Kids Guard USB stick is guaranteed to frustrate, encourage circumvention
By Darren Murph 
posted Oct 26th 2009 3:19PM
posted Oct 26th 2009 3:19PM
The concept here is far from new, but that doesn't mean that the latest iteration isn't way more frustrating. For kids just looking to "discover themselves" somewhere on the world wide web, the Kids Online Guard USB Stick is a nightmare of the worst kind. Designed to keep your offspring away from files, websites and folders that you deem inappropriate, it seems to work by triggering limits when plugged in, and when unplugged, the whole PC likely locks everyone out. Of course, we're guessing that this is just the thing to train your kid to become the planet's next great circumventer / hacker, so if viewing this as a "training tool" makes you sleep easier, you can get one headed your way for $21.69.[Thanks, Frank]
this should hold back anyone with half a brain for about....3 minutes maybe
I would have just killed my parents if they would put some crap like that on my computer when i was a teenager. I didnt need them to know what i was looking at and who i was talking to(at the time)
Thanks for affirming why there's a market for devices like these.
See you on the next episode of Cold Case Files...
I bet you an emo little bitch who thinks the world owes them. Is that about right?
These type of devices frustrate me to no end. Obviously they have a marketability to them but it serves to prevent our children rather than teach them.
I would like to live in a world where we no longer stopped people from doing stuff and simply educated people (including kids) what is right and wrong and let them choose their direction.
It's funny, few people argue that kids learn things at an incredible rate.... yet few parents give their kids the trust that they can learn right/wrong at that same pace.
Do you have any kids? Comments like yours always strike me as very naive. "Just educate your kids and let them make their own choices" is an incredibly naive statement. Do you give your 5 year old the car keys? A book of matches? A knife? No, obviously not. Do you send them into the liquor store for you? No. 10 year old? No. 15? Well... the matches, and he knife.
Parenting is about educating AND choosing when and how appropriately to expose your children to the things of this world. Giving your kid an open internet pipe and saying "now don't do anything bad" is idiotic. I have no idea whether this is an appropriate or functional device or not, but I applaud active parents who CARE, and who try to manage their households rather than just letting the crap of the world seep in through their TVs and internet, and hope their young, impressionable children will choose to do the "right thing" based on the extensive "education" they've given them.
Grow up.
Your absolutely right kids should be given the chance to make their own choices maybe its because of people like the one who's telling you to grow up that we have stuff like parental locks and what not. EDUCATION IS A KEY! not locked doors!.
@raeesgillani: I like locked doors. It keeps people like you out of my house.
loool
I'm going with Randy on this one. There is a point at which I would say, "back off and let the kid decide", but sitting back and letting your child learn everything by themselves is asinine. If you saw your kid sticking their fingers through the hinge of an open door and playing around with it, would you sit back and let your child figure out that when the door closes, their fingers are gone? Protect your child until they are at the age where they can truly comprehend that which they are dealing with, THEN let them decide.
For such things as pornography and other sexual content on the internet, I would say that age is far higher than people seem to think. You just can't form a true conception of sex if the exposure you get is primarily from the internet, and let's face it, regardless of parenting, the kid is going to get more from the internet than you unless you take some action. I wish my concept of sexuality had not been so heavily influenced by popular media, something I'm still trying to overcome today.
On the topic of internet messaging via forums, etc, I'd say you really just have to know your kid. Definitely above 13 though. Beyond that, teach them not to share any information, and how to identify someone with sketchy intentions. For all intensive purposes, people can only get the information you give them; what you give them is the key.
Back to the gadget in question, I would say that this is indeed the other end of the asinine spectrum IF it's used alone and not in conjunction to other education. However, if it can aid in my first point AND the parents teach their children about the truth behind complex topics, then I'd say it's perfectly fine.
Hey! My parents would send me to the liquor store and to buy ice.
Brings me back to the days where I would bring my highschool's network to its knee's just to circumvent a firewall blocking me from playing flash games.
