I just LOL’d in a quiet office. ![]()
That’s gold!
I just LOL’d in a quiet office. ![]()
That’s gold!
So true.
One thing that shocked me which the kids did a lot was use the whatsApp disappearing messages and view-once images.
Then even the control apps that take screenshots every minute or whatever couldn’t see the images, and even at very young ages (8 year olds), the amount of porn and gore content that was shared was insane.
One particularly creative child found out that the youngest (kindergarten) used shared credentials -so the teacher could log in the entire class before the kids arrived as the kids couldn’t yet type. Said child then proceeded to log into their younger siblings account (and a few others) and create folders on the desktop with rude words… (not that bad, but frowned upon).
That resulted in a parent backlash - which, you can imagine, resulted in the kids finding this even funnier - so they escalated and started replacing the default wallpaper with content…
I don’t miss my tech support days!
the kids today are the hackers of tomorrow. And they don’t bother waiting until tomorrow.
The thing is without hackers we wouldn’t be where we are today. Probably still on windows11 or something. So there is that ambivalence about hackers.
Might be a really smart kid. I’ve heard that many young people do not understand the concept of folders on the disk at all. They have no idea how files are stored.
A smart phone for kids with parental control in concept. https://www.galaxus.ch/en/s1/product/hmd-fusion-x1-128-gb-noir-656-dual-sim-5g-smartphones-59053780
There’s been a few of these over the years, e.g. the BarkPhone.
The main issue is - most are “normal” smart phones sold commercially, with a custom OS on top. It’s relatively trivial for the child to flash a clean android OS onto it, effectively rendering the controls useless.
I’ve had an idea for a while, to setup a MVNO specifically for parents. You get a SIM, and the operator filters our porn, and other stuff you choose not to expose your child to. Could even do daily limits on hours to social media and games…
a Freudian slip? ![]()
out* but indeed, filtering our porn would also be good, as I doubt anyone wants to see that!
Have also noticed that it is a new phone with an outdated OS. Android 14!
Just get iPhones, put them under JAMF or one of the other cloud MDMs, get an MSP account for DNSfilter and you’re almost there.
If you want actually filter the content and maybe try to avoid their friends sending them (links to) PPTX docs with a bit more “X” than just in the file extension, it will be much tougher.
The reality is that most parents probably act on a “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy as the discussion on allowing a blocked site is probably as draining as it gets.
What is a PPTX doc? And what is bad about it? what are JAMF, MDM and MSP accounts?
Powerpoint. The extra Xs beyond the file extension means powerpoint file with porn.
Nasty. Now RobBob spends all these sunny days opening pptx files.
The x stands for XML-based file formats. Seriously it’s been here for almost 20 years or so?
I think anybody not using office 2007 and younger doesn’t care.
I know I stopped using MS office long before that.
JAMF is an MDM solution (mobile device management). Let’s you control what applications are installed on mobiles (and in some cases, take screenshots every x minutes).
MDM software is typically used by companies when you have a work phone (or want to connect your personal phone to work email).
Similar to MAM (mobile application management), which does the same but at application level.
MSP (in the context of DNSfilter) is a managed service provider - means that once configured, the mobile phone uses DNSfilter’s DNS (the system that converts a URL, like www.google.com, to an IP address, like 8.8.8.8), so if a child want to see website-with-porn.com, when it does a DNS lookup, the DNS can refuse to return the IP effectively blocking it.
Until the child discovers IP addresses, and types the IP address for the website into the browser. Or flashes the phone to delete all the safety settings. Or figures out the parent’s password (easier than most think, as you constantly type it in for exceptions). Or the child uses “allowed” apps (e.g. whatsApp) to browse to unsanitary content (telegram, whatsapp and social media are ideal for this)…
Usually, when the phone is factory-enrolled into an MDM, you can’t flash it.
Of course, you’d have to block WhatsApp and especially Telegram (that’s a rabbit hole…).
I mean, you could package all that into a service for parents and all and there’s probably quite a few of them especially in Switzerland who’d gladly offload that kind of responsibility on to an MSP…but then, at some point, you’d still need to have a talk with your kids, right? ![]()
And what about the adults. They spend hours a day mindlessly on their handy. They are also fully addicred.
There are a few people on here who are slaves to their mobiles.
They even carry them around their homes the whole time!
I am and I do. I get updates to my glucose levels on it.
To date, I haven’t found a phone that is unflashable.
Look at r/parentalcontrols for examples - it’s full of kids providing instructions on how to flash phones which are sold as “secure”. Some are harder (needing jumper cables and whatnot), but none are bullerproof.
Heck, even the hp laptops’ bios lock can be bypassed if you are hard headed enough (hint: get a better soldering iron, as you need to replace the bios chip); but it’s doable.
So, you can flash all those iCloud-locked iPads and iPhone for sale on Ricardo by Fundsachenverkauf?