Internet Parental Controls ?

[Hookup]

Hi all,
  I'm looking for some type of device that is going to let me apply parental controls to the various computers and iPods in the house.  Ideally i'd like to specify a MAC address and a list of key-words that cannot be sent or received from the internet in form of either web-site URL's or contents etc.

  My concerns are not just blocking web-sites, which would be easy enough with hosts file edits for pc's (not sure how to do that on iPods), but youtube.  The death site.  Loads of "funny kid videos" and way too easy to get side-tracked into videos where kids should not be. 

Has anyone here setup or used or even researched such a device?  From the past 30min or more of searching dlink, netgear and linksys it seems that all their routers do is web-site filtering... i do not want an "on/off" switch for youtube as an example....

Thanks so much

[Nerine]

I haven't found anything yet either...Hoping someone has an idea?!

I dislike how even "kid" videos on youtube can be terrible!! I have to sit and monitor every video...which is ok sometimes, but I'd like a little bit of freedom

[Hookup]

I haven't found anything yet either...Hoping someone has an idea?!

I dislike how even "kid" videos on youtube can be terrible!! I have to sit and monitor every video...which is ok sometimes, but I'd like a little bit of freedom

exactly!  with 4 of them all trying to get to youtube all darn day long... it's a bone of contention for sure.

[dan2x38]

How about sending Apple an email? I know of lots of apps for PCs but not sure of the Apple platforms in the compact hand helds. I am betting there are apps out there though.

[dan2x38]

How about sending Apple an email? I know of lots of apps for PCs but not sure of the Apple platforms in the compact hand helds. I am betting there are apps out there though.

I Googles "ipad parental controls" got lots of hits... here is one on Easy Way to setup parental controls on iPad

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u5FKtdruk3M

[Greatwhite]

I'm sure  you have a wireless network, since it's 2012 - and you own a computer and iPod that can surf the interweb.  Most wifi routers have firewalls, and you could toss in some blocked IPs in there.  Of course, that'd block everyone in your house from watching cat videos.

[Hookup]

Yeah gw, thats too bruit force....


Looking for Mac address based keyword content based filtering...

Ie.  Mac address 1 block all URL or text content containing...   Well you get the idea.

[Greatwhite]

Hmm... I had set up parental controls on my parents' computer a while back to keep my sister from going to Facebook... Yeah - loooong story.   But that was just using Windows parental controls, and it worked well in 1 case.

Obviously if blocking all of a certain site at the router level is out of the question, you'll have to do it on a device by device basis.

For ease of use, Windows parental controls (even in Windows XP) is great.  iOS has parental controls through Restrictions which can be set for individual apps like Safari, Youtube, etc.  I haven't played with it to see how well it works, but now I'm curious about it and am going to test it out on my iPad.  I'm not familiar with iPod capabilities, but I'm sure that since it's still iOS, it'd work the same.

Personally, I'm afraid of 3rd party applications blocking/monitoring system usage because there's no telling if they are doing things "right".  I have yet to find a decent antivirus system that doesn't completely decimate my performance because the writers don't do proper memory management..  And who knows what information is being logged secretly and shipped off, or used to feed spam emails and ads while you browse.....

So what I'm saying is - whenever possible, use what you already have for free because they are the most trustworthy source.

[Greatwhite]

Ok..  On my iPad, I just restricted access to YouTube and safari..  The icons/shortcuts/whatever disappeared.  You set a 4-digit pin to get into the restriction config to get them back...

You are able to set restrictions to watch for profanity, and set ratings based restrictions on tv programming...

It'd be nice if there was a keyword based safari blocker...  Lol, there's probably an app for that...  Which goes against everything I stand for.

[Nyx]

I use Kaspersky Pure complete antivirus suite. It's either number 1 or 2 out there, depending on the professional reviews. Their advanced protections includes what has been described as excellent parental control functions. I switched to Kaspersky from McAfee because McAfee, like Norton, has become bloatware that doesn't catch everything it should.

http://usa.kaspersky.com/products-services/home-computer-security/pure