It's a little known fact that all über hackers play flash games.
And why exactly is there something like a Crusader cross on it? Make the cross red and write "Protect me, my Lord, from my family finding my secret sins"
it's more like a 'cross' on it, as those virus protection software with shield and cross icon.
Honestly, it seems like those would be the only kind of people interested in purchasing this. Instead of letting their kids experience stuff they just forbid it and make it all the more tempting...
I know when I was kid and I got busted doing something on the computer my parents would basically take my internet away and then sit down and explain why it was wrong.
Load SLAX or DSL on USB Stick
Boot on USB Stick
Yay.
think itd be more useful in reverse. make it so certian functions on the pc dont work unless its plugged in.
Of course, RTFD, it says "when unplugged, the whole PC likely locks everyone out".
Technology sure is a great replacement for real parenting.
lol smartest thing I've heard here all day. AMEN!
Technology is a tool for "real parenting". Letting little Joey do whatever he wants because you "trust him" and want him to "experience" things on his own terms and "make his own choices" is naive.
I think you're forgetting about the part where you actually talk with your kids.
Anyone can lock something and walk away; it's not good parenting. Devices like this encourage that, and only end up restriciting development of the child in the long run.
Leaving a service open and talking with your kids about what they discover is a much more effective way to parent than simply shutting it and their questions out.
Randy, your thought is in the right place but with the wrong end result.
To use your examples:
1. I don't give my 9 year old the car keys but I don't lock them up. I teach them why they are unable to control a vehicle, the dangers of improper driving and explain the steps of which a person is allowed to drive.
2. The matches and knives are in plain site for my kids as well as household chemicals. I watch them closely, teach them the dangers and have them help me with diner and candle lighting so one day, when they do it, they can do it correctly.
This open and honest communication with them also has an interesting side effect. They trust what I'm saying is real, and in return, offer me the respect of not doing something against my will (most of the time). People will be people (notice I didn't say kids will be kids?) and they will break the rules. When they do, they understand the consequences of their actions, but I also ask "why did you feel you needed to do this without me?"
Kids: Unplug it.
dude, read the whole post.
Whoops, misread that line :)
Insert Linux live cd,idiot device circumvented.
Then let's see if they can get past the openDNS filters...mwahaha
Note to parents: The most effective and inexpensive way to keep your kids away from pron is to set up a free openDNS account and turn on content filtering. If you really want to bug them out, you can upload a picture of yourself as a logo for the redirect page.
Meh, I see the market and I don't disagree with it. If my parents knew the horrors that I experienced on the internet and the ridiculous drama that I got caught up in growing up on the old world wide web... They definitely would not have wanted me on it. They didn't let me use it because of some learning experience or some such other crap, they just had no freaking idea what was (or is) on the web.
And frankly, I don't think I'm any worse off or better off for knowing about any of it. The fact that I know the complete creation myth of Pedobear, why he loves loli, and who Chrischan is doesn't really make me any more or less worldly than anyone else not subjected to it.
Err, that should be said, "the reason they allowed me to use it, was not for some..." etc. Meaning, they permitted my internet use out of naivete not some idealistic fantasy about childhood maturity.
2girls1Cup?
I am an over-protective parent that sets up parental controls (FYI, between Windows and your Router, you shouldn't need something as gimmicky as the USB stick above). The reason I set up parental controls is more to prevent them being suckered by ads, or accidental typos taking them to the underbelly of the web.
In all reality, I have warned the kids that they are to stick with only sites I have said they can go to, and they will always ask before venturing away from them. But yeah, if your kids actively want to circumvent the parental controls, they will find a way. It is much better to just to try and build that trust level. Of course you can also try the approach of scaring them into submission by informing them that you are logging all traffic and will come down on them if they screw up. The scare approach works surprisingly well even on adults. In many corporations I have seen people panic when they brought up something inappropriate by accident, when they weren't actually monitoring every click into cyberspace, they just said they were.
