Fisher-Price Easy Link controls kids' access to online thrills

Limiting your kids' access to the treacherous internet isn't exactly a terrible idea, and while we highly doubt your three-year old would put itself in the path of a MySpace stalker, the Easy Link makes absolutely sure. This kid-friendly gaming platform aims to provide "a safe internet experience that locks kids into age-appropriate sites and won't let them click into files on the computer," and enables the youngster to launch select web portals depending on the character key they place into the "launch pad." Of note, you will need a Windows-based computer with a spare USB port, a connection to the 'net, and Internet Explorer 6.0+ in order to get things running properly, and while this will probably just teach your kid how to circumvent adult-instituted boundaries sooner than usual, it doesn't look like a bad option for just $30.

[Via USAToday, thanks Aaron]

[Terminal @ Aug 7th 2007 10:26PM]

No porn for nancy i guess

[fernando @ Aug 7th 2007 10:31PM]

Can we please ban this imbecile?

[strider_mt2k @ Aug 7th 2007 10:51PM]

Wildly inappropriate, dude.

[Eric @ Aug 7th 2007 10:46PM]

So you're required to use Internet Explorer with this?

I like the idea of a physical key to access different levels of permissions, however.

[strider_mt2k @ Aug 7th 2007 11:46PM]

Mommy, which muppet keeps the spyware out?

[strider_mt2k @ Aug 7th 2007 10:48PM]

Kal-El, my son:

I've placed the knowledge you need (Elmo loves to play) SHUT UP!

I've placed the knowledge you need in these...these living (hahahah that tickles!) WILL YOU SHUT UP!

Okay son, after a serious rethink, I've placed the knowledge you need in something else entirely...

[David M @ Aug 8th 2007 12:23AM]

I wonder if they also limit access to the poison control center website when the child inevitably chews on the chinese made Fisher-Price keyboard and gets lead poisoning.

[Steve @ Aug 8th 2007 12:26AM]

what about pr0n ?
haha

[James @ Aug 8th 2007 1:07AM]

"...and remember, kids: when you think computer security, think Fisher-Price."


Wow. I'm literally speechless; I am struck dumb by the prospect of a toy company whose name is synonymous with cheap, low-budget plasticky toys making a computer security/content blocking product. The only way this could have been more powerfully stunning would be if it were Nerf instead.

[PhilJ @ Aug 8th 2007 1:19AM]

Don't forget Fisher Price toys come in two flavors, leaded and unleaded.

Sorry, I'm a victim of my own habits.

[strider_mt2k @ Aug 8th 2007 10:23AM]

Hey, it's easier than eating those stupid paint chips.

[ShinichiKudou @ Aug 8th 2007 1:51AM]

Great way to make our offsprings even more sedentary.

[Tom Boucher @ Aug 8th 2007 8:37AM]

Amazingly enough with mac OS X and Safari you can do all this and more.

My daughters been surfing the six sites I say she can since she was just a little over 2. You create the bookmarks, lock it down, and if the link she tries to follow isn't in the same fqdn it won't move. She can't follow an ad to another site, nothing. It's fairly secure.

And you don't treat them like an idiot, and they learn to read faster because they know that 'Playhouse Disney' is two words and means playhouse disney, instead of smashing on an elmo to get to a website.

This is one of those few areas I haven't found a 'built in' analogue in the Windows world of with Firefox or IE.

[linkman2004 @ Aug 8th 2007 11:33AM]

What the hell is that kid staring at?

[Randavance @ Aug 9th 2007 2:08PM]

I remember when I was first alowed on the internet I was 7 years old and I was suppose to have an adult in the room with me at all times, after the summer came, and the room with the computer being ACless I was free to roam into the world of neopets, foxkids, and mature digimon fanfics.