Parental controlls

[OctopusInc]

Seriously, one of the video stations is XXX. Can't we limit the kids from getting to that and/or other content. I know about the private feature, but still...

I'm trying to kill cable here...

[agentlame]

did you read this: http://forum.boxee.tv/showthread.php?t=676 ?

[OctopusInc]

That would work. It is more of a workaround though. I still think that parental controls of some type are an important feature for this to become truly family friendly. I know it isn't the most exciting thing to code, but it isn't likely that Joe Dad will go tinkering around moding files.

[marcel]

thanks agentlame for the workaround...@OctopusInc i agree with you and this has been forwarded to our product team...:)

[agentlame]

That would work. It is more of a workaround though. I still think that parental controls of some type are an important feature for this to become truly family friendly. I know it isn't the most exciting thing to code, but it isn't likely that Joe Dad will go tinkering around moding files.

good points... sorry if i implied it was a 'solution'... it's not, in anyway.

i think parental controls are going to big request... i can think of a lot of movies i have in my library that i wouldn't what 'my children' to watch.

[OctopusInc]

Cool...glad you agree guys. I'm really, REALLY looking forward to the next "refresh" in a few days!

[DGMurdockIII]

i would like to see this work with the vista Parental controlls , and how about restricting buy movie rating and tv show rating and litmitng the time that kids can watch

[anshuman]

yes, + 1 , Wants it.

[webmasterbill2]

+1!! And soon, I hope. Thanks!

[marcel]

we are aware that this is important...:)

[mwpei]

+1 just want to put it in that I would like this feature as well.

[jamesfoster]

+1

I also think that porn should be off by default! You should have to actively do something to add those sources.

Just to add, if its restricted, you shouldn't get "access denied", you should just not even see them.

This should extend to all streaming content. YouTube, Flickr, etc.

I also think that 'my children' should not be able to hide anything from me. I want to know everything they've watched, everything they've searched for/viewed on flickr etc. It should save their history to somewhere under my account so I can log in and go to Profile>Family>Activity. Then I can review it and reset it.

You might see this as an invasion of privacy, but I say my children should have no privacy under a certain age.

I'd like to hear what everyone else thinks about that.

[iBog]

+1
I agree porn should be off by default. (it offends some people's sensibilities more than violence)

+1
As a previous poster mentioned, I like the idea that a parent can create "child" profiles and enforce parental controls for that child account. This profile could include check boxes for MPAA ratings the user is permitted to view (dont even display what the user is not permitted to see). It could also include such things as the time and days they are permitted to use to use Boxee. For really controlling parents, this could even include a "bank" of minutes (per day, per week or per month) they are permitted to use Boxee.

+1
I don't know how you intend to get the ratings of content from Internet streams. I remember a voluntary standard called PICS so content providers could rate stuff on their website. This PICS rating could be used by browsers to determine if browsing to a site should be allowed. The standard is effectively dead. If the content or streams are not tagged with a rating and Boxee is unable to look up a rating what can be done? Are there new standards that people use to tag YouTube, Flickr and others?

@JamesFoster...because you asked...

-1
I believe that privacy is a fundamental human right. I sincerely hope your children don't keep a diary. I fear when I hear about over zealous parents wanting to control every aspect of their childrens lives. I think we need to respect our children and give them some dignity. How can we gain their respect and trust by creating a police state?

If I decide to share the information, Boxee will show my friends what I've watched. I think this history should be limited and only available to people I authorize. No one needs to know what I'm looking for and I don't think parents need to know this information about their children.

I understand the need for parental controls but I worry that these controls can be easily abused.

Maybe all this is academic because I don't know what age you had in mind. Regardless, I'm just sharing my thoughts as requested.

[agentlame]

without completely echoing ibog, i would like to say:

i also to not believe it is reasonably feasible to for boxee to restrict content that does not adhere to some type of consistent rating system (a la: mpaa ratings)

i couldn't imagine a way to limit pictures, short of a native rating system being built into flickr/picasa. even then, you'd have to hope the person uploading bothered to tick the 'adult' box; or that the community flagged it as 'adult' before your children got to it.

this is equally true of online video sites. some videos get flagged as 'potentially offensive' on youtube, ant those could be easily hidden... but the fact is i have seen a lot potentially offensive material on youtube with no warning.

also, consider that 'offensive' is subjective. again, on youtube i have seen many things that concern me on a human level--ie: hatespeech. risque isn't always a measure of decency.


