Combine technological controls with education

After evaluating that state of this market, Adam concludes: "There has never been a time in our nation's history when parents have had more tools and methods at their disposal to help them decide what constitutes acceptable media content in their homes and in the lives of their children." Moreover, he believes that the parental controls and content management tools cataloged in the report represent a better, less restrictive alternative to government regulation.

Version 4.0 of the report is now over 250 pages long (up from 200 pages in Version 3.0) and it contains almost 70 exhibits (up from 50), 725 references (up from roughly 500), and numerous updates in all five sections of the book. Major updates have been made to the Internet, social networking, and mobile media sections, reflecting the growing importance of those sectors and issues. Other new sections or appendices have also been added to the report, including:

• a new section examining how many households really need parental control tools;
• a new appendix on the downsides of mandatory parental controls and restrictive default settings;
• a new section on the dangers of "deputizing the online middleman" solution as an approach to solving child safety concerns;
• a new appendix reviewing the findings of 5 past online safety task forces;
• ... and much more.

((C) TheNetDaddy.net
Adam Thierer
The Progress & Freedom Foundation (www.PFF.org)
Washington, D.C.

For the most recent full version of this report, please visit:
www.pff.org/parentalcontrols