Buy a Mac. Parental controls are amazing: http://theappleblog.com/2009/01/13/kid-proofing-a-mac-with-parental-controls/ "If you’ve allowed them access to the Mail application and iChat, you can limit their communications within those apps, from here. Enter the names of the users they can email and chat with in this tab. If you set a permission request email address (it would most likely be your own), that address will get a request email anytime your kid tries to email an address that you have not yet approved."
I haven't used them, but I've been following this feature as it has been improved regularly since 1993ish. Tom On Mon, Sep 28, 2009 at 6:36 PM, Adam Moskowitz <[email protected]> wrote: > A friend of mine needs to control the flow of email to/from his adopted > daughter (who is now 12 years old). Specifically, he needs to be able to > control mail between her and her birth parents -- partly because of > problems being caused by the birth parents, and partly to comply with an > "order" from the social worker that contact between her and her birth > parents be "supervised." > > Any decent sysadmin could set this up for him, but he doesn't want to > run his own server and he doesn't want to play sysadmin to modify the > system as addresses change, etc. He already outsources his family email, > but his current hosting company (Rackspace) can't provide the control he > needs, so he's looking for a new (or additional) service. He also wants > to do this at the provider because the daughter uses multiple computers > (mostly Macs) and so she can't figure out how to disable it. > > Here (in his words) is what he's looking for . . . > >> (1) Whitelist those e-mail addresses to which she can send mail and >> from which she can receive mail >> >> (a) E-mail to/from addresses not on the whitelist either gets >> forwarded to me (preferred) or rejected back to the sender >> >> (b) Once on the whitelist, e-mail can optionally be sent to/from >> the correspondent without intervention from me >> >> (c) Certain correspondents can remain designated for special >> treatment: correspondence is first sent to me for authorization >> and upon my authorization is then sent to the recipient (both >> incoming/outgoing mail) >> >> (2) All incoming and outgoing e-mail to my daughter's account is >> duplicated for me >> >> (3) E-mail traffic can be handled for a private domain name, >> <myname>.com. This requirement implies: >> >> (a) Being able to set up for general handling of all email issues >> including DNS issues for <myname>.com >> >> (b) Being able to define accounts for a series of addresses at >> <myname>.com, with appropriate handling for each account, e.g.: >> >> (i) Mail retrieval via desktop and mobile clients, via IMAP as >> well as POP >> (ii) Mail retrieval via web interface >> (iii) Reasonably large mailbox sizes, e.g., 1+ GB >> (iv) Automated mail responders, e.g., vacation response >> (v) SPAM filtering >> (vi) Any other properties one would expect of a modern mail >> service these days >> >> (4) Maintain her account (and all other accounts), whitelist, and any >> associated metadata through an EZ-to-use GUI. I don't want to have to >> dredge up brain cells that once devoted themselves to sendmail >> hacking, m4 macros, etc. >> >> By comparison, today I use rackspace.com. I'm able to have my needs >> satisfied for all of the above EXCEPT the whitelist. Rackspace >> provides a **blacklist** ability but that's not sufficient for my >> purposes; I need to be able to contemplate taking action on e-mail >> involving previously unheard-of correspondents, or involving >> correspondents designated for special treatment,*prior* to that e-mail >> hitting my daughter's inbox. > > So, any suggestions? Specifically, any suggestions for services that > will sell him what he needs? > > Thanks, > AdamM > _______________________________________________ > Discuss mailing list > [email protected] > http://lopsa.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/discuss > This list provided by the League of Professional System Administrators > http://lopsa.org/ > _______________________________________________ Discuss mailing list [email protected] http://lopsa.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/discuss This list provided by the League of Professional System Administrators http://lopsa.org/
