Zaindari, new parental control system for internet use

They have designed a parental control system capable of controlling the time that minors use the Internet, filtering the appropriate content for them on the Internet and supervising their hours of sleep.

The creators of the system are Xabier Erro Cancel, Markel Iruretagoyena Zariquiegui and Jesús Martínez de Lapuente Lacalle, fourth-year students of the Degree in Telecommunication Technologies at the Public University of Navarra (UPNA) in Spain.

The system, named “Zaindari” (caretaker or caretaker, in Spanish), is a work framed in the subject Telematics Engineering Projects, taught by professor Eduardo Magaña Lizarrondo, belonging to the Institute of Smart Cities (ISC) of the UPNA.

“Internet access for minors must be supervised by an adult and for this, parental control tools installed on the devices have traditionally been used,” explains the group of students. “In this context, ‘Zaindari’ applies an innovative approach, in which the control is carried out on the Wi-Fi router itself, allowing it to work even on those school chromebooks where it is not possible to install any software and, furthermore, simplifying the work in the rest of the devices that, once connected to the Wi-Fi network, will become supervised ”, they detail.

With “Zaindari”, adults will be able to have a mobile application that, together with the router, allows them to create profiles for each minor and establish individualized Internet connection times, as well as knowing who is connected at any given moment and being able to block access to the network independently at the press of a button “which can be useful, for example, at mealtimes”, point out the creators of the system.

The students who have developed the application, at UPNA. From left to right: Markel Iruretagoyena Zariquiegui, Xabier Erro Cancel and Jesús Martínez de Lapuente Lacalle. (Photo: UPNA)

“It also allows blocking malware and adult content,” they add. “Currently, work is being done on new features such as personalized management of access to social networks or streaming services, as well as knowing the times of use in each case,” say the creators of the system. (Source: UPNA)