Hello, I have been looking into signing up for a VPN service--probably 'Private Internet Access'--but I also want to use parental control software on my Mac. At the moment I am using K9 Web Protection, but from what I have read it looks like it won't work with a VPN service of that kind. Here is a quote from their website: "K9 Web Protection needs to contact the Internet to get category ratings for websites. It will function properly through most proxies, but will not function correctly through a proxy that requires a user to login to gain internet access. This is because K9 Web Protection does not have the ability to login for its requests to the Internet." My question is whether anyone can advise me on some Parental Control software for Mac similar to K9 Web Protection which will work with a VPN service like PIA. My preferences regarding this software are as follows: - Ability to block all sites of a particular kind (e.g., pornography); - Ability to add other sites to the list of blocked sites; - Blocks sites from the computer (not from the router, since other people on the network will want to use sites that I want to block); Alternatively, if anyone knows of a VPN service which has a parental-control option, which offers the same kind of privacy and P2P facility as PIA, I'd appreciate any suggestions. Thank you very much.
I am still questioning what level a "child" you are trying to monitor ----- skillset-wise? Without having your answer already I would speculate the best way to control internet activity is at the end device level. Since the internet tunnel will be unreadable to sites/gateways between your ISP and your computer browser, a most effective control would be on the "child's" device. Such monitors are easy to hide and control for the average family user. It won't matter if a "pornography" site passes through the vpn connection as long as the child's computer will NEVER display it. Another somewhat obvious thing is that at some point the internet browser will be leaving the vpn tunnel via what we refer to as the exit node. Post exit activities are not protected by vpn. Only the tracing of that activity back to its original IP as obfuscated by the vpn standing in between the destination and the originating computer. I guess I am rambling but the point is to totally block the device in question from receiving "out of bounds" traffic, and to accomplish that through use any of numerous software products. Those products also list failed attempts, such as url's and stuff. This allows you to accumulate a list and determine how persistent your little "critter" is. LOL!
Thanks for your response. The 'child' in question is me! Since I have little self-control, I use the parental control software to block distracting sites like Facebook, YouTube, and porn sites, and make sure that I don't know what the password for the software is. This has been quite effective since, although I know there are ways of getting around this obstacle, doing so is enough of a hassle for it not to be worth it. Hopefully that gives you an idea of the level of control I am after: it needs to be difficult enough to circumvent the internet filter that doing so is not worth the hassle. In any case, I think my best bet is just to sign up for the VPN and try out some different parental control software with it. It sounds like the problem with K9 (if indeed there is such a problem) might be specific to it, and other software might work ok. I'll give it a go. Thanks for your help.
