parental control / web filter

[Craig White]

On Tue, 2005-08-30 at 13:23 -0700, Josh Coffman wrote:
> Hi all,
> 
>   Since my kids are startting to do more on the
> computer  and internet, I've been thinking I'd like to
> make sure they don't stumble onto anything that might
> be hard to explain...
> 
>   I di a quick google and found reference to a firefox
> extension and a content filter called DansGuardian. 
> 
>   I don't have a machine to use to route web traffi
> through so I would want something on each machine
> (desktop & laptop) that is configurable per user. My
> wife and I wouldn't need as strict of filtering.
> 
> Can anyone make a recomendation?
----
depends upon a lot of things.

You can always pick up P III / early athlon systems pretty cheap.
Install ipcop and dansguardian on it and with 2 network cards, you have
a firewall, router and filter.

Some of the cable modem/dsl routers have optional (ie, pay) content
filtering add-ons as well and the benefit is these are quiet (no fans).

My own personal view is that it is a big bad world out there and unless
they are home schooled, no cable tv, and pretty much sheltered, you
can't prevent them from being exposed to the real world and thus, I
would never try to do that - I ended up with culturally savvy but nice,
well mannered kids.

One of the best things about being a parent was being asked to explain
those hard things.

Craig