> [...] The scare approach works surprisingly well even on adults.
> In many corporations I have seen people panic [...]
Or in China.
>The scare approach works surprisingly well even on adults. In many corporations I have seen people panic
Or they find an open router at the neighbors.
In my case, I only have one neighbor within range (live in the sticks), and his router is secured. If it wasn't I would be happy to lend him my expertise to lock it down ;)
That and the kids don't use WiFi, All Cat5 for their machines. I have to at least make it challenging. Of course once they get to where they can circumvent that, then I fully expect them to be adept at covering their own tracks.
I swear I had to do a double take because I thought that headline said "encourage circumcision".
lol, brings me back to the days when my dad thought he could control the computer/internet.
he installed this 'netnanny' thing, and I'm going to be honest... that thing is a joke!
no hacking needed, just a control alt delete.
seriously, all these 'big brother' devices make getting what they block more alluring.
think of it from the kids perspective; if it isn't blocked, and you aren't on it, no big deal. BUT, the second this gets installed... little jonny gets past it and he wants to know what's being blocked... and he finds out... oh yes, he finds out...
As a 15 nearly 16 year old who has never had blocked internet I don't see what parents are scared about there kids finding on the internet.
Porn, you block your child being able to look at porn on the internet on your computer they will use another device, all phones made in the last 3 or so years can access the internet unblocked, MP3 player with wifi connect to neighbors unsecured wifi. School many people have porn on their phones, often the most disgusting bondage stuff, how are you going to regulate that?
Being stalked by some 40 year old pervert, I have heard many stories about girls my age meeting people online and meeting them in person then something bad happens to them. The only people I speak to on MSN or Skype are friends from school or other places that I know in person.
Yesterday I got an email from some supposed hot girl adding me on myspace, surprise surprise I don't even have a myspace account. Teach your children not to accept random people that they don't know on social networking sites, that is enough to protect them.
I don't think it is naive to let your children discover the internet, yes they may find some obscene bondage film by accident but are they really going to sit there and watch it if it's really that bad? Of course not.
How old where you when you 'discovered' the other sex? How old were you when you 'discovered' sex?
If you block the internet your child is GOING to find a way to look at whatever they are trying to look at, be it at home or at school.
>all phones made in the last 3 or so years can access the internet unblocked
My Samsung SCH-u340 doesn't even have WAP 2.0 capabilities. Try again.
What I would do if I was a parent:
1.Educate the kids NOT to give out their home address, phone numbers, bank details, parents credit card numbers or other personally identifying information online to anyone and to never go meet online "friends" in real life unless they told
2.Stress the point that people who you meet online are total strangers and should be treated exactly the same way as any other stranger
3.Set up a PC specifically for the kids with a good anti-virus and other things to cut out the nasties in case they bump into them
4.Educate them about the things they should stay away from (porn, sex, viruses, spyware, pedophiles etc)
5.Get them an email address from hotmail or gmail or yahoo
What I wouldn't worry about:
1.The kids signing up for and posting on most web forums (including nickname, hotmail/yahoo/gmail address, password) since they know what they arent allowed to post and how much trouble they would get into if they posted it.
2.Filtering software or hardware (the kids would know what not to access and what would happen if they did access it)
3.The kids finding stuff they shouldn't by mistake. I have been using the internet since the days when "the internet" meant dialing up to a Unix box with a terminal program and I have never found porn or other "bad" content by mistake. (the exception being viruses and spyware but a good AV stops that)
You know, accidentally bumping into the nasty stuff has become less common. I specifically remember a time when accidentally typing dinsey.com instead of disney.com would bring up some interesting things. I do believe to this day that whitehouse.com is still nothing like whitehouse.gov. In other words there is an entire business model that has evolve around typos and accidentally typing the wrong root level domain. Not only can people accidentally end up on those sites, there are people that count on those accidents for revenue. Just because you are a savvy surfer does not mean that it doesn't commonly happen.