Internet protection for teenage granddaughters?

Misslayed

My granddaughters are 15 and 13, they have tablet/iPad but no laptop or PC for homework, so Mr. M has ‘box freshed’ (is that a verb?) and updated my unused Dell mini laptop for them to use. It is slow, but not as slow as traipsing across town to the library to use theirs. They live with their ditsy mother and her current boyfriend, and I don’t trust either of them to make the effort to ensure they are safe online. Their Dad bought their hand held devises and put parental controls on them. I’ve seen K9 recommended, but in a fairly old post, Stone Age in technological terms. We need something we can install on the ‘Dellboy’ before we give it to them. Is K9 still recommended? Any other advice? Elder granddaughter is tech savvy but sensible (think Saffy in Abfab), but I’m fairly sure the younger (not so tech or anything savvy) one will go looking.
Any advice or recommendations appreciated

Browntoa

Who is your ISP ?

Most have parental controls in the admin panel of the routers (make sure you have changed the password)

You can lock it down to a device quite easily , rather than every device

http://home.bt.com/tech-gadgets/internet/broadband/stay-safe-with-bt-parental-controls-11363887238413

And on sky

https://parentalcontrols-on.org/Sky

elsien

Good luck. My teenage nephew has managed to override everything set up so far. And what he can't do at home, he looks at at friend's houses with parents who seem less bothered about what their children access.

System

All you can do is educate them and hope for the best. Parental controls, software and blocking isn't 100% foolproof or anywhere near approaching and a determined teen can work around them.

Misslayed

Browntoa wrote: »

Who is your ISP ?

Most have parental controls in the admin panel of the routers (make sure you have changed the password)

You can lock it down to a device quite easily , rather than every device

http://home.bt.com/tech-gadgets/internet/broadband/stay-safe-with-bt-parental-controls-11363887238413

And on sky

https://parentalcontrols-on.org/Sky

It won’t be used at our house, and our relationship is brittle with their mother (now my ex DIL), she isn’t going to let Mr M ‘fiddle’ with her router (he’s my second husband, not the girls’ grandfather) On previous record she would assure us - with a huge smile and probably a hug - not to worry my dears, I’ll get Buggalugs to sort it out (aka aforementioned !!!!less BF) She can’t be trusted to get round to it. She would rather the girls snuggled on the settee watching chick flicks with her than waste their time on homework. She never did!

Misslayed

Tarambor wrote: »

All you can do is educate them and hope for the best. Parental controls, software and blocking isn't 100% foolproof or anywhere near approaching and a determined teen can work around them.

I’m confident the older more able teen isn’t determined and the younger one isn’t capable (or couldn’t be bothered if she hit an unexpected obstacle). But I need to feel I’ve done all I can.

agrinnall

K9 was the selected solution in this recent thread, although for much younger children.

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/5768935

were

disable the camera. Possibly draconian? Possibly I have been viewing the wrong sites today;)

Misslayed

were wrote: »

disable the camera. Possibly draconian? Possibly I have been viewing the wrong sites today;)

That’s not a bad idea, I’m a bit out of touch but I can’t think of a reason to have a working webcam for homework purposes! It excludes one avenue of exploitation at least ! And I can always plead ignorance if it comes up! Ta. (Sneaky Grandma)

agrinnall

Unless you physically remove the camera I would be very surprised if they can't quite easily work out how to enable it again.

spadoosh

Dont mean to offend you but put simply you are not going to be able to control what your grandchildren do with a computer.

My parents tried what they could but one of the benefits of being a teenager is youre by default tech savvy and have a fantastic ability to learn quickly. Much quicker than the fogies around you trying to restrict what you can do.


I think you would be better educating them about the darker side of the internet as opposed to trying to keep them from it.

We dont teach kids not to make fires, we teach them not to get burned.