Hello,
I’ve recently been researching what methods are available to safe guard tweens or younger teens from allot of the adult content online. As a parent I have no idea how I’m going to handle this when it’s my turn so I took on this job as a kind of paid research project. Basically my client would like to keep any porn off the computer I have reloaded for her to give to her son.
I started with your basic google search on the subject and found plenty of browser extension suggestions and a few walk-throughs as well. The laptop has Windows 7 HP on it so I set-up a new account just for the son as a Standard user and make all the changes in the admin account. The client seems to be a chrome user so the best I could do is load them up with Commodo Dragon. If you’ve ever seen Windows 7 “Parental Control” section it’s quite limited and applies more towards game content and time usage on the computer. I’m trying to do as much from the OS level as I can to retain the integrity of the system put in place. So far it’s not much of a system so I came here to look to others and see what route they decided on for parental control.
I briefly looked into Open DNS which filters content from a blacklist at the router level. The only problem there is if the kid figures it out (which they will, kids aren’t stupid). Her son can just take the laptop to a friend’s house or even use a public access point and voila! no more porn filter. My other issue with this is that the restrictions need to be as local as possible so that if “single mommy” wants a quick run with Tyson Beckford things go swimmingly for her. Restriction at the router level restricts everything connected to it.
I think the desired outcome would be that this kid can use the computer for most things just nothing in terms of forming a closer relationship with his dominant hand. I’m sure if it were possible, this mother would like no access to porn no matter what ways one might go about it. I’m not sure such a thing is possible.
The browser filters I’m sure help a bit but aren’t 100% -furthermore, I’ve been reading that most if not all of them on the Chromium line of things allow the user to disable the extension. What’s the point of installing it if the kid can just “flip a switch”?
So if you have any suggestions I’m all ears folks, thanks in advance.
As we like to say where I work “this is not an IT problem; it’s a personnel problem”
I won’t say it “can’t be done”, but the amount of initial effort and ongoing maintenance to make sure that nothing slips through is simply not feasible. If your client doesn’t want her son looking at porn on the computer, than it’s on her to have a talk with her son to let him know it’s not acceptable, and if necessary to monitor his computer use.
You can not solve this problem, and you shouldn’t try. Whatever ‘safeguards’ you come up with, the kid will be able to get around if he tries hard enough…and then it will be “your fault” for not making the system secure enough.
Agreed. If she’s not an advanced user, he’ll probably be much better than her at it very shortly.
Actually, now that I think about it there is one system-based way to keep the kid from looking at porn: no Internet subscription. And remove the wireless card so he can’t jack the neighbors’ connection. I suspect that will defeat the purpose of the computer, though.
As has been stated, there’s not much technology can do (at the level we’re taking about) to keep someone of any age who wants to look at porn from doing so. Filtering can help prevent accidental access, and while I don’t think I’ve ever been surprised to [del]come upon[/del] encounter porn in my internet travels, preventing accidental access also means preventing someone from deliberately accessing it and going “oops” when caught.
Another thing a filter can do, it seems to me, is provide a reminder. A Terry Pratchett character said “the purpose of rules is so that you’ll think before you break them”; the filter will help enforce the rule whatever that ends up being, even if it’s not an insurmountable obstacle.
Within two days of getting a Chromebook and a cell phone (it was a banner birthday this year), my 10 year old had multiple person video chats going with her friends that would be on the computer, she’d close the computer and they’d pop up on her phone, and back again.
I have no idea how to do that. I didn’t even know you *could *do that. It took her less than two days to figure it out.
She keeps the computer in the living room and I have full authority to look over her shoulder and at all her history and stuff at any time. And I don’t fool myself that it will keep her entirely safe. She’s already been involved in one skeezy chat on a Harry Potter themed board. Best thing I can say about that is she’s now aware what a skeezy leading chat looks like and backs out of them before she gets far in. At least while I’m watching.
Best thing I can do is concentrate on making my daughter strong and capable, not her software.
The DNS-based blocking solution is probably the most robust, especially compared to the chrome extensions, which wouldn’t last a day. I know there’s a common perception that every kid is an invincible hacker who can beat any system, but the truth is even though younger kids are generally more adept at technology they have less understanding of low-level computing technology, like DNS. So the kids nowadays may be able to type on their cellphone at 50 WPM but they don’t know how many bits are to a byte. The positive side of this is that there is technology that isn’t that difficult for an adult to master but is much harder for a kid (because how often do you have to mess with a DNS server these days? never.)
Really, all you have to do is make looking at porn more difficult than going outside and looking at pretty girls (or boys, I guess). I’d consider whether blocking something you really need, and putting the computer in the living room as mentioned is a good idea, but of the things you have listed the DNS will last the longest.
wow, I didn’t think anyone read and responded to postings so late, never-the-less thank you. I will have to go through this at some point so all this info will be put to use when I do my hunt for a safe filter for my daughter.