BT unveils new Parental Controls filter covering all internet-enabled devices in the home including smartphones and tablets
Telecoms provider BT has announced the launch of BT Parental Controls, a network-based filter which helps protect children online, covering all internet connected devices in the home.
The new offering moves away from the traditional parental controls BT has offered its customers for years, focused on desktops and laptops, and covers all internet-enabled devices using home broadband, from PCs, laptops and games consoles to tablets and smartphones and will be free to all customers.
New customers will have the choice of whether or not to activate the controls when setting up their internet connection for the first time. The controls are pre-selected with customers confirming that choice or actively choosing to not switch the controls on.
During 2014 BT will be contacting its consumer client base and asking them to make a decision as to whether or not to set up the controls.
Developed with the help of interested groups such as Mumsnet, there are three filter levels – strict, moderate, and light – which can be set by customers to suit family needs. Additional websites can be added to the list to be allowed or blocked and the filer can be turned off at specific times. An additional ‘homework time’ level can also be set for additional piece of mind when children are meant to be studying.
The account holder’s credentials are required to set up and change any of the setting in a bid to guard against unauthorised changing of the controls. Confirmation emails will also be sent to the adult account holder if any changes are made for additional piece of mind.
“BT takes the issue of online child protection extremely seriously and we are very pleased to be able to launch the whole-home filter to help parents keep their families safe online. It adds to the many tools we already make available for free to our customers. We’ve been focused on the issue of online safety since we developed the world’s first Cleanfeed filter to block child abuse images and made the technology available free to other ISPs across the world a decade ago,” said Pete Oliver, MD consumer commercial marketing and digital at BT.
BT has also committed £1.5m to a joint marketing fund with other ISPs as part of a Pan-ISP marketing campaign to raise awareness of the need to protect children online and provide education on how to do so.