[ale] Squid for Kids

Mike Harrison meuon at geeklabs.com
Mon Dec 10 10:11:10 EST 2007


> Does anyone here have any leads on some good write ups on how to
> implement Squid for kid friendly surfing?  I have a friend who wants to
> to install a PC in his Sons (10yrs) room and I suggested that we attach
> him to the network and use Squid to filter his web access.

Low tech solution:

    Move the computer into a public area for 'net access..

If you want to create a smart computer savvy kid:

    Squid/DansGuardian/etc..
    They'll figure out how to bypass it.. eventually.

    There used to be a squid reporting tool called 'Sarge'
    that was amazing. It's been a while since I helped
    set it up, but I think there was an option was
    ' 3 strikes in XX minutes and it shut off all net access '
    Or maybe that was something we cobbled together.

I haven't tried recent version of it (my kids are all gone, I'm old)
but I notice that several cheap/home router/firewalls have some content 
filtering abilities.

And my socio-political unpopular stance: If you are going to filter 
things, think about what you are filtering and why. Is sex taboo,
but it's OK to see guns blazing violence and scary haunting crapola?
In the real world, we all (hopefully) have a chance for some incredible 
sex, at least sex good enough for procreation. It's natural, everyone does
it (hopefully) and it's responsible for the continuation of our species.
While -porn- is bad for the casual and odd values about it, it's at least
something close to reality for most of us.

So, if you are careful your 10 year old doesn't see any titty,
please also make sure they don't see violence, unrealistic mumbo jumbo 
supernatural stuff, bad political agenda funded crapola, insane theology 
(which may include what some people consider mainstream religion)..

Which leaves the kid sitting in your lap reading a book of 'Winnie the 
Pooh'. except Christopher Robin is Soooo "Gay".

My apologies to all those on the list, but as a former regional ISP owner,
it's a touchy subject for me, and after years of helping schools build
content firewalls (ranging from Squid based to expensive commerical 
systems), the only method I saw actually work well was human supervision.
But we did learn some things from a bright young kid in a dormroom
about tunnelling through the firewalls and content filters.

Get the 10 year old out of his/her room while online,
and or pop in on him/her -a lot. If (ok, when) you catch
them surfing things they should not, talk to them. Teach them
what is wrong about _xxxxx_, make sure they know where reality is
and why knowing the difference between right and wrong, between
what is really going on with what they are seeing/reading/taking
part in.  Be involved. - Don't trust the technology.

-Stepping off of soapbox, sweating, remembering the times I was in court 
testifying about who did what when..












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