Parental Control - Blocking Wrestling Websites

[Simmy]

I've been asked by a customer to help stop their kid accessing wrestling websites. I've installed K9 and setup a few custom keyword blocks, but he's simply entering new keywords to gain access to wrestling sites. I've tried explaining to the customer that as long as he has internet acess, it will be virtually impossible to stop him. It's easier to block pr0n than it is wrestling!

The only other way I could think of was to simply block every website and grant him access to a select few which we specify, but this brings complications as he uses the internet for his homework.

Any ideas folks?

[Jory]

Instead of blocking the websites you should setup software that logs what he is doing. Then the parents can review the log whenever they want and punish him if he went to websites they don't want him to. You'll never be able to block everything, and he's likely to figure out a way around the block eventually. It's like trying to fight a forest fire with a garden hose.

[DanF]

Doesn't the K9 software create detailed logs?

[PatrickB]

You could setup a whitelist instead of a blacklist. Block everything except for the whitelist.

A resourceful person can still use proxys or cached Google pages to get what they want.

In the end, parental monitoring and review with their son would be best.

-- Patrick B.

[tartis]

Try www.opendns.com. It has a content filtering section that includes sports. You can also blacklist any domain or web-site that they see fit. I stopped using Netnanny for this free solution.

[thebeardedone]

You could setup a whitelist instead of a blacklist. Block everything except for the whitelist.

A resourceful person can still use proxys or cached Google pages to get what they want.

In the end, parental monitoring and review with their son would be best.

-- Patrick B.

Exactly what I was thinking.

Try www.opendns.com. It has a content filtering section that includes sports. You can also blacklist any domain or web-site that they see fit. I stopped using Netnanny for this free solution.

Although, using the openDNS servers is also an excellent idea :)

[Mouse Mate]

To be honest, if the Chinese couldn't stop the "Tibetan Revolution" then you've no chance with the spandex clad drama queens!

I'd just go with a usage log which your client monitors on a weekly basis.

[usacvlr]

I think to waste my time with something so ridiculous the labor fee would have to be awfully high.

[LunchBox]

As it was mentioned use OpenDNS. I used it. There is no way around it. It block surfing by proxy.

You can also use K9.

The problem is that I don't think they have a specific sport blocking. You can block specific sites the person goes to but you may never know all of them. Even if you logged them there could be many more that he may not go to but will once his favorite ones are blocked.

This is both blocking AND the parent doing their duties as parents. They are being lazy and not want to deal with talking to their kid, or they have but the kids doesn't get it.

[tasaholic]

My advice would be to demonstrate to the client how easy it is to remove the cable to the wall jack or the modem from the Laptop... This is a ridiculous situation to find yourself in..you are not the Gatekeeper,The internet filter nor the Censorship guy,the parent or the guardian.End of story..move on.In my experience ,young teens are very adept at getting around all the "roadblocks" if they want to..making a joke of all the efforts to block access to certain material. There is only one guaranteed way to achieve what your client wants...sell them handcuffs,leg irons,blindfold ,a gag and a packet of Valium. If the child beats all the immobilising devices..take the full packet of Valium...no more problems!:eek: In short, duckshove this one..you cannot solve the issue to anyone's satisfaction,and the first time the kid gets past your efforts,guess who gets the blame? :cool:

[purple_minion]

What ever happened to parenting? Obviously they know he goes to the sites, so punish him. Unless things have changed internet access isn't a requirement for school... and if it is he can do it AT school. Take away the keyboard and mouse if he screws up. BIOS password, windows password, disable booting from cd drives, solder the bios jump on, get security bits for the case screws. The ultimate would be to remove all devices but the hard drive, encrypt it. Actually the ultimate would be to cancel the internet and remove the computer. I had my parents stop me from going to "sites" and it didn't work. I used netzero free, reset the bios AFTER saving an image of it so I could reload all the old settings back in after I was done. He was going to remove the modem, and then I'd be screwed. Only give away was that the time always reset back to that exact time as well when I reloaded the BIOS settings. My dad only figured it out after I told him, thought he had a bad chip that wouldn't keep time. In short, be a parent and take it away and punish your child. End of story.

