Ask HN: Current state of parental internet control? | Hacker News Reader

Ask HN: Current state of parental internet control?

10 pointstonteldoos14 comments

Good day all,

I'm doing some research for a friend who's kids are starting to use the interwebs, and was wondering what the current state of parental control packages are, specifically:

  1] What would HN recommend (off-the-shelf solutions - see below)
  2] How well do the packages work that you've actually used
  3] How do they compare costwise

I'm capable of setting up a proxy and filter for them, but for their own reasons, they would prefer off-the-shelf solutions (Windows and/or Mac).

As always, thanks for your input!

EDIT: If HN is aware of off-the-shelf solutions that will cover an entire home network (in the way a proxy solution could), please do share.

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OpenDNS is handy. You

1/ Sign up for an account 2/ Configure your home's router to use their DNS servers 3/ Install an agent on a machine in your home's network, authenticate it with your account credentials. When your router's IP address changes, this agent makes sure to update your account. 4/ Configure the sites or types of site you want to block.

Once you're up and running, If a DNS request from your network matches something that'd be blocked, you'll get re-directed to a "Blocked Content" page.

I'd need to look into what machine will be running the agent, but this is look like a really good solution. Thanks!

Unless you also block outgoing DNS requests on the router, this seems like a 10 minute (before being defeated) solution at best.

A search for "get around opendns content blocked" returns instant, step-through guides to change your browser/OS DNS settings.

I assume that someone who's configuring their router will also be configuring their children's devices in such a way that the children won't have permissions to make those changes.

I don't know how useful it is for preventing kids from getting on 8chan, but for productivity, I use https://freedom.to/freedom and it is great!

It works on both OSX and iOS.

It lets you maintain multiple blocklists.

It lets you schedule sessions to start in the future so you can shut yourself off from the siren song of the set of all human knowledge at 11pm and go to sleep.

Thank you - this is actually a feature I forgot to add to the list above.

Parental control software has always been, and will always be, an unethical counterproductive exercise in futility. You might want to try talking to them instead.

In principle I agree. However, this xkcd applies: https://xkcd.com/214/. It is impossible to talk to them about everything they might stumble on. Especially with younger children inevitably starting to use the web and apps, and the amount of clickbait floating around, it's almost a given that they'll see stuff that they probably shouldn't, without you even knowing about it.

>they'll see stuff that they probably shouldn't

I don't understand that mentality, would you care to elaborate?

Personally, if someone is old enough to understand the words they are reading, they are probably old enough to have opinions about what they have read.

My parents and my mom's sisters raised me and my cousins very differently. My cousins used to be much more dependent and during puberty, they seem to have been far more defiant than I have. This is in contrast to me, where I have consistently been defiant yet been able to deal with being alone.

I was raised with no internet filtering and because of this, I learned a lot about a lot of things and was able to talk to people that internet filters would have blocked out. I think this contributed to my personal social and critical thinking abilities.

I have a 6 year old that can navigate an interface with links. He can also read. However, his critical thinking ability is still being formed, as is his frame of reference of the world. I'd prefer to not give him access to an unfiltered firehose just yet.

I don't know how old you are, but when I grew up, the web was in its infancy, and you could take your time to process the information available, and everyone wasn't yet posting about everything they may or may not have a qualified opinion on.

Times have changed, unfortunately, and we have to adapt with them.

If they're using OS X, there is a Parental Controls system preference.

The amount of things that can be set is quite comprehensive:

- the apps that can be used

- which iTunes/App Stores are available and with what age ratings

- whether the camera can be used

- whether Mail can be used to contact anyone or just allowed contacts

- One of "unrestricted web access", "try to limit access to adult sites" or "allow access only to sites in <list>"

- time limits for the account - hours per day, and time of day for weekdays and weekends.

- privacy settings - e.g. allow him/her to install an app/use sites, but prevent those apps/sites from accessing things like contacts data etc.

The only 'off the shelf' solution that would cover this level of control for macs network-wide, would be to put OS X server onto one of the computers and use network logins, with the appropriate limits set.

On Windows a Group Policy probably can achieve the same results, and maybe they're easier to use now, but they were definitely not as point-and-click as Apple's options last time I had any interaction with them.

I have tried using the parental controls on YouTube, but stuff always seems to slip by with the recommendations they show on the side bar.

I know its a bit of a manual effort, but I take the embedded code of each video I have personally vetted, and I place it in its own html page.

This allows me to keep out unwanted videos but still offer some learning opportunities.

Blue Coat offers an option that I've found to be effective - http://www1.k9webprotection.com

Thank you - I'll check it out!

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