Privacy & alert settings (give a teen room without going blind)¶
Monitoring a 9-year-old and a 16-year-old shouldn't look the same. GuardianNode lets you dial in, per child, what's worth an alert, what's just recorded quietly, and what's ignored entirely — plus how often capture runs. Older kids can get more room; serious categories still reach you.
Open the dashboard → Profiles → expand a child → Privacy & alert settings.
The three behaviors¶
For each kind of content you choose one of:
- Alert me — it shows up in the Risk Feed and (for high/critical) emails you.
- Monitor quietly — it's recorded in the feed, but you're not notified. Use this when you want a record but not a ping (e.g. mild bullying for a teen).
- Allow (ignore) — not flagged at all (e.g. swearing for a 16-year-old).
You can also set "only when" a minimum severity per item — for example set Sexual or romantic talk to alert at Critical only, so a private chat with a boyfriend or girlfriend stays private unless it turns into something serious.
Always-on safety (you can't turn these off)¶
Some things always alert, at every age, no matter how you set the rest:
- Self-harm signals
- Grooming (an adult/stranger working on your child)
- Threats
- Sexual exploitation of a child
- Your own watch phrases (the name/address/school you added)
This is deliberate — privacy settings should never be able to silence the things that keep a kid safe.
Age defaults (a sensible starting point)¶
When you create a profile, GuardianNode seeds it based on age. You can change any of it, or hit Reset to age defaults at any time.
| Under 10 | 10–13 | 14–17 | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Swearing | Alert | Monitor | Allowed |
| Bullying | Alert | Alert | Monitor (alert if serious) |
| Romantic/sexual talk | Alert | Alert at High | Alert at Critical only (private unless serious) |
| Drug/alcohol mentions | Alert | Alert | Monitor |
| Alert me at or above | Low | Medium | High |
The idea: a 16-year-old swearing or trading trash talk isn't an emergency; a private relationship stays private — but grooming, self-harm, scams, and identity exposure still come straight to you.
How much to capture¶
The same panel has How much to capture:
- Tight — frequent capture, catches small changes. Most coverage, least privacy. Good for younger kids.
- Balanced — the default.
- Leeway — captures less often, only meaningful screen changes. More privacy for an older, trusted teen.
You change this from the dashboard; the child's PC picks it up automatically within a couple of minutes — nothing to install or reconfigure on their machine.
Current alpha installers enable visible desktop capture by default. Depending on policy/config, GuardianNode may capture the full visible screen or capture only when configured apps are active. Assume retained screenshots and OCR text may contain sensitive visible information, and tune retention/deletion accordingly.
Tip¶
Start from the age default, then loosen the one or two things you trust your kid with. The locked safety categories mean you can be generous elsewhere without worrying you've created a blind spot for the things that matter.