A Framework for Evaluating Parental Controls for Streaming Services

The paper describes the development of an evaluation framework for parental controls as a mechanism for managing children’s access to video content and discusses how educational practices can be employed for better design. The evaluation framework has two components. First, the differences, effectiveness, and the user’s perception of various parental control software systems were investigated through surveys that evaluated both general aspects of controls as well as through usability questionnaires focused on individual applications. Results indicate that while control mechanisms are seen as needed, their usage continues to be low. Factors that limit their adoption include a limited understanding of their functionality, significant differences in the interface between various services, and a lack of hardened security. Second, the security and usability features placed into the parental controls of different streaming platforms were analyzed through an evaluation toolkit grounded in previous literature as well as on user feedback. The toolkit is formed of a set of evaluation criteria that include user experience, security, and alignment with the content rating system for which scores are generated. The toolkit was used to evaluate the largest streaming services (in terms of the number of users). The results show that parental controls continue to be quite diverse in implementation across various platforms, leading to non-uniform experiences and limited usage, a concerning aspect given the continuous growth and diversification of the content streaming industry.