F-Secure Declares That ‘Parental Control’ Is Dead

Helsinki, Finland – September 6, 2017: F-Secure now offers protection for the whole family with the latest version of its flagship products SAFE and TOTAL. The new Family Rules feature available in both products help families stay safe online by moderating harmful content and setting limits on screen time from any device in a way that encourages exploration and productive device use.

F-Secure SAFE provides comprehensive yet simple​ antivirus and Internet Security for all devices while F-Secure TOTAL offers the same award-winning protection along with F-Secure’s world-renowned FREEDOME VPN, which maintains privacy online while providing access to geo-blocked websites and services.

After extensive research into families’ digital behavior, F-Secure recognized that while boundaries for children matter a lot in parenting, the concept of “parental control” is outdated. Most parents expect and enable their maturing digital natives to engage actively online with limited monitoring as if playing with toys alone in a room.

“Goodbye, Parental Control. It’s not 2009 anymore,” says Perttu Tynkkynen, F-Secure Vice-President of Direct Consumer Sales & Marketing. “Family Rules helps parents manage limits, filter content and locate their kids’ devices remotely, allowing them to parent their children online from wherever they are.”

Research finds that by the age of two, most children use a digital device on a daily basis* and as many as 94 percent of parents allow unsupervised use of the Internet at the age of eight.**

“By establishing boundaries for kids to explore within limits, TOTAL and SAFE allow parents to lead their children online, encouraging positive online behavior without hovering over their shoulders,” says Sean Sullivan, F-Secure Security Advisor. “For kids born into the world of Snapchat and the Internet of Things, simple concepts like just blocking ‘bad’ content don’t work. They need to learn how to responsibly enjoy freedom within guidelines. Family Rules creates safe perimeters that help them do just that.”

The Family Rules feature is designed to be accessed by parents from any device anywhere, at any time offering the ability to adjust the settings so internet use doesn't get in the way of homework, getting some fresh air or family time.

"Getting everyone together for dinner should be a lot easier when you can temporarily shut off your child's internet access from the kitchen," Tynkkynen​ says.

Family Rules in SAFE and TOTAL now allow parents to:

• ​Add a device wherever you are through the SAFE Home portal
• Assign "adult" or "child" user roles to each user to grant appropriate access
• Set up content filtering based on age categories unique to each child

F-Secure TOTAL security and privacy is now available for a free trial through F-Secure's e-store, and supports Windows PCs, Macs, and Android and iOS devices. Annual subscriptions start at €79.99 for 3 devices.

*Source: Most parents allow unsupervised internet access to children at age 8 http://www.networkworld.com/article/2225579/microsoft-subnet/most-parents-allow-unsupervised-internet-access-to-children-at-age-8.html

**Source: Children and Adolescents and Digital Media http://pediatrics.aappublications.org/content/early/2016/10/19/peds.2016-2593#ref-5

More information: F-Secure TOTAL F-Secure SAFE