A new Firefox extension, called Glubble, is available that adds a parental control system to the Firefox browser. It’s nothing overly extravagant since it only enforces a whitelist of URL’s for the children, but it can give peace of mind to parents out there.
There is a default list of sites that ships with Glubble which are classified as kid-safe, and when setting up the accounts it asks whether the child is a boy or a girl. It uses that information to create a more customized homepage for the child based upon their gender. For example, a girl would have a link to Barbie on their site while a boy would not.
Children can request that certain sites be approved, and a parent can immediately approve the request if they are available to do so. If the parent is not available Firefox will prompt the parent to approve the site the next time they login.
Words don’t really do this justice, so I thought I would walk through a common scenario that might occur at a household. This demonstrates all of the various features that Glubble ships with (click any image to enlarge it):
- After installing Glubble the parent will be prompted to create an account:
- The parent then creates users, and they’ll be shown on a user management page. I named the users so that you can tell who is who, for example, the parent’s username stands for "I’m a Parent":
- Firefox is locked until a child or parent logs in (this is what you’ll see when starting Firefox from now on):
- A child logs on and is able to search Google, Yahoo, and visit some recommended sites using a customized Firefox skin. Note: When searching it only pulls up results for the approved sites.
- A child can also navigate their sites using the drop-down menu from the top which shows thumbnail previews of the sites:
- If a child tries to visit an unapproved site they will need to get the permission of a parent first:
- If the parent wasn’t around to approve the site, they will be shown the request the next time they login to Firefox:
- If the parent comes across a kid-friendly site while browsing around, they can instantly enable it for any of their kids:
- Or they can manage the sites that are approved for a child:
- And then when the child gets back online they will be notified that their site request had been approved:
As you can see this can be an extremely useful tool for parents who are trying to protect their kids from explicit content on the Internet. There is, however, a problem that arises for those people who have technological kids. It’s actually possible to remove (or temporarily move) the folder which contains the extension in the Firefox profile folder. That means the extension would immediately be deactivated and the user is given full access to the Internet, which can also be done by running Firefox in safe mode.
This doesn’t quite match up to the built-in parental controls that Vista has, which lets parents limit the amount of time that a child can use the computer, monitor their activity, and control which games they can play. In the reports the parents can even see the most recent websites that were visited, which applications a child ran, and what files they downloaded…none of which Glubble can do.
Of course Glubble doesn’t cost a thing, and knowledgeable parents not using Vista will hopefully see this as a way to protect their kids. When the final version of Glubble is released in October we’ll hopefully see some reporting features included, but they have definitely got the ball rolling in the right direction.
Download the Glubble Firefox Extension
Source: Spread Firefox
I guess I have only one concern with something like Parental Controls being embedded into an extension is that there is nothing preventing a smart kid from removing the extension! Please correct me if I’m wrong, but there’s no way to prevent against this.
any smart kid can get past any parental control item. its more or less to stall the kids until the parents can pop it outta nowhere
Dear Alex and Amak, my name is Ian Hayward, Founder of Glubble.
I just wanted to help out by explaining that Glubble is focussed on helping families protect young children.
In short think of Glubble as being designed for children who still want hold their parents hands while shopping malls.
I recommend you get Firefox if you do not already have it and install Glubble and take it for a test drive.
Ian
Yeah, Alex and amak you’re completely right. I mentioned that in the article, but the true parental control solution has to be done by the operating system if you want something more locked down.
Hi Ryan
Thanks you for the in depth review btw, we are heavily into full time development of Glubbe Beta and I look forward to showing you some improvements over the coming months as we work towards our 1.0 launch in the fall of 2007.
You know what? the thing that interests me is what do we really mean in terms of phrases like “locked down” in the context of really young kids? These are the kind odd phrases that are often used as sound bites or knee jerk reactions to the niche and little known market of old style parental controls right?
You know what? The truth is that my personal reality is that my two kids of 7 and 5 don’t care less about computers, operating systems, browers or “getting around controls” they just want to play and have fun on sites like Nick Jr. They especially like the fact that they don’t have to have to ask their Mom or Dad to change websites for them or double check if they can click on links.
Glubble is for really, really young kids. The whole conceptual debate about kids getting around parental controls does nto apply to Glubble, simply put, when children are at the age where they want to “get around” parental controls then at that age Glubble is not for them, we make no apologies for that for sure. The age at which a child will not want to use Glubble will depend on their upbringing, couture or even religion, Glubble puts the power to decide these things in the hands of families not us as a free service provider.
We make no apologies for that because there are hundreds and thousands of kids out there on the web under 10 or under 8. who knows what the ceiling will be, lets see, that just want to play on line while there parents can be sure they can not go to places on line they don’t want them too.
Simple approach right? Lets keep it real, glubble is for real parents of young kinds that solves a real problem, it gives families the best of the web without the worry.
Ian
I totally agree with you Ian, and I appreciate your feedback. Glubble definitely has a place in the household and I know that I would recommend this to people who are in need of such a service. It’s just important that people realize that this wouldn’t stop your teens from getting into unwanted sites.
I look forward to seeing what the final release brings…keep me informed!
Why cybernetnews dont make a post about GLUBBE WEB SEARCH ?
Its commingo to fight with google.
[glubbe.com]
Thanks,
Leandro Augusto