HOSTS file and Firefox

January 20, 2006 11:00 AM

I'm interested in enacting parental controls on the Mozilla Firefox browser.

I have a teenage son who is reasonably computer savvy, who I strongly suspect of visiting a certain not-so-swell website. (I have cookies for this site listed, but he erases the history log)

What I want to do is block this site from being browsed. I have tried editing the HOSTS file, but it doesn't seem to work. When I set the site to IP 127.0.0.1 or 0.0.0.0, and I ping the site from the command prompt, then the HOSTS redirect appears to be working.

When I browse to the site in Firefox, however, it comes up just the same as always.

Can anybody tell me what I'm doing wrong? Barring that, are there any other secure freeware blockers that any of you have used successfully on Firefox? Any extensions?

Our computer is connected to a cable modem via a wireless router, if that makes any difference.

posted by anonymous to computers & internet (11 comments total)

The site's in the browser cache. Clear the cache.
posted by orthogonality at 11:14 AM on January 20, 2006

Can anybody tell me what I'm doing wrong?

Unless this site has extremely specific content, it's going to be available elsewhere. You're never going to keep him from every "not-so-swell website" using software, unless you completely cripple his internet access. Even then, there are computers elsewhere.

If you want to keep him off a certain site, talk to him about what you think is unswell about the site. If he's at all tech savvy, the only thing that's going to keep him away from that stuff is a lack of interest.
posted by Espy Gillespie at 11:24 AM on January 20, 2006

Indeed - no matter what particular technical solution you enact, a discussion is an essential part of enforcement.
posted by By The Grace of God at 11:28 AM on January 20, 2006

You could block the domain with the adblock extension and possibly in your routers firmware (I have a netgear router and I can block sites on that). Though I'm sure your son could figure it out, but I second what espy and grace of god say.
posted by atom128 at 11:44 AM on January 20, 2006

ortho may be right about the cache.

You could set up a squid proxy and try to implement content filtering. For best security, you'd need to lock down changes on your machine by your son, though, and it's a bit complicated.

A squid proxy would make it very difficult to impossible for your son to erase his history, as it would exist somewhere that he had no access to (assuming you set it up correctly). But you'd have to make sure he could not reconfigure Firefox to avoid the proxy. And you'd have to make sure all web browsers used the proxy. And you'd have to make sure he could not just use his own, local version of Firefox, sans proxy.

But it will never work to keep your son off of "bad" sites. There are ways to get around it; it'd simply make it much more of a pain in the ass. In short, the things you'd need to do to lock the computer down with technology would make the computer cease to be a family computer -- it'd be like a corporate workstation. If you want to be that controlling (and untrusting) of your son, you can do that, assuming you have the technical chops. And even locked-down corporate workstations can be (and are) abused.

But I think the best thing to do is present your son with the cookies, and punish him accordingly (assuming it's already understood that such web browsing is unacceptable). Explain to him the things you expect from him if he wants access to the computer.

On second thought, it might be better not to tell him about the cookies, but tell him you know. If you tell him about the cookies, he'll just erase them from now on.

Which is a long-winded way of saying that this is not really a technology problem.
posted by teece at 11:46 AM on January 20, 2006

I agree that all software can be circumvented, but the point is to make it difficult for the kid. As a parent, I think having a decent filter onboard is a good idea because it blocks inappropriate sites that come up accidentally or that are browsed to purposefully. Of course you can get around them, but a filter makes it hard - and maybe he won't know how to get around it.

I use BSafe Online. It's not freeware, but it's only $50 a year. We haven't had a problem with it in two years of use. You can set up what you want it to block and you can password override anything that you really want to get to.

I agree with the "discussion" idea and all that -- I'm just saying that there's nothing wrong with making it difficult for your kids to get to stuff that you don't want them to see. Personally, I think it's essential.
posted by crapples at 12:25 PM on January 20, 2006

Translating a page from English to English with google circumvents anything you can do.
posted by jikel_morten at 1:07 PM on January 20, 2006

Put the computer in an area of the house where it's easily visible to anyone walking by.
posted by kc0dxh at 1:10 PM on January 20, 2006

Ditto kc0dxh.

Anything you do will be circumvented within a week, to the point where it won't be hard at all. If anything, it'll just teach him he needs to erase cookies, too.
posted by devilsbrigade at 4:08 PM on January 20, 2006

I'm just saying that there's nothing wrong with making it difficult for your kids to get to stuff that you don't want them to see. Personally, I think it's essential.

Yeah to raise their interest in the subject, there's no better way. If anything they'll ask themselves "what does scare dad so much about that ?"
posted by elpapacito at 5:11 PM on January 20, 2006

I get this question a lot. The short answer:
Anything you can install on the computer can be removed or circumvented. He knows it and you know it. I understand parental concern about blocking access; I also understand that any software you install, and any fix you make, can break the computer worse than the consequences of his browsing habits. But I agree: you don't have to make it easy to access. I think social engineering is the key:

- Casually dropped comments about site histories, cache contents are effective. Especially in company.

- Make it clear that he has no expectation of privacy. Put the PC in a public area, and at some point when the kid's sitting at the PC, kick him out of the chair and start checking things out, with him standing right there. Discuss what you're doing and why.

- Have someone like me (family tech support guy) come over and "check out the computer for problems". Make it an event - feed me dinner, you all stand around while I look for spyware, etc.. I'll discuss what I'm looking for, noodle around in the cache, etc. This is very effective because he knows I know what he's up to.

- Invest in a removable hard drive enclosure (link to sample). When you leave, take the hard drive with you. Or, grounding = taking the drive.

- Stop caring so much about it. A good sit-down and "don't visit this site anymore because (give very good reasons why including potential punishments)" is better than any technological fix. It shows a level of trust in his judgment.
posted by Slap Incognito at 8:28 PM on January 20, 2006