Parental Controls
One thing that got me excited about Leopard is their Parental Control feature. Apple Insider describes it in a nutshell:
Parents can also set system restrictions that allow their children to only launch specific applications, or limit them from changing printer settings or from burning CDs. Content limitations (below), allow users to block dictionary words or webpages that they find objectionable. The web can be left unrestricted, set to automatically limit sites based on content filtering (which can be adjusted by manually adding a list of allowed or denied web sites), or restricted only to a given set of websites. By default, the latter option offers to let kids explore a selection of sites including Discovery, PBS, National Geographic, Disney, the Smithsonian; other sites can be added to the list.
Mail and iChat conversations can be limited to specific addresses, and time limits (above) can be defined to only allow access for a set amount of time per day on weekdays and on weekends. Bedtime settings limit computer use to specific on and off times, set for school nights and weekend nights. Logs can even record when the user account tries to access blocked web sites or unknown IM users, so parents can review the sites they are trying to access and give them permission (or try to determine why their kids are looking up how to build homemade fireworks).
For me, this is a welcome feature. I’ve mentioned in Technopinoy on how parents struggle to control the Internet surfing habits of their children. Apple’s decision to bundle this feature with Leopard is a step in the right direction.
October 24 2007 08:52 am | OS and Software
