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we had an internet safety meeting at school yesterday which was scary enough. However it was said that there is currently no way to put any protection against unwanted content on cell phones. Is that true? Aren't there any systems/phones/providers out there that can monitor inappropriate web sites/images?

Depends on what you mean by unwanted content.

The Droid and Iphone both allow you to customize which apps you want to run and both have a growing ecosystem of content management tools. You would have to look through the apps to see what is available.

Internet dangers are wildly over-hyped. Any parent who checks what their kids do has less to worry about with phones/internet.

Thanks Austin
If schools allow cell phones with internet access - or kids are swapping or sending images - how do you control that? Can you check yoour kids browser history on a 3g cell phone?

I agree that internet dangers are sensationalized. Even with parental control features, you really can't *control* what your DC does on the internet unless you only allow access in your presence. Many internet savvy tweens and teens know how to work around the parental controls and school controls anyway (I teach high school, so I know!).

If you are concerned about access to the internet on a device, my advice would be to not allow your DC to own an internet connected phone unless you trust his/her judgement about how to use it independently.

thanks zarfkitty

I just wondered if anybody knew of any software - obviously not the place ask. I'll ask on some technical forums and report back to other concerned parents