G+_Tim Sinclair-Lee Posted April 26, 2016 Share Posted April 26, 2016 Fr. Robert Ballecer, SJ? #Twitkh I have a homeschooling teenage son who struggles avoiding youtube during school hours. I am already using the openDNS family filter on my router to protect all of us from mistakes in our internet travels, what I'm looking for is a router end solution. I currently rock a wrt-54g which has "access restrictions" that don't appear to work unless you are just going for Internet on/off (Mac address or IP filtering for YouTube.com has no effect). What router would you recommend that has ease of use with fidelity to block specifics, and maybe some "fuzzy logic" "all video sites" blocking parental controls? I typically just go with the @wirecutter recommended device, but parental control ease is not high on their radar for reviews. Oh I would also need QoS settings too as we run VoIP and have fixed wireless internet (cal.net/internet/wireless) out in the boonies and $70 3mbps can only go so far amongst the 6 of us. Thanks in advance http://YouTube.com Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
G+_Eddie Foy Posted April 26, 2016 Share Posted April 26, 2016 Firewall rules on the PC itself? non admin account for the kid, then black/white list sites. Will take some curating and work upfront. (even a hosts file can work, and not cuase extra network traffic.) Win or Mac? (or linux??) If you are looking for a install and forget software, probably not gonna happen. DD-WRT on the router might give more granularity. You say you are in the boonies, but is a neighbor's wifi in range? If so GO;YL Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
G+_Tim Sinclair-Lee Posted April 26, 2016 Author Share Posted April 26, 2016 Hmmm he has a chromebook - not sure that is possible at my skill level, especially being able to swap hosts files depending on the time of day Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
G+_Eddie Foy Posted April 26, 2016 Share Posted April 26, 2016 Chromebook, I have zero experience with. And I'd think the hosts file there would be messy. I did telnet into an Asus consumer router here and the hosts file is there. A cron job could swap them at a specified time (of course being on the router, it would effect all clients/traffic) You could of course just go old school, and just use a belt :) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
G+_Tim Sinclair-Lee Posted April 26, 2016 Author Share Posted April 26, 2016 I'd consider DD-WRT but for a few reasons: 1. its our main router, if I kill it during a flash then I'll be in trouble with everyone 2. its REALLY old (12 years or more) - I suspect that even if I do get DD-WRT/tomato/open-wrt on it that trying to do what I want may overtax its feeble processor 3. if I bork it, it won't be available for reuse as a range extending access point at the far end of the house. As for the hosts file, I really want to apply it to only his (and maybe his brothers) chromebooks as Mom will need access to youtube for khan academy/youtube videos for the other kids. I think that mac address and timed blacklist filtering of his chromebook at the router level is the way to go unless someone has a great idea for an alternate solution? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
G+_Ben Reese Posted April 26, 2016 Share Posted April 26, 2016 It sounds like you want a proxy server to filter the traffic for you. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
G+_Ben Reese Posted April 26, 2016 Share Posted April 26, 2016 Here's the Life Hacker list of content filters: http://lifehacker.com/5312820/five-best-content-filtering-tools. I think a proxy is still your best bet or - as Eddie Foy? said - something else hardware. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
G+_Eddie Foy Posted April 26, 2016 Share Posted April 26, 2016 Always do in hardware what can also do in software. And always do in software what you can also do in hardware. :) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
G+_Tim Sinclair-Lee Posted April 26, 2016 Author Share Posted April 26, 2016 Ben Reese from the lifehacker article looks like openDNS is the most applicable to me, I'll check it out, but I suspect its 24/7 approach rather than only 8-12 and 13-16 MTWTF that I'm looking for. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
G+_Scott Baker Posted April 26, 2016 Share Posted April 26, 2016 I haven't actually used this - but If my kids were older I'd already have purchased it: http://buy.meetcircle.com/ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
G+_Tim Sinclair-Lee Posted April 26, 2016 Author Share Posted April 26, 2016 Scott Baker ooo now that looks interesting - I'll check out reviews on it and make sure it doesn't slow my network - might have to run it by Darren Kitchen, Shannon Morse patrick norton to see if there are any known security issues too though. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
