Have parental controls been developed? If so, how well do they work and how easy are they to use?

• All top 5 companies have now developed and implemented some type of parental controls. They range from controlling the quantity of minutes and messages, to limiting purchases and web access, to filtering content, blocking usage and installing a tracking device in order for a parent to monitor the geographical location of a child’s phone. These settings can be customized by calling Customer Service, or by using the wireless phone itself, or by going to the company’s website and logging into one’s account to establish the desired controls.  Select your wireless provider for more details:
  
  
  • AT&T's Smart Limits
  • T-Mobile's Web Guard
  • Verizon's Chaperone and Content Filtering
  • Sprint Nextel's Restricted/Unrestricted Web Access
  • Alltel's Axcess Web

What has been done to educate the users of these products on the threat of pornography and the sexualized messages of the culture?

• None of the wireless companies are directly or actively educating users on the threat of pornography.
  
  
• As far as educating users on their parental controls products, AT&T, T-Mobile and Verizon have ample information on their websites where they describe in detail what standards and criteria they’ve established to determine what types of material are restricted based on age and content. Pornography, mature content, nudity and sexual situations are part of that list. If the user attempts to access a site containing material that is deemed inappropriate, the user will receive a warning on the device that tells them access is denied.
  
  
• T-Mobile offers rate plans specifically for kids, called KidConnect, where Web Guard is automatic and cannot be deactivated.
  
  
• Sprint Nextel provides built-in parental controls on two specific Sanyo phones, but does not specify the availability of parental controls or restrictions against pornographic content on their other phones.
  
  
• Alltel provided no specific information regarding their controls on pornographic or sexual content.

What printed materials are available, if any?

• The local retail stores that I visited did not have any brochures or printed literature available describing their parental controls, except with regards to pricing and rate plan information. For example, T-Mobile had printed information regarding their kidConnect rate plans, but no detailed description of how it works.
  
  
• T-Mobile, AT&T and Verizon all provide detailed information on their websites regarding their parental controls systems.
  
  
• Sprint’s website provides very limited information on its parental controls, and there were no brochures or other printed literature available at their store.

Are there on/off switches for Internet connectivity and/or camera features on cell phones? If so, who controls the on/off switch and how easy is it to use?

• Camera features on cell phones cannot be disabled. But Text and Picture/Video Messaging can be turned off.
  
  Internet connectivity is available only on data-enabled devices and can be turned on or off. Most wireless phones now are data-enabled and therefore have some capacity to access the web. Basic phones are able to access WAP sites or mobile sites (mini-websites that are formatted for wireless phones, and are therefore slower, simpler and designed to display on smaller screens). Examples of content that can be accessed via the mobile web are: news, weather, sports, webmail, stock information and road navigation assistance.
  
  
• Certain high-end phones have the capacity to access the internet without any filtering or blocking. These phones include Blackberries, iPhones, PDAs and Power Vision phones. Verizon, AT&T, Sprint and T-Mobile have indicated that their filtering system currently will not work on these devices. Internet connectivity cannot be disabled on these devices.
  
  
• Internet connectivity is generally offered at a fixed cost per month, with unlimited access, as long as the user is in an area where a signal is available. If not unlimited, usage is offered in terms of total data size allowed per month. For example, there are rate plans that offer 40 MB/month or 10 GB/month. If the user exceeds that, they simply pay a certain rate per MB of excess.
  
  
• Some carriers allow users to set limits on spending. Sprint has a Spending Limit Program where one’s account has a pre-set account spending limit, which is the maximum balance the account can reach at any given time. The account is shut down when the spending limit is reached and goes unpaid.
  
  
• AT&T’s Smart Limits for Wireless allows a primary account holder to set limits for:
  • Number of text and instant messages
  • Dollar amount for downloadable purchases (ringtones, games and more)
  • Times of day the phone can be used for messaging, browsing and outbound calling
  • Who the phone can call or text (incoming and outgoing) by blocking and allowing certain numbers Access to content inappropriate for children
    
    
• T-Mobile’s kidConnect allows the primary account holder to set limits in order to avoid incurring overage charges. Once the included minute allotment in a given month is reached, the minutes are shut off until the next month. Only 911 calls are allowed until then.

Are there monitoring systems available which parents can use to evaluate what websites are being reviewed, what content is being looked at?  What hours of the day can these devices be used?  How long during each day can they be used?

• Some devices keep a history of websites visited. That is one way for parents to review and evaluate what websites their children are viewing on their wireless devices. Some carriers allow users to request to block or unblock particular websites, filter emails, and manage text messages.
  
  
• T-Mobile accepts requests to change the Web Guard filters and block or unblock a site by emailing requests to contentcontrol2@t-mobile.com. T-Mobile uses a third party vendor to assist in reviewing and blocking content for the Web Guard feature. T-Mobile’s third party vendor maintains the list of blocked URL’s and, although T-Mobile does not comment on specific content, they do provide a tool to capture and provide feedback to the vendor.
  
  
• Alltel offers several options to assist users in managing text message usage, including:
  
  • Checking the quantity of text messages
  • Blocking unwanted text messages coming from certain phone numbers
  • Blocking unwanted text messages from e-mail or Web addresses
  • Stopping unwanted premium text messages (i.e. joke of the day) via short messaging codes
    
    
• According to the Wall Street Journal, a third-party application called RADAR has been launched by eAgency Inc., based in Newport Beach, California. RADAR is a piece of software that can be installed onto a child’s phone so that the parent can monitor incoming and outgoing calls, photos, text messages and emails. Parents are alerted via email or text every time their child uses the phone. Texts, emails and photos can be seen by parents as well. At this point, RADAR only works on the Blackberry Pearl. RADAR currently is not able to show parents what websites their children visited on their phones, but a future release is underway.
  
  
• Completely independent from any of the wireless carriers, there are third-party websites that review, evaluate and/or compare functionalities of different wireless devices. These include:
  • phonescoop.com
  • cnet.com
  • reviewcentre.com