Wii Internet Channel: No More Beta - Parental Filters On!

But don't worry, parents, your kids will be safe from that evil porn

Posted by Staff
Astaro: Unified Threat Management appliances. To protect your Wii from filth!
Astaro: Unified Threat Management appliances. To protect your Wii from filth!
The Wii Internet Channel, powered by Opera, officially goes live today. The channel had been available previously, but only in a Beta form.

The full browser will come with several updates, as SPOnG reported last month. It will remain free, as the beta version was, until June 30th. Following that, the Opera browser will set you back 500 Wii points from the Shopping Channel.

According to Nintendo:
"The browser now features a manual zoom, in addition to the automatic mode available in the previous version, allowing more viewing flexibility. When zooming in and out, texts are kept crisp and readable at all sizes. The new version of the Internet Channel also features improved scrolling functionality, as well as collapsible toolbars and multiple onscreen cursors.

"Search functions have become an essential part of our everyday Internet experience, with many of us selecting a search engine as our home page. To reflect the impact of search functions on our browsing experience, the Internet Channel now features an inbuilt function allowing users to query terms without having to go to a search engine. Wii owners are given the choice of selecting either Yahoo! Search or Google as pre-selected search engines to power their inbuilt search button. The selection can be changed at any time. Users will also have the ability to easily access Nintendo, Yahoo!, Google and My Opera from pre-loaded bookmarks."


And then we come to the 'Family' functionality; with the Wii aimed at the sitting room of abodes filled with happy family units, the last thing Nintendo wants are garish news reports of pornographic images downloaded on the Wii by minors, therefore...

"The Wii System Menu also gives parents control over what their children view with Parental Control options. Users are able to set a password, which can be used to restrict access to the Internet Channel if desired. For users looking for even more protection, Nintendo is also including a bookmark in the Wii Browser for the Astaro Wii Content Filtering Portal. This is a parental control system solely provided on Wii by Astaro, a leading provider of Internet security appliances, which will be available from 7th May 2007. Here, users can try out and sign-up for Astaro’s world-class content filtering service on their Wii."


Astaro dubs itself “the world’s leading provider of Unified Threat Management (UTM) appliances”. While the official release doesn't explain exactly how the (optional) portal works, it seems to be a fairly standard filter for URLs based on blacklists and content checking.

SPOnG can only assume that the Christian Right over at Porn Talk got to Nintendo. Why else could they possibly want to restrict under-age access to illicit materials?
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Comments

majin dboy 12 Apr 2007 15:10
1/4
what about wma/qt support for ummmm.......documenteries.
ozfunghi 12 Apr 2007 16:43
2/4
Don't hold your breath on WMA. I'd be happy if we got good ol' mpg support.
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billson 13 Apr 2007 00:44
3/4
Using it 2 post this, quite good, i like the new zoom, and when you type in passwords, it does *`s instead of showing everyone it. QT support would be nice tho, hmmm ive only got 1204 blocks left after this dl
Wii User UK 28 Dec 2008 13:55
4/4
Just got a Wii this Christmas. Bit annoyed (on principle) to have to pay for Internet Channel just because I wasn't an 'early adopter'.
There is however a way to avoid paying. You still need 500 points but there is a way to obtain them.
Register on the Nintendo site and register any Nintendo products you have.
Each product should have a card with a code on it.
A Wii gives you 1000 stars. Each Wii game gives you 250 stars.
A DS gives you 500 stars.
I registered the Wii, my DS, Wii Sports (which came with the Wii), and Wii Play.
This gave me 2000 stars which can be converted to 500 Wii points which can be used to obtain the Internet Channel.
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