Third-party mobile parental control software

may not have knowledge of their existence. Mobile parental control applica-tions are software applicaapplica-tions that can assist in the protection of a child from potentially harmful media content. Mobile parental control applications are developed and installed on a child’s mobile device to perform several func-tions. Many applications such as these exist and may differ in many aspects.

These applications support different mobile platforms also known as operat-ing systems and they may also have different feature sets.

There are currently several popular mobile parental control applications available on the market that differ vastly in their functionality and price.

Due to the technical nature and lengthy development periods of these appli-cations, there are as yet no free, or even South-African based, versions avail-able that have the ability to compete with the internationally purchaseavail-able counterparts.

As mentioned earlier, mobile parental control applications support vari-ous platforms. However, this differs from application to application. Soft-ware available to South African parents via the Internet for the BlackBerry, iPhone, and Android platforms are included in this section as specified in the dissertation delineation in Chapter 1, Section 1.6. Appendix A contains a detailed analysis and summary of the popular mobile parental control ap-plications available.

Mobile parental control applications contain various features parents can use to protect their children when using mobile devices to gain access to Internet and Internet-enabled applications through mobile devices.

Parents can, by using such applications, remotely monitor their child’s mobile device usage habits and also their child’s location at any time via GPS or via other triangulation based location services. Parents can also enable application level Internet filtering in order to block websites and restrict their children from dialling and receiving calls from certain numbers. The above features may be the most useful in a parent’s attempt to protect their child’s online presence through the use of a mobile parental control application.

The following chapter will also discuss which mobile parental control fea-tures should be implemented by South African parents on their child’s phone, based on their unique requirements, and how that could assist South African parents in attaining a comprehensive mobile parental control solution.

The intervention points in the adolescent mobile usage process discussed in this chapter each have mobile parental control methods that are most suit-able to them. The identified intervention points which could be best suited for mobile parental control are the child, the service provider, the manufac-turer, and the device. Figure 4.1 depicts a detailed intervention diagram that summarises all identified intervention points and possible methods of intervention available to South African parents, as discussed in this chapter.

Comprehensive

Figure 4.1: Detailed intervention diagram

4.3 Conclusion

Children are making use of mobile devices to perform many Internet and mo-bile device related activities. Activities children perform may include access-ing the Internet, social networkaccess-ing and instant messagaccess-ing services. Parents, however, are often unaware to what and to whom their child may be exposed when performing such activities via a mobile device. Parents may also be unaware that they can protect their children from potential dangers relat-ing to mobile device usage by gettrelat-ing acquainted with possible intervention points and suitable methods of intervention.

Four prominent points of mobile parental control intervention have been identified through an extensive literature review. The four so-called inter-vention points are, namely, the child, the service provider, the manufacturer, and the device. Literature reviews have led to the identification of

possi-ble methods of mobile parental control that would be most suitapossi-ble to each intervention point.

The methods of mobile parental control South African parents have ac-cess to have been discussed in this chapter and almost all methods have been deemed appropriate in a South African context with the exception of a few. South African parents could attempt to perform parental supervi-sion at home and provide the child with Internet safety awareness education.

South African parents could subscribe their child to a service provider that provides mobile parental control Internet filtering services. South African parents could also provide their child with a mobile device that includes manufacturer included operating system level mobile parental control fea-tures. Lastly if the device does not include such features, South African parents could also acquire third party applications for the purpose of per-forming mobile parental control remotely.

Only by implementing all of the mobile parental control methods relating to each mobile parental control intervention point, will South African parents have a chance at attaining a comprehensive mobile parental control solution.

South African parents could protect their children from the dangers of the Internet and its mobile counterpart by implementing a comprehensive mobile parental control solution.

The following chapter will attempt to illustrate a possible solution for the adoption of mobile parental control in South Africa. The solution will not only comprise a framework, but will also contain appropriate guidelines.

The solution will attempt to illustrate what role parents, schools, service providers, software developers, manufacturers, and the government are play-ing in the mobile parental control process. The solution will, by means of its context, show how parents play the biggest role in the mobile parental control process. Implementing the solution proposed in the following chap-ter could assist parents in attaining a comprehensive mobile parental control solution. In conclusion, this could provide children with a means to perform Internet-enabled mobile device activities in the safest possible manner.

Chapter 5

Framework for Parental

Control of Mobile Devices in South Africa

“Technology has to be invented or adopted.” Jared Diamond

Introduction

Background

Solution

Conclusion

Chapter 1 Introduction

Chapter 2

Mobile Device Usage in South Africa

Chapter 3 Defining parental control

Chapter 4 Possible parental control interventions in the South African

context

Chapter 5

Framework for Parental Control on Mobile Devices in South

Africa

Chapter 6 Conclusion

66

In this chapter a mobile parental control solution is presented and dis-cussed. The mobile parental control solution is presented in the form of a framework with complementary guidelines. In order to provide a context, a higher level framework has also been depicted. Currently available methods of mobile parental control are included in the solution as they form part of the guidelines.

5.1 Introduction

Each South African child, as well as children from other nationalities, may be at risk of being exposed to potentially harmful media content via Internet-enabled mobile devices. Previous chapters have shown that mobile parental control should be exercised using several methods of mobile parental control.

The specific methods used should take into consideration the child’s stage of development. Identifying the child’s stage of development will assist in understanding what methods of mobile parental control are appropriate and how such methods of mobile parental control should be exercised.

Mobile parental control methods, such as manufacturer level mobile de-vice features, serde-vice provider mobile parental control serde-vices, and third-party software, could play a crucial role in the protection of a child from mobile Internet related dangers. Such technology can assist in creating an environment in which parents can monitor and control their child accord-ing to their own chosen value system and the maturity of the child (Thorn-burgh & Lin, 2002). However, traditional, non-technological means of mobile parental control, such as education and parental supervision, could also play an important role. Education in terms of parents and children alike could play a preventative role when children are faced with the dangers related to Internet-enabled mobile devices. Education will in turn assist parents in performing informed parental supervision. The above mentioned technologi-cal and non-technologitechnologi-cal methods of mobile parental control should all form part of a comprehensive mobile parental control solution for South African parents.

This chapter will present an artifact developed as part of this research, in the form of a framework which captures all of the technological and non-technological methods of mobile parental control. By presenting this

frame-work, this chapter attempts to address the following research question as specified in Chapter 1, Section 1.4: “How can mobile parental control be en-abled in the South African context?”. This will be addressed through the use of a framework with complementary guidelines. The framework this chapter will present will consist of the following elements:

• An overview in the form of a role-based framework for mobile parental control (as depicted in Figure 5.1 below). The role-based framework for mobile parental control depicts the various role-players in the mo-bile parental control process. The role-based framework for momo-bile parental control provides the context for a parent-based framework for mobile parental control. As such, this framework can be seen as a high-level overview of the general context for the more detailed parent-based framework.

• Guidelines in the form of a parent-based framework for mobile parental control (as depicted in Figure 5.2 below). This framework shows a logical flow of the parent’s decision making process when ex-ercising mobile parental control that stemmed from this research In order to ensure research rigour, the framework was designed according to design sciences guidelines (as defined by Hevner, March, Park, and Ram (2004)), and validated using focus group research methods. The next section will provide additional insight into the research methods used.