The problem of children accessing pornography via their cell phones is becoming common.  Due to the anonymity offered by the Internet, kids are at risk of being exposed to pornography, cyber bullying, predators, sexting (the sending of sexually explicit text messages, photographs, or videos via cell phones), identity theft, drugs, prejudice, hatred, gambling, crime, terrorism, scams, and more. These dangers are all real and we hear them cited in the news every day. These dangers are, in fact, closer than your front door. What can you do to protect your kids?

• Vodacom's parental control can be accessed by dialing 111*123# from the cell phone you want to block or call Vodacom customer care on 082111.
• To block an MTN handset, dial *101# from the handset you would like to restrict content on and follow the easy-to-use menu prompts.
• Cell C and 8ta do not have this functionality yet. 8ta says it will be launching parental control in the first quarter of 2012. Note, however, that Internet access can be de-activated on any mobile. Simply request this from your provider.

All the cellular providers are able to block access to specific sites but it would be up to them to decide. Sites that are found to operate illegally may be blocked for everybody. Sites that contain adult content will be blocked for those phones with parental controls activated. Simply dial your provider's customer service number and request they block the site.

 Source:

• msn

Page Created: 18 October 2011