Kindle Fire Lacks Sufficient Parental Controls, Users Complain

As the rage of Kindle Fire gradually simmers down somewhat, critics have found a lot of genuine reasons to lambaste the tablet. According to recent reports, users on Amazon forums have stated that the lack of parental controls on Kindle Fire is quite shocking for them. And this one is perhaps not a one-update-solution kind of problem.

Kids have access to porn, parents say:
The parents are worried because there are virtually no parental controls on the tablet. This means that if the tablet is handed over to an 11-year old, he may as well have very easy access to adult media and literature. In fact, according to a parent, when he bought Kindle Fire as a gift for his 11-year old who is fond of reading books, he decided to try his own hands on the tablet first. And when he searched for books with the key word ‘Teen fiction’ the top results included links to adult literature. Also, the Silk browser seems to lack effective parental controls that will prevent the kids from necessarily accessing porn and other adult material.

Another security issue with the tablet is that if a third person can access the tablet, he can also purchase things online since it won’t require any password. This glaring security problem is sure to upset many users. Again, the kids are very likely to be tempted by ads online and indulge into purchasing things without the permission of their parents. Although the sales of Kindle Fire have been fairly high, due mainly to it’s price, Amazon needs to do more about these flaws to stay in competition.

Image courtesy Courtbean.

Salman

Salman Latif is a software engineer with a specific interest in social media, big data and real-world solutions using the two.Other than that, he is a bit of a gypsy. He also writes in his own blog. You can find him on Google+ and Twitter .

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