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Except where such variations in communications service are explicitly authorized by the consumer. A counter example that I bet T-Mobile is waiting to deploy is

Except where such variations in communications service are explicitly authorized by the consumer. A counter example that I bet T-Mobile is waiting to deploy is parental control. As strange as it sounds, there are actually families that pay to have their wireless carrier restrict adult content while on-net. EDIT: "As strange as it sounds" refers to the fact that most parental control solutions are network-based, when in fact a proper parental control solution should be client-based because as soon as your child goes to WiFi at MacDonalds/Starbucks they probably have access to all the adult content they want to see by bypassing the wireless carrier parental control network controls.

hmahncke 11y ago
Speaking as a parent, the problem with client based controls is access to the client without an argument.
- netneutralish 11y ago
  As a parent, and as a person working in the wireless industry, I share this frustration. The main issue is that a true client-based parental-control solution will: a) eat up more data as the client's parental control component needs to continually update its URL database; b) require more CPU and RAM (i.e. more expensive phone) if you want a better "content inspection" engine (since URLs are notoriously easy to bypass); c) you are willfully acting as a MITM and creating a backdoor by forcing all content to be decrypted in some way for the solution to work effectively and only controlled by you (the parent), which may (or may not) compromise your stance on the issue of e2e encryption, privacy and security; d) (your point above and following from c) having to personally safeguard and secure your child's device; e) on Android, is it even possible to not root the device? Where's there's a will, there's a way: most kids with smartphones coupled with an incentive to bypass controls (Minecraft was a good example given above) could easily root their device, or eventually social engineer their parents into choosing future devices that are rootable.
  - GauntletWizard 11y ago
    Parental Controls are DRM. They're precisely the same problem statement and software solution: You want to turn general-purpose computing into devices that hide their capabilities from the user, selectively. This doesn't work on an informed and educated populace, and kids reach that level of education earlier than you think. My parents stopped filtering my internet at about 8 - I'd been online since 4- and while I'm certainly more scarred and savvy about a variety of strange subcultures than I would otherwise be, I am glad of it. Even before then, the filters had not been 100%; I know by anecdote that I had seen some seriously deranged pornography before the filters completely dropped, and I really just wasn't interested.
vidarh 11y ago
> when in fact a proper parental control solution should be client-based because as soon as your child goes to WiFi at MacDonalds/Starbucks they probably have access to all the adult content they want to see by bypassing the wireless carrier parental control network controls. And to anyone that doesn't think kids know how to change the wifi settings: My son is 6. He trawls for open wifi like crazy if I don't start my hotspot. And other kids do to, at an alarming rate: We were flying to see his grandma before christmas and at the gate at London Gatwick, I turned on my hotspot. He was one the iPad that automatically connected. Only I had turned the password off at some point for some reason. Within a couple of minutes, half a dozen kids had joined his Minecraft world by finding my hotspot, and then starting Minecraft and realising there was an accessible local server .... (alarming, because they'd be an oh-so-tempting target for all kinds of stuff...)
nandhp 11y ago
So I have T-Mobile (a prepaid account on a pay-as-you-go plan with no data), and there's already a parental control feature: they call it Web Guard. It's been there for a long time (since dumbphones) and is set to "Young Adult (17+)" by default. To turn it off I need to provide age verification: my full name, address, date of birth, and last four digits of my social security number. Although this information "will not be collected or stored for any use by T-Mobile USA" -- presumably it's only sent to Equifax or some other identity verification partner -- I'm still not comfortable giving them that information (I believe the only personal information I've ever provided is my name, email address, and ZIP code). I haven't made a fuss because I have no data plan, so turning it off won't help me, but I do still find it annoying. Incidentally, when I went looking for the setting today (it's in your account profile under Phone Controls), I discovered I now have a Binge On setting, which is (of course) on by default. However, I haven't checked to see if streaming video works (even though I have no data plan).
- netneutralish 11y ago
  I didn't know that but it makes sense from a liability perspective. Not sure if other prepaid offerings are similar.

hmahncke 11y ago

Speaking as a parent, the problem with client based controls is access to the client without an argument.

netneutralish 11y ago
As a parent, and as a person working in the wireless industry, I share this frustration. The main issue is that a true client-based parental-control solution will: a) eat up more data as the client's parental control component needs to continually update its URL database; b) require more CPU and RAM (i.e. more expensive phone) if you want a better "content inspection" engine (since URLs are notoriously easy to bypass); c) you are willfully acting as a MITM and creating a backdoor by forcing all content to be decrypted in some way for the solution to work effectively and only controlled by you (the parent), which may (or may not) compromise your stance on the issue of e2e encryption, privacy and security; d) (your point above and following from c) having to personally safeguard and secure your child's device; e) on Android, is it even possible to not root the device? Where's there's a will, there's a way: most kids with smartphones coupled with an incentive to bypass controls (Minecraft was a good example given above) could easily root their device, or eventually social engineer their parents into choosing future devices that are rootable.
- GauntletWizard 11y ago
  Parental Controls are DRM. They're precisely the same problem statement and software solution: You want to turn general-purpose computing into devices that hide their capabilities from the user, selectively. This doesn't work on an informed and educated populace, and kids reach that level of education earlier than you think. My parents stopped filtering my internet at about 8 - I'd been online since 4- and while I'm certainly more scarred and savvy about a variety of strange subcultures than I would otherwise be, I am glad of it. Even before then, the filters had not been 100%; I know by anecdote that I had seen some seriously deranged pornography before the filters completely dropped, and I really just wasn't interested.

vidarh 11y ago

> when in fact a proper parental control solution should be client-based because as soon as your child goes to WiFi at MacDonalds/Starbucks they probably have access to all the adult content they want to see by bypassing the wireless carrier parental control network controls. And to anyone that doesn't think kids know how to change the wifi settings: My son is 6. He trawls for open wifi like crazy if I don't start my hotspot. And other kids do to, at an alarming rate: We were flying to see his grandma before christmas and at the gate at London Gatwick, I turned on my hotspot. He was one the iPad that automatically connected. Only I had turned the password off at some point for some reason. Within a couple of minutes, half a dozen kids had joined his Minecraft world by finding my hotspot, and then starting Minecraft and realising there was an accessible local server .... (alarming, because they'd be an oh-so-tempting target for all kinds of stuff...)

nandhp 11y ago

So I have T-Mobile (a prepaid account on a pay-as-you-go plan with no data), and there's already a parental control feature: they call it Web Guard. It's been there for a long time (since dumbphones) and is set to "Young Adult (17+)" by default. To turn it off I need to provide age verification: my full name, address, date of birth, and last four digits of my social security number. Although this information "will not be collected or stored for any use by T-Mobile USA" -- presumably it's only sent to Equifax or some other identity verification partner -- I'm still not comfortable giving them that information (I believe the only personal information I've ever provided is my name, email address, and ZIP code). I haven't made a fuss because I have no data plan, so turning it off won't help me, but I do still find it annoying. Incidentally, when I went looking for the setting today (it's in your account profile under Phone Controls), I discovered I now have a Binge On setting, which is (of course) on by default. However, I haven't checked to see if streaming video works (even though I have no data plan).

netneutralish 11y ago
I didn't know that but it makes sense from a liability perspective. Not sure if other prepaid offerings are similar.