back to article Motorola provides SIM condom for child protection

Motorola will be providing wraparound covers for SIMs, enabling parents to control who their children speak to and when at the click of a mouse. Services managing kids' communications generally rely on a compliant network operator and/or a customised handset, but Motorola reckons it has the technology to apply parental …

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  1. Matt Hawkins
    FAIL

    Six year olds?

    If you need this sort of control of your six year old then you seriously need to start being a good parent.

    Anyway, most children are going to know about this technology before their technophobic parents and simply remove it.

    Pointless.

  2. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Really?

    "To be fair, the Blipper service is aimed at children in the six to 10 range - a demographic not known for its in-depth understanding of GSM SIM authentication procedures." True, they don't understand how it works but they seem to have an instinctive way of touching things until they get what they want.

    My solution is not to give the kids phones, it seems they can survive without them... shock, horror!

    1. ravenviz Silver badge
      FAIL

      Re: Really?

      They'll just figure out that you can rip it off and use the phone as normal. Someone who knows just has to tell them then everyone can do it. They need better SIMs that have all that built in and you only give your kids that.

  3. Timo
    FAIL

    most kids are smarter than that

    Show me a 6-year old who *can't* pop the phone apart and fix the SIM! I would bet 75% of the parents would not be able to install said device... without help from their kids.

    Security by obscurity (hiding it in the hardware) = FAIL yet again.

  4. Robert Carnegie Silver badge

    Of course, you could superglue the thing into place.

    Then if it breaks or service is discontinued then you probably need a new phone, but that's affordable.

    Meanwhile the UK government adviser advises that children that young aren't safe using mobile phones because of the aforementioned radio waves, but that seems to be for no definite reason at all except that they, the adviser, are a numpty.

  5. chrhodes
    WTF?

    and the differance is.....?

    Some sim card today allow the restriction of the numbers dialed and texted via the Fixed Dialing Feature.

    This is protected by pin2 on the sim.

    With this a parent can restrict the numbers dialed by the handset and the kids cant get round it by opening up the phone and messing with the sim.

  6. Tristan Young
    FAIL

    Like a child-proof cap that adults can't get open but kids can

    Yeah....

    So the iSIM is designed for neophytes in the 50-115 year bracket that have difficult times opening their pill bottles, with VCR's still flashing 00:00 and can't read the fine print on the pill bottles.

    Meanwhile every kid I've ever known can probably find the virtual needle in the internet haystack, and are fairly knowledgeable in circumventing copy protections, jailbreaking iPhoneys and iMaxiPads, etc.

    So how is this supposed to teach our kids about trust? If we're willing to violate their rights to associate and communicate with anyone they wish, then we've already lost the battle.

    And I don't know about you, but I've had no problems obtaining second and third SIM cards - I never even had to ask. I'm sure kids are smart enough to rip off the stupid iSIM cover, or impersonate their mom and dad when calling the wireless company.

    If you want to piss your kids off - don't give them a friggin' cellphone. If you're going to be a looser and the least popular parent on the planet, at least do it right.

  7. Robert Carnegie Silver badge

    I think when I was 6 there was a sand table to play on in the classroom.

    And no, they don't grow up so much more quickly nowadays. Most 6 year olds can't find their way out of a ball pit. That's why they need the phone...

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