[Novalug] limiting web email access

[Kevin Dwyer]

On Wed, Apr 18, 2007 at 11:51:32PM -0400, C Megan Larko wrote:
> Hi,
> 
> I had an interestng discussion with another linux person at my church 
> this evening.   He said that he is looking for a way in which to limit 
> internet access at his home to web email preferences.

While I think there may be limited technical ways to accomplish this, I
don't think any of them are foolproof.  The adversaries, in this case
preteens, will have plenty of time to probe and figure out a way around
the blocks, if they are so motivated.  Your only safe bet is to block
all sites and make available only a select few.

I would advocate a different approach entirely.  First, if the kids are
going to be using the computer, they need to be educated about what to
do and what not to do.  It's really no different from the "don't talk to
strangers" kind of education but tailored for the Internet.  Secondly,
since they are still pretty young, they don't need private access to the
computer.  By setting up the computer in a public location, you can make
it a family issue if one of them is approached or reaches inapproprate
content.  If for some reason the kids are suspected of breaching this
trust, it's pretty easy to A) prove it by logging[1] and B) revoke
privileges if necessary.

-kpd

[1]: See squid, iptables.  You might need something else to save/peek
into the content of the traffic though.  The least common denominator
would be tcpdump, but you'd want something a little less hammer-like.