. And, it's the nature of kids to be curious and explore. You want to encourage that but have limits.

It's a glaring and incredibly short-sighted design flaw not having parent controls. Period.

Suggestion: I think you might be able to set up a separate account for your kids devices. That will require that you use a different credit card. I'm not sure what happens when you enter the same billing address. That might prevent you from creating another account.

[ProfReader]

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popov wrote:

 Of course you need parental controls on reading devices. Duh. It's not some liberal agenda or some kind of slippery slope for the nanny state - it's common sense. I have evolution psychology books in my library that contain explicit sexual content and I don't want my 10 year old reading it, even though the descriptions are fairly academic. 

You can't sit there every second looking over your kid's shoulder to make sure they don't stumble into the wrong books in your library. And, it's the nature of kids to be curious and explore. You want to encourage that but have limits.

It's a glaring and incredibly short-sighted design flaw not having parent controls. Period.

Suggestion: I think you might be able to set up a separate account for your kids devices. That will require that you use a different credit card. I'm not sure what happens when you enter the same billing address. That might prevent you from creating another account.

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The account only requires a separate email address. You can use the same cc and address, but B&N's tos require the account holder to be aleast 13.

[DebiG]

All I ask for is a way to disable all items EXCEPT books so that when my son stays up late it is to read, not to play games.  

I guess I need to get him the simple touch.

[JohnMcG]

A couple points for those who think the most apt response to this request is a rant about engaged parenting:

• The request is being made by people actively seeking a way to balance using exciting technology and not opening a floodgate of adult material in their children's bedroom.  I'm not seeing people wishing to outsource their parenting to Barnes & Noble, or who think that, if these features existed, then using them would have discharged them of their duty to be engaged in what content their children are consuming.
• The most common use case for the Nook is to use it to read books. I suspect even the most obsessed helipcopter parent doesn't peer over her child's shoulder whenever she's reading a book.
• The term "nanny state" is pejorative because it refers to efforts by various levels of government to have a similar level of care, control, and monitoring of its citizens that parents (or "nannies") typically have over their minor children.  When applied to efforts by parents to govern thier minor children's consumption of media, it loses its force.
• Perhaps we should have been more through in investigating whether these features existed.  But remember this is the Nook Color.  What type of books will color be a value-added feature for?  Some art and photography books, graphic novels, but mostly children's books.There's a kids' section on Barnes & Noble's site.  I don't think it's absurd that some parents would think that a product being marketed in part based on its appeal to children would include tools that would make it safe for them to use.
• We are aware that even the best filter is not perfect, and not a substitute for engaged parenting.  Still, even a simple filter would have to be actively circumvented, whereas no filter would not be.  That moment is one where a child's conscience could kick in and realize they're doing something they shouldn't be.  That's worthwhile.

Parenting is tough.  We're not asking B&N and other companies to do our parenting for us.  We're asking them to help us out a little bit.  I'm sorry if making it simpler to keep kids away from adult materials causes some extra work and inconvenience for the rest of us, but I would consider it a worthwhile investment.

What we ended up doing was disabling the web feature with the security code, so our daughter will need us to turn it on for her if she'd like to use it.  This leaves the opening for the book store, but we can probably handle that.

[themudmom]

When I walk into a B&N store I have NEVER EVER seen any porno, what makes you think I want it on my NOOK????

There are inappropriate "sex" books out there that just pop up.  There needs to be a way to BLOCK those kinds of books.  The other day I did a search for the Fablehaven Series WITH my 10 year old and an Erotica book was first on the list.  You can password protect all you want but that doesn't stop the cover picture and discription from coming up.

B&N needs to come up with a way to block those books.  They are ADVERTISING toward children now and they need to have blocking capablilities in place.  What they really should do is allow us to tell them if this is a NOOK used by school aged children and then they load a DIFFERENT criteria for that NOOK.  They have amazing books out there for kids and a NOOK just for kids would be well received!!! 

[geertm]

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themudmom wrote:

When I walk into a B&N store I have NEVER EVER seen any porno, what makes you think I want it on my NOOK????

There are inappropriate "sex" books out there that just pop up.  There needs to be a way to BLOCK those kinds of books.  The other day I did a search for the Fablehaven Series WITH my 10 year old and an Erotica book was first on the list.  You can password protect all you want but that doesn't stop the cover picture and discription from coming up.

B&N needs to come up with a way to block those books.  They are ADVERTISING toward children now and they need to have blocking capablilities in place.  What they really should do is allow us to tell them if this is a NOOK used by school aged children and then they load a DIFFERENT criteria for that NOOK.  They have amazing books out there for kids and a NOOK just for kids would be well received!!! 

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A search for "Fablehaven Series" does not give any erotic result. All results are books from the series.

[HoldenMH]

I'm looking for this exact thing.  I'm hoping they will develop something.  I'm trying to see if I can put limits on my WiFi router at least for access times.

[HoldenMH]

It's not really that much material to cover -- these are the standard parental control topics.  If the Nook developers want to encourage young readers, they really need parental controls.