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Author Topic: Parental control  (Read 9119 times)

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Offline coolcatiger

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Parental control
« on: August 02, 2013, 05:26:09 am »
There is no mention of parental control capabilities of Almond+ anywhere.
Would like parental control that can be controlled by iPhone remotely.

I liked the idea of http://router-research.com/ but unfortunately they were not funded on KS. Would like to see same features on A+

LGNilsson

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Re: Parental control
« Reply #1 on: August 02, 2013, 05:30:43 am »
The reason why we haven't mentioned features like parental control, is because we haven't talked too much about the software so far.
We will have some form of parental control on the Almond+ when it ships, but I'm afraid it's a bit too early to go into details as yet, since our software team is still busy working on a lot of the features of the Almond+.
Keep in mind that with the hardware changes to the Almond+, third party solutions will be possible as well and we are talking to several interested parties that want to develop solutions for the Almond+, but I'm afraid that I'm not at liberty to share any more details at this point in time.

Offline etijburg

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Re: Parental control
« Reply #2 on: August 12, 2013, 08:57:39 pm »
SkyDog router is very much the same as well.  I'd love to see those capabilities in the Almond+.
Erik

Offline Patrick Wilson

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Re: Parental control
« Reply #3 on: August 13, 2013, 03:57:32 pm »
The reason why we haven't mentioned features like parental control, is because we haven't talked too much about the software so far.
We will have some form of parental control on the Almond+ when it ships, but I'm afraid it's a bit too early to go into details as yet, since our software team is still busy working on a lot of the features of the Almond+.
Keep in mind that with the hardware changes to the Almond+, third party solutions will be possible as well and we are talking to several interested parties that want to develop solutions for the Almond+, but I'm afraid that I'm not at liberty to share any more details at this point in time.

Disclaimer:  I have not played with an Almond+ yet. 

That said,  parental controls are already possible on OpenWRT,  so I don't think this will be a problem.   The underlying DNS/DHCP Server on OpenWRT is already using DNSmasq,  which is a very powerful DNS/DHCP Server typically used on most embedded Linux devices.   Similarly most embedded Linux devices, use Netfilter for packet management.   

If the Almond+ uses these,   (which it is likely to do,  as it will be based on OpenWRT),  all kinds of advanced configurations are possible.   For example when my children were a lot younger (they are presently teenagers),  I used to configure my DHCP server on my Router,  to point my children's PC's to a different DNS server than the rest of my network.   

Most of the devices on my network used the main DNS server on my router,  which resolves local devices itself,  and passes queries it doesn't understand off you my ISP's DNS servers for further resolution.  I setup my childrens PC's to use a different DNS server on my router,  which resolved local devices itself,  but passed any queries it didn't understand off to OpenDNS for resolving.   

OpenDNS provides a "censored" DNS Server that "filters" out known Porn/Gambling sites,  to protect my children from this type of content.   (Free Speach types,  please keep your comments to yourselves,   as I believe I have a right to censor my children's DNS server in order to protect them from inappropriate content.  I believe Safety trumps Censorship in this context). 

Kids could still use "Google" to find URL's for Porn/Gambling sites,  but because of the "filtered" DNS available to them,  they can not connect to them.  As a parent,  this gave me piece of mind.   I no longer use this,  as my children are older,   but I will be happy to help Securifi Community members with such a setup once I actually have Almond+ hardware to play with.   

Yes there are software tools like Netnanny etc that can  be installed on your childrens PC's,  but I preferred to simply protect my kids at the Router,  as this ensures that their PC's were always protected.  Lets revisit this issue once we all actually have Almond+ hardware to play with.   
Patrick Wilson
Victoria, BC Canada

Offline watkibr

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Re: Parental control
« Reply #4 on: July 20, 2014, 06:53:01 am »
Patrick
I am very interested in using the setup you had mentioned to help control access for my children as well.  Any docs or pointers with more detail?
So far my Almond+ has been great!

Offline mrv777

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Re: Parental control
« Reply #5 on: July 22, 2014, 08:28:25 am »
Disclaimer:  I have not played with an Almond+ yet. 

That said,  parental controls are already possible on OpenWRT,  so I don't think this will be a problem.   The underlying DNS/DHCP Server on OpenWRT is already using DNSmasq,  which is a very powerful DNS/DHCP Server typically used on most embedded Linux devices.   Similarly most embedded Linux devices, use Netfilter for packet management.   

If the Almond+ uses these,   (which it is likely to do,  as it will be based on OpenWRT),  all kinds of advanced configurations are possible.   For example when my children were a lot younger (they are presently teenagers),  I used to configure my DHCP server on my Router,  to point my children's PC's to a different DNS server than the rest of my network.   

Most of the devices on my network used the main DNS server on my router,  which resolves local devices itself,  and passes queries it doesn't understand off you my ISP's DNS servers for further resolution.  I setup my childrens PC's to use a different DNS server on my router,  which resolved local devices itself,  but passed any queries it didn't understand off to OpenDNS for resolving.   

OpenDNS provides a "censored" DNS Server that "filters" out known Porn/Gambling sites,  to protect my children from this type of content.   (Free Speach types,  please keep your comments to yourselves,   as I believe I have a right to censor my children's DNS server in order to protect them from inappropriate content.  I believe Safety trumps Censorship in this context). 

Kids could still use "Google" to find URL's for Porn/Gambling sites,  but because of the "filtered" DNS available to them,  they can not connect to them.  As a parent,  this gave me piece of mind.   I no longer use this,  as my children are older,   but I will be happy to help Securifi Community members with such a setup once I actually have Almond+ hardware to play with.   

Yes there are software tools like Netnanny etc that can  be installed on your childrens PC's,  but I preferred to simply protect my kids at the Router,  as this ensures that their PC's were always protected.  Lets revisit this issue once we all actually have Almond+ hardware to play with.

+1 I use OpenDNS and you can filter some sites easily with it.
However, if you have very tech savy kids, they will figure out how to change their computer to point to different DNS servers.  It is a great first line of control though.

Offline eldaria

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Re: Parental control
« Reply #6 on: July 22, 2014, 11:12:48 am »
Not that I agree on censorship over parenting, I don't think kids should use the computer on their own or unsupervised until they are old enough that they know what they are doing. I also do no believe in the "think of the children" movement. Shielding kids from reality will just leave them unprepared in the adult life. Better then to teach them how to handle that uncomfortable situation.
Besides as said before tech savvy kids will quickly figure out how to bypass such a filter, also filtering does not work in general, for example Youtube can easily go from a fun cartoon about Donald duck to a cartoon "parody" containing things certainly not suited for kids consumption. All staying within the same domain.

But that said I do believe there are situations where filtering can be useful such as in corporate environment or if parents do want it.
And it should not be that difficult to make a script that gathers the IP's of the filtered sites and add them as a firewall rule basically preventing bypassing it by using a different DNS, it would still be possible to bypass by using for example a proxy or VPN, but not as easy as switching DNS servers. I have seen such filters on Linux so it should be possible to do it on the Almond+ also.

 

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