Patent ID: 7428585

Claim:
A method for using parental controls, the method comprising: storing parental control information on a user device; receiving a request from the user device to access a destination over a communications network; using the parental control information stored on the user device to determine whether to grant the request from the user device; allowing the user device access to the destination when the parental control information indicates that the request should be allowed; denying the user device access to the destination when the parental control information indicates that the request should be denied; storing on a remote device information that is related to the parental control information stored on the user device; using the information stored on the remote device to determine whether the parental control information stored on the user device has been altered without authorization of a master account holder for the user device; and if the parental control information stored on the user device has been altered without authorization of the master account holder for the user device: replacing the altered version of the parental control information stored on the user device with an unaltered version of the parental control information, and sending a message to the master account holder for the user device, the message indicating that the parental controls stored on the user device have been altered without authorization of the master account holder for the user device.