i can't help but agree with ibog in his summation of 'privacy is a fundamental human right'... and would further add that while the internet does provide almost unfettered access it a wealth of 'questionable content'; i worry more for the children that have been 'overly sheltered' than the ones that have been 'overly exposed', while recognizing both can have disturbing extremes.

while i would never tell someone how to raise their own children, the idea of 'my children' one day leaving my home, and getting smacked in the face with how to world works concerns me.


lastly, from a ideological perspective: i can say that not only should the boxee team not consider the idea of a 'parental-backdoor', i know that i would immediately cease to use any product that added such a feature. it's not whether firefox 'does' keep track of my browsing habits--against my consent--that concerns me, it's whether it 'can'. no other media center i have seen has this type of 'logging' feature.

from a technological perspective: buy default applications that run in userspace can not write to another user's home directory, in a posix-compliant operating system. (linux, os x, vista+)

[iBog]

you'd have to hope the person uploading bothered to tick the 'adult' box; or that the community flagged it as 'adult' before your children got to it.


The person providing the content should be responsible for rating it or providing tags about the content. I like the of "community flagged" and lets the community collectively rate content. Not perfect but it's something.

I believe YouTube and other content sites want to be responsible and so they've provided a mechanism for uploaders or the community to tag or flag content. All it takes is for Boxee to read this information and look in the profile to see what action to take when it encounters certain content.

[jamesfoster]

I tend to agree with you. I was taking an extreme view point, mainly just to spark a debate.

I do however think that if my children are searching for questionable content, I should be concerned. For the most part this is down to parenting, but you can't account for the time they heard something at school and searched for it and saw something they shouldn't.

I don't know. I'm not a parent yet so I can't put myself in their shoes. I'd like to hear what a real parent thinks?

[gene_mingo]

As a father of five children, ages 11 years - 6 months, I am hoping boxee will replace my cable. I would like to see an option to exclude the xxx content (this is mainly due to the embarrassment I feel when showing boxee to my friends or family).

As far as all the other feeds are concerned, I think that it is my responsibility to monitor what my children watch on tv or boxee. I do not see any reason that I should rely on software to make decisions about content that my children are viewing. The tv is not my babysitter. Just like the family use computer, it is in a common room and my children are supervised while using it.

[iBog]

Gene, I like your approach for monitoring what your children watch.

I think parental controls in Boxee would be similar to that of the V-chip (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/V-chip) found in TVs if parents wanted to use it.

By the way, you can go into SETTINGS | MEDIA SOURCES and remove the Video Podcasts source.

[agentlame]

By the way, you can go into SETTINGS | MEDIA SOURCES and remove the Video Podcasts source.

even better, you can use this feed to only remove the 'xxx' feed:
http://forum.boxee.tv/showthread.php?t=676&highlight=family-ify

[nuclearw]

been a whilesince anyone posted in here ... I like the idea of having HULU content available but I don't like the variety .. Veggie Tales next to American Virgin(not exactly just trying to make a point..)

Does the feed for hulu route through boxee or is it accessed directly?

[giovanisp]

+1
I agree porn should be off by default. (it offends some people's sensibilities more than violence)


+1 for that statement...




No one needs to know what I'm looking for and I don't think parents need to know this information about their children.


-1 for that. If they are under 13 I think we (as parents) must know what they watched! It is widely (and psychologically) accepted that children under 13 have their behavior persuaded by what they see and hear. Better be sure they are watching the right thing on a media center with this lot of content choice...

[agentlame]

-1 for that. If they are under 13 I think we (as parents) must know what they watched! It is widely (and psychologically) accepted that children under 13 have their behavior persuaded by what they see and hear. Better be sure they are watching the right thing on a media center with this lot of content choice...

remember, ibog's comment was in regards to unconditional spying, not parental controls.

i think the quality of said parenting is a lot more affective than spying, personally. my parents never spied on me, they just lead by example. :)

parental controls are something that should be in boxee, no question... but remember: locks only keep the honest people out.

[JOhnBoB]

As an adult, I love the wild and free internets. I got my AppleTV and Boxee 2 days ago, so I am a total n00b. Yesterday I was watched Digg and the F-Bomb got dropped a couple times. I know NOW, but I was not expecting it. My 3 year-old wasn't paying attention, buy my 6 year-old told me that "that word is NOT 'propriat"

If Internet is ever going to make it into the livingroom, there is going to have to be some kind of system to handle ratings.

[jamesfoster]

You watched Digg? LOL.

The Diggnation feed has the explicit tag set. iTunes uses it to put a little icon next to explicit shows.

