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Cellphones Censorship Communications Patents Apple

Apple Awarded Anti-Sexting Patent 184

eldavojohn writes "If your parenting skills aren't up to snuff, Apple's got a patent on the device that will allow you to control what your child sends and receives. Entitled 'Text-based communication control for personal communication device,' this patent uses examples like increasing the number of Spanish words your child receives so that they can better learn Spanish. You could even use it to control your child's grammar and spelling in outgoing text messages. But news sources seem to be focusing on the censorship issue that Apple has been criticized for before: 'The control is in line with earlier efforts adopted by Apple like Playboy which entered into a deal with Apple to censor its content to secure a place in App Store.' Perhaps the wives and agents of popular athletes would be more interested in this technology? Apple is certainly sending a message opposite to the one Microsoft advertises."
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Apple Awarded Anti-Sexting Patent

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  • Oh come on... (Score:4, Insightful)

    by geminidomino ( 614729 ) on Wednesday October 13, 2010 @12:27PM (#33883718) Journal

    A Favre jab on slashdot? Seriously?

    I knew this place was going down the crapper, but I didn't think it had hit the "E! TV" level of low yet...

  • Parenting skills? (Score:3, Insightful)

    by iamwhoiamtoday ( 1177507 ) on Wednesday October 13, 2010 @12:28PM (#33883730)

    News flash, dearest parents. Controlling everything that your child does is not good parenting. Yes, the kids will mess up every now and then. So do we all. If you impose a lot of rules, monitor every little thing that your child does, then all they will do is find a way around whatever blocks / rules you have in place. They have a LOT of energy, and endless free time.

    tl:dr - Being a good parent does not mean monitoring every little action.

  • by BadAnalogyGuy ( 945258 ) <BadAnalogyGuy@gmail.com> on Wednesday October 13, 2010 @12:29PM (#33883738)

    The only way to lose control of your kids is to refuse to loose control of them. If they know you trust them, they will live up to your expectations. If they know you are watching them like a hawk, you'll find they will withdraw to places you can't find them.

    Apple is absolutely wrong here. It isn't a technological problem these parents are dealing with. It is a parental problem.

  • by Jeremi ( 14640 ) on Wednesday October 13, 2010 @12:31PM (#33883766) Homepage

    I, for one, am looking forward to the wave of creative new euphemisms this is going to spawn.

  • by Darkness404 ( 1287218 ) on Wednesday October 13, 2010 @12:32PM (#33883784)
    Exactly. Heck, strict parenting has your kids go wild later in life. The people who control their kids lives in middle and high school either have a massive rebellion in high school, or if they put them in the college that the kid doesn't want to go to, they will rebel later in life.

    If you don't let your kids do little things (watch R rated movies, hang out with friends, read what they want to, etc.) and then whenever they do realize that those things aren't really harmful, they will question your judgment on things that are harmful, such as drinking and driving.

    When parents cry wolf at every little silly harmless "moral panic" they lose credibility with their kids.
  • Huh? (Score:3, Insightful)

    by areusche ( 1297613 ) on Wednesday October 13, 2010 @12:34PM (#33883804)

    So the summary went from an anti sexting patent, some parental control application, to learning Spanish by changing the phone's default language, and finally to close a way to protect our celebrities from their antics.

    I don't tend to complain about the summaries, but man I guess I am going to have to go and read the article now to make sense of this summary.

  • by Thanshin ( 1188877 ) on Wednesday October 13, 2010 @12:36PM (#33883826)

    Quite honestly, I hope this is the last one

    I regretfully inform you that you're setting yourself up for disappointment.

  • by recoiledsnake ( 879048 ) on Wednesday October 13, 2010 @12:39PM (#33883882)

    "If you're parenting skills aren't up to snuff, Apple's got a patent on the device that will allow you to control what you child sends and receives.

  • by Darkness404 ( 1287218 ) on Wednesday October 13, 2010 @12:40PM (#33883890)
    What needs to happen is that managers need to stop grading people on their behavior and focus instead on things related to work. Just because someone had a few drinks once and has some pictures on Facebook with them holding a beer doesn't make them not qualified.

