Google is preparing to replace the parental control features on its Chrome browser, but it is first disabling the controls ahead of time. The company has sent out an email alerting parents that it will be gradually reducing the functionality of the Chrome Supervised User feature.
Come 12 January, Chrome users will be unable to create or import new supervised users. By 15 January, the controls for the supervised users will be disabled; preventing the settings from being altered. In addition, remote supervision will also stop working at this time.
The idea behind Chrome supervised users was to allow parents to control what content their kids could access. It allowed websites to be blocked, safe search to be locked to always on, and allowed the parent to monitor a history of visited websites.
Curiously, the notification email talks about new supervision features for Chrome OS; with no explicit mention of what it has in store for the Chrome desktop browser. There’s no telling what Google is planning at this point, especially since there is no timeline for the new parental controls to be rolled out.
[Source: TechCrunch]
