Parent-activated game locks
p2pnet.net News:- Most of the major game boxes which turned up under the Christmas trees around the world this year arrived with a little something extra —
— parent-activated game locks. DRM so mothers and fathers can manage what their kids see and do.
Because, “Tucked into the interface of each are content-filtering software tools designed to give parents control over whether their children can play violent video games,” says The Washington Post, going on:
“Microsoft’s Xbox 360, released last year, features the same sort of functionality. Like the PS3, the Xbox 360 is a multimedia device that allows users access to the Web and the ability to watch movies. So the designers of those two devices included software that users can activate to make sure their children cannot watch R-rated movies or chat with strangers online.”
Sony PlayStation 3 owners can set rating thresholds for video games and DVD and Blu-Ray movies. “These settings are locked in with a four-digit PIN code,” says the story. “The system digitally detects both ratings for movies and the separate ratings that video games are given by the Entertainment Software Rating Board, a group the gaming industry formed to decide which games are violent or have profanity.”
Nintendo Wii has a four digit PIN code that must be entered to play or download games with ratings such as “M” or “T” and the Wi-Fi enabledWii, “also lets parents control whether their kids can go online with the system or receive messages from other Wii owners,” the Post states.
Parents wose kids now have Microsoft Xbox 360, “can set the device so that it does not play movies or games with certain ratings. Parents also can control whether their kids are able to talk to people via the system’s online ‘chat’ features. Owners can adjust these settings via the Web or directly on the console.”
Meanwhile, “At one forum at Nintendo’s Web site, where users converge to talk about the new system, one Wii owner asked last month if anybody had tried setting up a parental-control security code. Among the dozens who replied, none had. But one young correspondent said that he (or she) might use the feature preemptively,” says The Washington Post.
But, “Now that I think of it, I might go set the code . . . so that my parents can’t randomly decide to set them one day. Even though I doubt they will or know of [the codes'] existence,” it has the poster saying.
If your Net access is blocked by government restrictions, try Psiphon from the Citizen Lab at the University of Toronto’s Munk Centre for International Studies. Go here for the official download, here for the p2pnet download, and here for details. And if you’re Chinese and you’re looking for a way to access independent Internet news sources, try Freegate, the DIT program written to help Chinese citizens circumvent web site blocking outside of China. Download it here.
Also See:
The Washington Post - A Computer Game’s Quiet Little Extra: Parental Control Softwar, December 23, 2006
p2pnet newsfeeds for your site | | rss feed: http://p2pnet.net/p2p.rss | | Mobile – http://p2pnet.net/index-wml.php