    When managers finally pull their head out of their buzzword-laced asses and realize that we are all humans, and that personal and private lives rarely are similar and simply give jobs to people who are qualified, this will be a non-issue.

    If I was a manager, I wouldn't care if my applicant was a drunk, enjoys partying on the weekends and hell, so long as they showed up to work and got the work done decently, I couldn't care less if they showed up to work hungover in the morning.

    But alas, I don't think I can handle all the buzzwords to become a manager.
  • by BJ_Covert_Action ( 1499847 ) on Wednesday October 13, 2010 @12:43PM (#33883920) Homepage Journal

    If you impose a lot of rules, monitor every little thing that your child does, then all they will do is find a way around whatever blocks / rules you have in place...

    The unintended consequence of this, and, dare I say, hidden advantage of it, is that such measures create generations of kids that are good at hacking their way out of oppressive measures whom have little respect for authority. In a world where governments seem to see their role, increasingly, as using any and all means (including technology) at their disposal to trample on human rights, this combination of skills and attitude will be a valuable weapon in the hands of the citizenry.

  • by joebok ( 457904 ) on Wednesday October 13, 2010 @12:49PM (#33883992) Homepage Journal

    Being a fairly new parent (17 months), I think there is a balance. I believe a responsible parent needs to be involved and sometimes that means observing or monitoring. That is different than controlling. A tool like this could be helpful if used wisely.

    From my recent life - my daughter learned how to climb onto the couch. The first thing she did after that was to leap off headfirst. Mommy was there to catch her and that became a great game. Next phase was pillows on the floor and letting her learn a better dismount - i.e. watching but not catching. That is done - and without the pain and agony of a major fall. She is not scared of the couch and knows how to use it effectively.

    When she is the appropriate age, I will look for digital tools that will help me to do the same.

  • by Abstrackt ( 609015 ) on Wednesday October 13, 2010 @12:49PM (#33883994)

    Good points. Being a good parent means not just teaching your kids how to act properly when they are unsupervised but also instilling the desire to do so.

    The biggest problem I've seen with parents putting their kids' lives on rails is that when the kid is ever exposed to a new problem they have a hell of a time reasoning out the solution based on previous experience because they've never been allowed to fail.

  • by cptdondo ( 59460 ) on Wednesday October 13, 2010 @12:50PM (#33884014) Journal

    Absolutely. We have some friends who micro-managed their daughter. Now she's 13, has already been thrown out of 2 schools, and on and on. Kids need room to be kids.

    Teach your kids to do the right thing. To do that you have to actually live that way too - it does no good to preach the evils of drunk driving, then have 4 beers with dinner and drive home.

    Set the example, trust your kids to do the right thing, and talk to them.

    Bringing your kids up right is all about respect. I encourage my kids to keep their passwords private, I don't snoop on them, and I encourage them to talk to me.

    That's much harder and much more effective than some stupid filter.

  • by cptdondo ( 59460 ) on Wednesday October 13, 2010 @12:56PM (#33884088) Journal

    At some point, though, you have to let her jump off the couch and whack her head. And stand by and let it happen.

    Because if you always catch her, she never learns that there are things in this world that will hurt, will main, will destroy her life.

    My kids have gone through their share of bruises, head whacks, and such. If they make a bad decision, and it won't hurt them permanently, I let it ride.

    "Good judgement comes from experience. Experience comes from bad judgement."

  • by Aeros ( 668253 ) on Wednesday October 13, 2010 @12:59PM (#33884106)
    Im just thinking more and more that maybe the movie 'Idiocracy' might really be our future after all.
  • by avandesande ( 143899 ) on Wednesday October 13, 2010 @01:04PM (#33884184) Journal

    Buying a child an expensive unnecessary useless gadget to improve their peer status is bad parenting.

  • by CecilPL ( 1258010 ) on Wednesday October 13, 2010 @01:06PM (#33884212)

    When I was 5 I leaped off the couch headfirst onto a pile of cushions. Except I underestimated my strength and flew right over the cushions, headfirst into the corner of a solid oak liquor cabinet.

