Kids watching adult content online? Indian parents could nip it in the bud

Photo credit: Philipe Put

Indians are huge consumers of porn. When the government tried to ban 900 such sites last year, there was a hue and cry on social media. The protests came not just from those who consume porn but also liberals who believe such content should not be censored.

People accused the government – seen by many as rightwing and conservative – of playing moral police. The ban was lifted in no time.

In the end, however, the controversy did little to address the concerns of one segment – parents. With internet usage growing in India, fueled by the use of smartphones, parents are often wary of children accessing adult content.

But here’s some good news. Big telecom companies might soon deploy a tool that will help consumers, especially parents, practice some self-censorship for the sake of their children.

Bharti Airtel, Vodafone, Reliance Communications, Telenor, and Reliance Jio Infocomm are said to be in “active” talks with a New Zealand-based firm to deploy its Buddy Guard parental control solution, The Economic Times reported today.

Filtering adult content

Buddy Guard is a product of Bypass Network Services (BNSL), founded by Matthew Jackson and Patrick Jordan-Smith in 2013. It could debut in India as early as February or March. Parents can opt for the control mechanism on a daily, weekly, or monthly basis.

“I would be surprised if we didn’t see three-four major operators with the service by the end of this year,” co-founder Matthew told ET. Over two million people in India could start using the service if one of the bigger telecom companies decides to use Buddy Guard, he said.

Currently software such as Ekavach and ParentsConcern are available for parents to monitor the online behaviour of kids. But these have to be downloaded and cover just a single device.

Buddy Guard on the other hand would be the first to operate at the network level in India. It also promises to address another pet peeve of parents – blocking online gaming and social network use during homework or family time.

Better safe than sorry

Photo credit: Jake Stimpson