As a parent, I am pleased to have found a powerful parental control tool for Firefox. I’ve tried a few in the past but what I was really missing was a white list approach: I just can’t trust any clever algorithm to take care of what my children can see in the web.

Glubble, is an amazing Firefox extension developed by Glaxstar, that allow parents to set what children can access.

On first run, Glubble will ask for a username and password to create an account for the parent or guardian and individual password protected accounts for each child they can’t change by themselves.

When you start Firefox you are prompted with a colorful screen saying Firefox is blocked and you are prompted to select a user to start Firefox. Passwords can be saved for children accounts but not for parents’.

After the kid selects his username, Firefox will quickly restart and load with a Glubble themed interface that offers a nice start page with links and thumbnails to all the authorized web sites. Glubble provides a long list of pre-authorized content that you can also edit at will. Yahoo! and Google search boxes are also provided but searches are limited to white listed sites.

If a kid needs to check out a different site he is prompted with an access denied message and an option to ask a controller for access. The request is notified to the selected controller by email. He will then start Firefox and receive the pending request to authorize a specific page, the whole web site or reject it.

Another nice feature is that it allows to distribute authorization to friends and relatives you trust for this by adding them as helpers. You will always be able to know who authorized what.

Parents, get the regular Firefox interface with an additional button that allows to quickly add the current web site to a child’s white list.

Glubble is currently free of charge. Glaxstar’s plan for making a profit and keep the service up is to “selectively charge for certain value added benefits like content from trusted content partners, by selling goods to parents that other parents have recommended and for certain expanded service options”, reads Glubble’s frequently asked questions section.

My only complaints: I’d like a more complete theme for the kids that includes the tabs as well. If possible to avoid the need for a restart. Delete bookmarks from kids’ sessions or at least clear them before first run since they make no sense with a white list in place.

Glubble can be circumvented by starting Firefox in safe mode or manually deleting the extension from the profile folder. But that kind of hacks are beyond Glubble audience’s skills.

If you have kids, you should definitely give Glubble a try.

Usefulness: 5/5 - Features: 5/5 - Usability: 5/5