Maybe when Boxee gets parental controls, that's one if the indicators it will use to warn you or block content. imdb has ratings for movies. There are bound to be sources for TV show ratings. Its doable.

I'm sure the team are working on it and it'll be a great feature.

[lizj]

My kids are teens now so I don't restrict their viewing very much, but all our cable boxes are set to show TV-MA or "adult" rated content only after being unlocked with a code that only I know. For me, personally, it's a good thing too, as I have a chance to stop and reflect whether or not I really want to watch whatever it is.

Whatever kinds of controls can be built in at this point would be a good thing, IMO. My brother has younger children who are very computer literate - he would definitely like Boxee but I can see there being some concern about limits on their viewing at this point.

[jhuggett]

I think something that would go a long way in helping would be to implement an administrative profile and a users profiles. Only the administrative profile could be used to add feeds/apps/repos and other settings while the user profiles can only navigate what's allowed for that profile.

Content on the internet is pretty much impossible to filter 100 percent but by being able to restrict what can be done on the interface you can certainly limit the exposure.

Thanks for some great software BTW! Very impressive.

[LTParis]

I think something that would go a long way in helping would be to implement an administrative profile and a users profiles. Only the administrative profile could be used to add feeds/apps/repos and other settings while the user profiles can only navigate what's allowed for that profile.
I think that would be a great solution to help "lock down" certian aspects of the UI.

I want to +1 this feature request too. I have a 3 year old and 2 year old and my 3 year old navigates the PC and Boxee like a pro. So it would be beneficial to lock down content and have something like pin code access.

[sdiddy407]

After scanning through only half the library so far are apps that either have nudity, soft-core, profanity or other adult content.

Babelgum
Next Networks (Barely Digital)
Funny or Die
College Humor (Bleep Bloop)
IGN (Babetology)
Koldcast (The World Wide Dead)
Bite.ca
eGuiders
Wizard

I had the adult content block on so maybe the solution is to make the app library available only when a password is given. Therefore blocking app install when a parent isnt present. I still think that Boxee needs to do a better job showing/filtering what the rating of apps should be but this fix is better for the meanwhile.

http://forums.boxee.tv/showthread.php?t=19170

[marcel]

Adult content is blocked at the moment but we will look into the other issues .

[CJStrong]

Just had a question - I have a Boxee Box and a family (ages 5 and up) :) I have movies/shows for different audiences in different NAS folders.

- Is there a way of allowing "Children content" NAS folder/local source to be viewable by all and other sources have a PIN Lock feature? Once the PIN is activated, content is available - they are able to be viewed/watched and the ability to lock it again or after a timeout period. Once the content becomes approved, I now move the file from one folder to the "Children folder" and Boxee Box picks it up accordingly as expected. Granted this would only be good for local content.

- It would also be great to have PIN control to lock out config/settings. Currently, anyone that has a profile has the ability to change all/any settings. Maybe have a master profile account linked to the Boxee Box...

- It would be great if you can block all online content by default and approve specific feeds via checkbox in settings? For users/children who don't necessarily need online content availability but have it available when necessary.

Right now the Boxee Box is great for certain target audiences but with a few changes, it could be great for family entertainment. Children seeing content that we don't recommend or preventing the settings from being changed is a major disadvantage right now and forced us to create a "bogus" family Boxee account that just has local family content shown in movies but still allows settings to be changed.

Keep up the great work!

[robertm]

I think something that would go a long way in helping would be to implement an administrative profile and a users profiles. Only the administrative profile could be used to add feeds/apps/repos and other settings while the user profiles can only navigate what's allowed for that profile.

Content on the internet is pretty much impossible to filter 100 percent but by being able to restrict what can be done on the interface you can certainly limit the exposure.

Thanks for some great software BTW! Very impressive.



I was just going to create a new thread to suggest this. It would be helpful for family and guests who do not need to be nosing around in the settings.

The way I would see it working is you have a administrative account where you can also set a special override password. You create the subordinate account and switch to that profile. Once there a special combination of keys brings up the override password box. After you have entered the password you are told that you are in override mode and will remain that way until you log out or switch users. Once in override mode you can assign apps to favorites (the only app area the subordinate can access) as well as add file sources.

The subordinate user should not be allowed into the setting menus at all and, as I mentioned, would only have access to the favorites as far as apps go.

[sdiddy407]

Adult content is blocked at the moment but we will look into the other issues .

It is not blocked if the apps I mentioned earlier in this thread are still available.