Nuremberg, Germany  - A new service, called Family DSL, has been designed to make internet surfing safe for children.

Familien DSL, as the system is marketed in Germany, consists of a DSL connection, a WLAN router and an USB stick with integrated security software, said representatives of the three firms behind the idea - Carpo, D-Link and Cybits.

Family DSL is based on lists compiled and regularly reviewed by education experts. Those lists assign positive and negative values to websites, based on the user's age, and are regularly updated to the router, which then allows or disallows access based on the rating. As the information is stored in the router, the security software does not have to be installed on every device in a home.

Only devices that have been registered with the router can access the internet. If the USB stick is removed, the connection to the internet is interrupted immediately. The Family DSL 2000 costs around 24.95 euros (32 dollars) a month. (dpa)