    It hurt like crazy but you know what? Agony is inescapable in life, and you have to learn how to deal with it through experience.

    Two stitches later I had learned a pretty valuable lesson.

  • by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday October 13, 2010 @01:08PM (#33884248)

    most of my computer skills were gained trying to get access to two things: games and porn

  • by geekoid ( 135745 ) <dadinportland@nOSpaM.yahoo.com> on Wednesday October 13, 2010 @01:15PM (#33884336) Homepage Journal

    Newsflash childless limp dicks: It's about moderation. I am not the parent of all the kids, just my kids. How other children are raised impacts my child. So how about we educate them., use moderation, and help them understand instead of just letting them go willy nilly?

    I know my kids will find a way around. In some cases I know exactly how they will do it.

  • Technical hurdles (Score:3, Insightful)

    by einhverfr ( 238914 ) <.moc.liamg. .ta. .srevart.sirhc.> on Wednesday October 13, 2010 @01:17PM (#33884394) Homepage Journal

    It is very difficult to define correct grammar, to start with. (Note false positive for preposition stranding)
    Moreover, spelling corrections may disrupt the vital Cupertino between parent and child. (Note Cupertino effect)
    Thus I would expect such controls to have no effect, once or ever. (eggcorn)
    Because of times when splitting the infinitive is required, I would never expect demand to more than double from where it is today.
    Should the passive voice be allowed?

    etc.

    Technology can't enforce grammar rules effectively.

  • by ThatsNotPudding ( 1045640 ) on Wednesday October 13, 2010 @01:18PM (#33884402)
    Human sexuality terrifies Steve Jobs.
  • Parenting... (Score:2, Insightful)

    by citoxE ( 1799926 ) on Wednesday October 13, 2010 @01:31PM (#33884562)
    When it came to how I grew up, it was very lax, to say the least. I could go where I wanted, do what I wanted, and I never ended up getting in trouble, ever. No drugs, no nothing. It's when parents try to start controlling every little thing their kids do that they want to start lying and doing the things their parents tell them to do. PROTIP: Let them have some freedom once in a while. If you notice your child starts to become evasive when you ask them questions or just evasive in general, then it's time to intervene and ask them what's going on. But if your child thinks they're going to be punished or you're going to be disappointed if they tell you something, they won't do it. Teach them what's acceptable and what isn't and let them find out what happens after that. Don't treat them like babies and have them wearing diapers when they are 32.
  • by pnuema ( 523776 ) on Wednesday October 13, 2010 @02:42PM (#33885644)
    A piece of advice, from an older parent to a new parent: you are not raising a child. You are raising an adult. You should spend your daughter's entire life as if you will drop dead when she turns 18. When you look at things from this perspective, things completely change. You are not protecting your child from the world; you are preparing them for it. They can handle a lot more than you think they can - including falling off a couch.
  • by Putr ( 1669238 ) on Wednesday October 13, 2010 @03:35PM (#33886532)
    I agree.

    On one hand let's take my parents: They never told me i cant do anything, just warned me of the concicuances, like alcohol, when i was 16 my parents sat me down and told me how to drink, and whant no to mix and how to party. THey ASKED me not do do drugs and explaind why. My mom smokes and she said "You know what cigarettes are doing to me, smoke if you whant". --> I have never even tried to smoke or any drug what so ever. I only drink on parties and i only get buzzed.

    On the other hand maney of my female frend's parents: They were 18 and they still had to be home by 10pm on Fridays (legal drinking age here is 18). So sinc the time they were 13 they would go out at 6pm, get Drunk, smoke and do drugs, than throw up and clean themselves up by 10pm to go home.

    So if you think you can force a kid to do something your MORONIC and just plain dumme. The only way to make a child do something you whant for certain is convincing them it's the right thing to do and let them decide for themselves.

    So parents: Warn your kids, then let them do what ever they whant and than help them pick up the peaces. After a while they'll lurn that your just looking out for them and they'll actually listen to you. Respect must be urned, not forced.

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