!!!!!!

MyRealNameToo

flyer said:

Hi all. Our provider is Virgin and I have selected parental control, which, I'm assured means my children can't access !!!!!!. Unfortunately, they have and Virgin have told me that if they use Google cognito they bypass the parental controls! Surely that shouldn't be possible and how can I sort this?

What kit and browser are your kids using?

Chrome Incognito won't block VM's web filters, it just prevents the browser from storing what's been visited. 

To bypass filters you need to use a VPN or proxy which means VM only sees the traffic to the VPN or Proxy server and can't see where it subsequently bounces onto. It's possible to put an extension onto Chrome to have a "mild" VPN or you can install an app thats a full VPN and will include Internet traffic from all applications not just Chrome. 

Some other browsers have a mild VPN build in and dont require an extension. 

MattMattMattUK

MyRealNameToo said:

flyer said:

Hi all. Our provider is Virgin and I have selected parental control, which, I'm assured means my children can't access !!!!!!. Unfortunately, they have and Virgin have told me that if they use Google cognito they bypass the parental controls! Surely that shouldn't be possible and how can I sort this?

What kit and browser are your kids using?

Chrome Incognito won't block VM's web filters, it just prevents the browser from storing what's been visited. 

It depends, it is far from comprehensive and is sometimes beaten by the way Incognito handles HTTPS.

MyRealNameToo said:

To bypass filters you need to use a VPN or proxy which means VM only sees the traffic to the VPN or Proxy server and can't see where it subsequently bounces onto. It's possible to put an extension onto Chrome to have a "mild" VPN or you can install an app thats a full VPN and will include Internet traffic from all applications not just Chrome. 

I do not know specifically about Virgin's system, but some of them just use a DNS lookup block, but if one knows the IP then it will work and once within HTTPS then the site will work. Going via incognito means that the web address is hidden on the search, which then pushes it all through HTTPS so bypassing a DNS lookup based system. 

In general I take the view that if kids are older than say ten and want to find something online then they will be able to bypass most IT based controls put in place by parents because there is always at least one kid in school who can bypass them, who will then tell/sell other kids the method. Until a few weeks ago most kids had never heard of Tor, now nearly every 10+ year old child does. 

The Online Safety Act should have been called the Online Inconvenience Act, it does nothing to make internet use safer, it does not stop children accessing adult sites, all it does is either drive them to sites which do not care about the content they publish or bypassing the process by other technical means making it totally ineffective. Whilst doing that it also potentially places large amounts of personal data at risk by the wild west of "verification" businesses and scammers operating. 

Vitor

I always recommend bypassing you ISP's DNS server as they monetise the information logged. To block 'adult' content while you're at it (Oh, err!) best use Cloudflare's DNS How To Block Adult Content Using Cloudflare Dns – Sopriza Need to make sure the children are using a non-admin account on WIndows/Mac or they can just update the settings.

MattMattMattUK

Vitor said:

I always recommend bypassing you ISP's DNS server as they monetise the information logged. To block 'adult' content while you're at it (Oh, err!) best use Cloudflare's DNS How To Block Adult Content Using Cloudflare Dns – Sopriza Need to make sure the children are using a non-admin account on WIndows/Mac or they can just update the settings.

That works great, apart from the fact that it is bypassable in seconds without an admin account. Remember that it is not that your kid needs to be smarter than the tech to bypass it, it just needs one kid in the school who knows how to do a Google search, who then tells all the other kids how to do it. 

Anyone relying on a technological solution on a PC or Mac to stop their kids accessing adult content has effectively failed before they start. Without using the locked down nature of something like Android, iOS or Chrome and either blocking their web browsing or operating a whitelist only system then the kid will get around it. Keep devices in family spaces, especially out of bedrooms, have open conversations with kinds and accept that at some point they will access that content even if just out of curiosity, but that they do not keep doing it.