Ubuntu and safe web surfing?

[Bill Horne]

On 4/18/2010 2:48 PM, Scott Ehrlich wrote:
> My sister's PC was gifted to her with pre-installed Windows XP.    She
> thinks it has become infected, and she has very limited funding, so I
> said either buy a copy of Windows XP or Win 7, though I'm not
> convinced the system can take Win 7 and Win XP is being phased out.
>   

The PC might be equipped with a recovery partition which can be used to
roll-back the machine to its delivery date.

> [snip]
>
> She has a 10 year old son who is getting more interested in web sites.
>   What options for web filtering exist and are easy to use and manage
> to protect her son, my nephew, from accessing improper sites?
>   

Tall order. She can choose from the various "Safe Surf" possibilities,
which are built-in filters available in some browsers, or use external
"net nanny" software, which is setup to screen web sites for keywords
and block those that are questionable. Consumer Reports did an
evaluation on these products: although I don't remember when, the
http://www.consumerreports.org/ web site will have details.

> She lives far enough away that her husband and she would have to do
> most all the management and neither is technically adept - something
> comes up, they either throw out the PC or call me.
>   

It's fairly easy to setup a Squid proxy server so that it only allows
the kid to visit pre-approved sites, although you'll have to take pains
to block port 80 so he can't bypass it.  The biggest problem is the
workload: many kids discover that they can wear their parents down by
making constant requests for new sites, until finally they give in and
drop the restriction.

Even without the pre-approval option, the proxy logs will give the
parents the chance to supervise their child's viewing habits
ex-post-facto, and then discipline their child appropriately if he has
overstepped his bounds.

> Thanks for any insight/help.    I just can't think of any easy answer
> to Linux web content/page/url  filtering/management.   Maybe one of
> your answers will be something I simply lost track of...
>   

There used to be lists of approved/vetted sites available from various
religious organizations, so I'd recommend that they start there.

Bill, whose son made Eagle Scout by the grace of God and by way of
unfair, biased, arbitrary, capricious, and short-sighted restrictions on
his use of the Internet, imposed by parents who arrogated the right to
decide what he should see. Or so he claims.

-- 
E. William Horne
781-784-7287