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This startup makes an Xbox dongle that will keep watch against cyberbullying
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Image: Kidas/Lift Labs
For about the past year, Ron Kerbs’ company has been working on a monitoring device that listens to online multiplayer chat and tries to offer a helpful heads-up to parents worried about their kids’ online behavior, or their safety. Kerbs understands he’s trying to thread a small needle: parents won’t find his solution, called Kidas, useful if it pings them every time someone says a bad word. So right now, there are some amusing false positives.
A couple of weeks ago, he says, a Kidas device in a test home picked up a troubling conversation among adolescents. No swears, but taunts and threats were exchanged. When this happens, a human analyst looks over the incident and determines whether the parents should be notified.