Block adult content

[Scooterit]

Hi,

I need to help a family with a son who has some mental challenges. He is a young teenager with testosterone squirting out of his ears and is "exploring" the internet to no end.

I have enabled Open DNS on the router but he is finding his way around this. There are many computers in this household and all the other family members need to use the web.

Any suggestions how to manage this situation other then locking him up in a room without any computers ?

Smiles across the wires,



Rogier

 

[Scooterit]

More info:

I would like to set the limits / controls per user and not per mac address.

Thinking about requiring to log into the network using a username and password. Before getting access to the network / internet. Each user will have each own limitations...

Smiles across the wires,



Rogier

 

[thiggins]

Difficult situation to manage with technology. What is wrong with control by MAC address?

I don't know of any consumer solutions that require login authentication.

 

[ChristineBCW]

Oops... wrong thread! But with a young son myself, I'll be reading with interest.

 

[Scooterit]

Problem with MAC address is that it determines the parental controls per machine. Since there are many computers and tablets in this household this kid jumps on an other computer...
Even with a managed account for him on every computer he still finds his way to the way to adult content...

Mentally / socially this kid has challenges but is is great with computers.... Sounds familiar in the tech industry... ;-)

 

[thiggins]

These threads tend to move to a discussion of parenting issues, where I am not going to go.

Linksys SmartWiFi routers have multiple Parental Control add-on apps. I am checking with them to see if any of them have a user login.

 

[thiggins]

Sorry. Linksys says all its Parental Controls are device based, not user.

 

[stevech]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parenting
versus
http://www.thefreedictionary.com/policing

 

[ChristineBCW]

Are there porn sites that still 'spawn' umpteen new windows simply by sitting there? (I saw this behavior once in 2006? 2005?) I think this also spawned a lot of pop-up blockers shortly thereafter. Along with the Bash-A-Mole game.

 

[abailey]

I have three children at home also and we use the Iboss Pro filter. There is also an Iboss Home filter. Don't know if this is what you want, though, as there is a cost for the device and a yearly cost. It is worth it to me. Anyway it can filter on MAC address or User ID and PW.
http://www.ibosshome.com/index.html Home Version
http://www.iboss.com/solutions/industries/iboss_pro/pro_overview.html Pro Version

 

[thiggins]

Also available in router form on Amazon for $50.

 

[Scooterit]

This sounds EXACTLY what I was looking for.

Assume I can connect a switch behind it to connect all the other devices?


Uggg just read the very mixed reviews on Amazon...

 

[ChristineBCW]

I'm tempering those reviews with the amount of time donated by all users (Amazon, after all, wants reviews done within days or a week of 'use'). I'll also be looking into some user-group scenario - this forum is a great example for certain products, but obviously we've also got at least one long-time user aboard, too. There are probably others and I'll be looking for a user-support group if indeed the vendor's "low support" doesn't answer all.

 

[thiggins]

You can connect a switch to any router to expand ports.

I suggest you try it if there is a free trial period for the service and return it if it doesn't work for you. Only way to really know.

 

[abailey]

I'll tell you my experience with iBoss.
First, there is some truth to the reviews on Amazon (bad and good). I went out and looked and I agree with some of what was said. This product is not for everyone, but if you know its limitations going in and have your expectations adjusted accordingly, it can work well.
The bad:
1) The hardware is garbage. The wireless is useless. The range and throughput are terrible. Disable the wireless first thing. Also the unit is underpowered. If you have a fast internet connection it will slow you down (more on that in a second).
2) The home and pro units do not seem to be a focus for the company as they seemed focused on their enterprise systems (probably because that is where the real money is at). So there are not many firmware updates and there is no published timeline or roadmap for upgrading the hardware units.
3) The setup can be a little confusing at first. It is really simple once you get the hang of it, but the instructions are lacking to say the least. Expect to spend some time on the front end learning the interface.
4) The tech support is lacking. There is no support forum (which is where I usually go for help with a product) and getting someone on the phone is near impossible. Email support seems to work well for me, but expect 24hours for a response to each email.
The good:
1) The unit has extremely good filters that are customizable. It all revolves around groups. You set a group up and then assign filters (by category, url, ip, pretty much you name it). Then you assign mac addresses or user ID's to the group. You can also assign time limits and stuff to the groups.
3) The unit is very stable once you get it set up. I think I have only had to reboot mine once because of a hang-up.
4) It works, and if set up correctly it is hard for someone to find a way around the filters (as proxy avoidance is a category you can block).
Now I started out with the iBoss home unit. Here are the limitations of the home unit:
1) Can only remember 15 devices. This means if you use MAC address to filter by then you can only have 15 devices recognized. This does not mean more can't be filtered. But it does mean all others besides those 15 will go into the default filter group. You will not be able to make them go into a different group (or you can have it let everything past the 15 through with no filtering).
2) You cannot turn off the firewall/nat. The unit has to have its firewall on. What is bad about this is that it has very few settings for its firewall. In fact I believe only port forwarding is available as a setting.
Now these limitations started causing me problems after about a year. So I upgraded to the iBoss pro.
Sadly, it appears that the iBoss pro has the exact same hardware as the iBoss home. It just has a little different OS on it that unlocks a few more options. The iBoss pro can remember many more devices (not sure but I think it is 40). The iBoss Pro has 5 filter groups to the 3 filter groups of the iBoss home. The iBoss pro can be put in router mode (like the iBoss home) or it can be put in transparent mode where traffic flows through it but is has no firewall or nat features. You use your own router for that.
The iBoss home cost $50 with a $60/year fee
The iBoss pro cost $170 with a $250/year fee
Now as far as speed limitations. When I had the iBoss home my internet line as a 10mb down, 3mb up plan. The iboss home could keep up with that, but it added at least 10ms onto my internet latency. Not long after I got the iBoss pro I upgraded to a 50mb down, 10mb up internet line. I put the iBoss Pro in transparent mode and my internet latency improved by 10ms. But when I do speed test I do get 50Mb/s down but can only get 7 to 8mb/s up. I emailed the company and they acknowledged that was a limitation of the home and pro hardware processor. If I wanted faster I would need their enterprise system (which last time I checked started at over $1000 for the hardware). Anyway 8mb/s is fine for my family and I am willing to give up the 2mb/s more I could be getting if I did not have the filter in there.
So now you know a little more about the devices so you can decide if it may work for you. I believe that is why there is such mixed reviews on Amazon. If the device fell within the expectations (and limitations) of a users environment then it got great reviews, if it did not, then it got bad reviews. I guess like most other products there is no silver bullet. It is always a compromise.

 

[Scooterit]

The past few day's I experimented with a Netgear R7000 and the Netgenie application on OSX and iOS. All I could get to work was Open DNS.
However individual bypass and management of individual users is a mystery.

Return to Retailer.


Rogier

 

[ChristineBCW]

Here's a front-page for AV-Comparatives ORG's reports page. It has a parental controls software study (100 pages in PDF format).

 

[Scooterit]

To bad it doesn't include any suggestions for OSX or network based parental controls...

OSX has good build inn parental controls btw.. ;-)

 

[Adalyn Royceston]

I am in a similar situation and we are also using Iboss Pro filter at home. Having teenagers in the household is really challenging nowadays.