[hondablaster]

I know of this new board that can help enforce a no wrestleling filter. Its actually not new tech but it may be starting to make a come back. Its called the "paddle board" by DAD and its probably thier cheapest solution to this problem. LOL

[cfultz]

i know this is a little in depth and probably not worth the time or effort but what about the host file? just find out what sites he's accessing, add them to the host file and direct them to google or any other site for that matter.

[Simmy]

Thanks for the replies. It's a tricky situation because it's a contract customer so I can't exactly walk away. The parents are also blind so they can't see what he has been on to discipline him.

Modifying the host file would be too tricky as there are millions of wrestling related sites.

Opendns might be an option, but the parents need unrestricted access to the internet. I wonder if it's possible to specify different DNS addresses for different windows accounts?

[cfultz]

tell the parents to man up. you know, show some muscle. regardless if they're blind or not, havent they heard of bluffing? just act like they know what sites he's on and yell at him. maybe then the little peon will get the picture. jeez, why would anyone wanna look up wrestling sites anyways? you did everything from the router side too right? like keyword blocking? im sure you did. just covering all points.

[PatrickB]

Simmy, Sure!

Assuming the kid does not know how to change his own DNS setting, just set his to use OpenDNS and leave the parents the way they are now point to their ISP's DNS server, or other. Of course, I prefer that they all use OpenDNS for safety's sake, but this will work.

The catch with blocking sites via OpenDNS is that it must know your public IP at all times, so you will need to install OpenDNS Updater on any machine in the home so that it may report the current public IP to OpenDNS, so that OpenDNS can filter results destined back to their home LAN. This will not affect DNS requests from the parents' machines, because they are not pointed to use OpenDNS.

-- Patrick B.

[purple_minion]

Thanks for the replies. It's a tricky situation because it's a contract customer so I can't exactly walk away. The parents are also blind so they can't see what he has been on to discipline him.

Modifying the host file would be too tricky as there are millions of wrestling related sites.

Opendns might be an option, but the parents need unrestricted access to the internet. I wonder if it's possible to specify different DNS addresses for different windows accounts?

Both parents are blind? That sucks... and yet the kid is alright. Guess that is luck huh. Perhaps a close friend could look the logs over, or a screen reader application. The parents obviously figured out the sites he was looking at somehow. Either way it's still up to the parents. I also return to the fact that the internet IS NOT A RIGHT. Also with all the other "dangers" online, wrestling is their highest priority, not pedophiles, phishing scams, virus's, identity theft, etc.

I myself don't understand this. Perhaps he is emulating the wrestling moves and someone is getting hurt? In that case they need to discipline him for that. Remember just because you know Karate doesn't mean you beat the crap out of everyone you meet.

The most effective thing you could give them would be a way for them to monitor their kid. A keylogger to search for keywords, opendns sounds good for his account, install some nanny software... if even just for show. Find a good screen reader for the parents, look at his web history. If he tries to cover it up look in the index.dat file for internet explorer, from what I hear you can't touch that file unless you boot from an external OS. Perhaps offer up a cheap service to remote in, take a peek and email the results to them to evaluate. Offer to show their trusted family/friend how to track his usage when he's not home so he's none the wiser to who is "betraying" him and how they are doing it.

[gunslinger]

Instead of blocking the websites you should setup software that logs what he is doing. Then the parents can review the log whenever they want and punish him if he went to websites they don't want him to. You'll never be able to block everything, and he's likely to figure out a way around the block eventually. It's like trying to fight a forest fire with a garden hose.

Exactly what I was going to say.

[krutoi]

Instead of blocking the websites you should setup software that logs what he is doing

I suggest you setup OpenDNS, but at the modem/router instead of on the kid's machine. This way all traffic will be tracked on their backend and you can see where he has been surfing. If you set it up on his machine chances are he would find a way to disable it.