DSi doesn’t like 35 million websites
Parental controls block everything but Nintendo homepage (not really, but almost)
Admittedly there are a lot of websites out there, and a substantial number of them are packed with digitised flesh. But figures have just been released demonstrating the aggressiveness of the DSi web browser’s parental controls, which limits access to a whopping 35 million sites.
The DSi uses a cloud-based filtering system drawn from information provided by network security company Astaro. When activated, web access is taken through a narrow-pass proxy that strictly limits ‘inappropriate’ content.
“The scalability of the service which is being offered is crucial,” says Astaro's chief security architect (and father of the Matrix) Gert Hansen. “By hosting the service in the cloud, we can provide a full security service to Nintendo DSi users.”
Most parents will agree that you can’t be too heavy handed when it comes to filtering out impropriety, but the level of censorship rather flies in the face of Nintendo’s promotion of the DSi as being a connected device.
Fortunately most 10-year-olds know more about this stuff than their parents do, and switching off the control probably won’t be a problem for them, but any concerned tech-savvy mums and dads should take a look at the DSi’s blockage option.