G+_Tim Sinclair-Lee Posted April 26, 2016 Author Share Posted April 26, 2016 Wayne Hobbins gah - only iOS 7 devices in the family currently >:-/ they don't have a PC setup? would it work on ethernet attached devices anyway? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
G+_Eddie Foy Posted April 26, 2016 Share Posted April 26, 2016 Having a network device that requires a certain OS to configure these days is beyond foolish. It should be just a web interface or command line for the geeks. Ubiquity (among others) requires an configure app, also foolish. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
G+_Ben Reese Posted April 26, 2016 Share Posted April 26, 2016 It requires a configuration app, but it's java based so runs everywhere. Still inconvenient, but maybe better than running a Web server that can be hacked... Maybe. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
G+_Eddie Foy Posted April 26, 2016 Share Posted April 26, 2016 You trust java more then lightpd? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
G+_Ben Reese Posted April 26, 2016 Share Posted April 26, 2016 I only trust Java because I have to. I'm not going to try to defend Java, but most corporations use it confidently. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
G+_Tim Sinclair-Lee Posted April 26, 2016 Author Share Posted April 26, 2016 ok you guys just blew straight past my understanding :-) I'm not capable of arguing the finer points of command line/Java/lightpd/java script, and I'm definitely not capable of teaching it to my better half for her to drive it! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
G+_Ben Reese Posted April 27, 2016 Share Posted April 27, 2016 Wayne Hobbins close... Java and Javascript are similar in name only. Javascript is interpreted entirely by the browser whereas Java is more of a virtual machine and requires a plug-in to work in the browser. As with anything, Java should be trusted only if you trust the source. Unfortunately, plug-ins make it easy to run that powerful code in the browser even if you don't trust the source. With newer versions of Java and the browser plug-ins, you get a prompt asking if you trust the developer before the code is actually run. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
G+_Ben Reese Posted April 27, 2016 Share Posted April 27, 2016 As for software, I really don't like software solutions that have to be installed on that machine. They're way too easy to get around (and the options for Chromebook are probably limited). Maybe there's a Chrome plug-in that would work though? Even then, teens are experts at getting past parent's roadblocks. There does appear to be a monitored mode for Chromebooks though. Maybe that would be a easy place to start? http://www.omgchrome.com/a-parents-guide-to-supervised-users/ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
G+_Tim Sinclair-Lee Posted April 27, 2016 Author Share Posted April 27, 2016 Wayne Hobbins? haven't looked at them seriously as I assume they are a paid service, and I wanted to avoid a monthly fee (I have another 12 years of teenagers in the house)? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
G+_Tim Sinclair-Lee Posted April 27, 2016 Author Share Posted April 27, 2016 Ben Reese I did find a chrome plug in, but he just deleted it, so not much of a solution there, I could check out supervised users tho, that may work. Thanks for the link Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
G+_Tim Sinclair-Lee Posted April 28, 2016 Author Share Posted April 28, 2016 Wayne Hobbins I actually just shut off all his internet access today (well 8-12 and 1-4) and when I called him to ask if he'd got his school work done he thanked me that he hadn't been distracted all day! so apparently the wrt54g mac filters can at least cut off all his internet even if they can't cut off just youtube! Still need the better solution though as he will still have to research things for papers. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
G+_Tim Sinclair-Lee Posted May 20, 2016 Author Share Posted May 20, 2016 Fr. Robert Ballecer, SJ? Bryan Burnett? just a bump to see if you will have time to get to this :-) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
G+_Ben Reese Posted May 20, 2016 Share Posted May 20, 2016 I could see this being an on-going Raspberry Pi - similar to the quad-copters. The one Pi could be used for network monitoring, web proxy (with time-based access controls), and OpenVPN server. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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