Block videos and Facebook on Wi-Fi

I was wondering if there is a way to block videos and Facebook on my wi-fi home network?

I know this is possible because these things are blocked on the wifi network at my kids high school. So is there an easy way to set something like this up?

 

They have iPod touch devices.

I know there are parental controls on those. But I don't want to limit their devices, just the network.

 

Would you know what specific software they use?

 

I use a computer as a Firewall with the Untangle software. It has the ability to restrict almost anything you want. At my office, I have a public wifi connection. I have it setup to block all game sites, all Peer-to-Peer sites, Facebook, Twitter and many others. I only provide it so people can check their email and use the connection for their phone if it allows it.

 

Would I be able to set something like that so the wifi can be limited like that the iPod touch devices in my house?

 

So is there no way at all that I can recreate the network at my kids school to be in out home network. At least just on the wifi?

 

I was looking at that..

But would "OpenDNS" be able to block things on wireless devices?

 

Sorry for the delay in getting back to you, I was out on a big project today.

The Untangle Router will control your entire network both wired and wireless connections. If you want to allow certain people access to specific places like facebook, that can also be done by adding exceptions to the modules.

For example, If you want to block your kids from using Facebook but your spouse uses it, you block it in the Web Filter and then add an exception for your spouses internal IP address.

 

How does this work? Do I need to buy something else?
In the download section it says I need a "dedicated PC" to run from.(which I might be able to arrange)
But how would I set this up?

 

The Untangle box takes the place of the Router you currently have. It requires a computer with at least a 2.0ghz processor and 1 gig of RAM and a 40gig HDD. I run mine on a PentiumD 3.0 with 4gigs of RAM and a 40gig HDD and it does very well. It also requires two Network controllers. You can get Realtek gigbit controllers for just over $10 each. They work well with the Untangle software.

The setup can be a little bit technical but not too bad.

Once you have the computer ready. Connect it to your network with just one ethernet cable. The port you choose on the computer doesn't matter. It will become the WAN port. Burn the ISO to a CD that you downloaded from Untangle and boot that CD in the new computer. It takes a while to go through the installation. At the end, it reboots and asks you to log in to your account but you will have to create that account first. You can do that in advance on the Untangle website. Once you logged in it walks you through the module installation. You can install the lite package which is all free. They also have paid modules but the lite package should do what you want.

After getting it all installed, place it in line between your modem and your network. You can use an old Router as a switch by disabling the DHCP server in it and connecting to a regular port instead of the WAN port. I use a separate gigabit switch and a separate Access Point.

I'm sure you will have a lot of questions. Untangle has an excellent help forum but you can post them here as well.

 

I have an old pc with windows 98 on it(I know the OS does not matter) that I am not using.

Also what I am basically trying to do is block video streaming on one certain iPod Touch device. I want to be able to block video in the apps on this device but not the whole app. So I don't want to block things from the "restrictions" settings on that device.

I did find something called Mobicip Safe Browser that might work. I don't know if it can block things inside apps too but i'm trying to find that out. What do you guys think?

 

The old Win98 Machine may not be enough to run the Untangle system. It's fairly intense. I know that when I added a second gig of RAM, the performance improved substantially.

I'm not personally familiar with the Mobicip Safe Browser software that you mentioned.

 

Question is will it run vs run well? Performance is actually not an issue here. I just use that PC for testing things, so I might like to give it a try. Also that PC is not very portable..
Did you say before that we could not use our current router if we set this up? As I said before, I really only have one device in mind when it comes this.

 

There is no cheap/easy solution to handle this. Schools/business's pay big money to make this stuff happen and even then many kids can get pass it pretty quick. I guess i just wonder why go to all the trouble to keep video off the devices verses just not leaving them with the devices unattended. Technology is never a good substitution for hand on monitoring.

 

I was doing something with an openDNS setup. But I did not understand it, or even if it could do what I wanted.

I know there are ways to block thing via URL, but there are many video apps for the iPod touch. So I don't know if there is a way to find the video links to block on those apps.

I guess I just need to understand more about it...

 

As I recall, OpenDNS has one serious limitation. That is the fact that the kids will eventually figure out that they can put their own DNS servers in their Network Controller properties on their devices and it will completely bypass OpenDNS.

If you do or ever will stream things like Netflix and have other devices connected, you will not want to have a slow Untangle box. Because it manages ALL inbound and outbound Internet traffic, you would not want it to be restricted in it's ability to do it's job. Just like a Windows machine, it will stall or crash when overburdened.

Yes, it would replace your current Router. If you have multiple devices connected to the Router by ethernet cable, you would need a Network Switch to handle that and also a wireless Access Point for the WIFI. You can possibly use your current router as a switch and Access Point if it has the correct options in it's setup.

There is a much lighter option that will run on virtually any Pentium class machine. That would be IPCop. It doesn't have any of the filters that Untangle has but is typically easier to setup then Untangle. You would have to add specific things to the Firewall Rules to block Internet content though.

 

I think I'll try to block videos via URL. Since it looks to be the easyest way without using/buying other hardware.

There are a few videos I am looking at in an app on the iPhone. The question is how do you find the URL of a video within an app? Ideas anyone?

 

Is there someway I can view the network traffic that is going to my iPod touch from my router?

 

As I said before I have a Belkin router. Is there a way to block urls through that?

 

I would suggest checking the DD-WRT site to see if they have a firmware for your Belkin Router. It needs to be an exact match for Model and Version Number.

I'm not aware of any residential class Routers that have customizable tables in them. DD-WRT should allow you to add custom IP Tables which will allow you to block Websites based on their IP address or range of addresses.

The following IP Table Entries would block inbound and outbound access to Facebook however some proxy solutions may be able to bypass it.

iptables -I INPUT -s 69.171.224.0/19 -j DROP
iptables -I INPUT -s 66.220.144.0/20 -j DROP
iptables -I OUTPUT -s 69.171.224.0/19 -j DROP
iptables -I OUTPUT -s 66.220.144.0/20 -j DROP

 

How would I go about finding the video source for the different applications on my iPod Touch devices?

 

You have to use a packet sniffer to see what the traffic as. Also, you are not going to be able to stop them from finding another wifi connection to jump on, unless you start by locking the devices down with a parental control Pin, but of course, it also does not stop them from reseting the device and reloading it with their apps, music and going around your restrictions.

I know that my kid watches Youtube videos, and goes on facebook, etc, but we also have sat down and talked to him about it, and playing games on his Xbox 360 for long periods. Helps to be actually a parent and not depending on software to take the place of placing real rules or interacting with them, to see what they are doing.

 

What do you mean by a packet sniffer?

 

Either do a search here, or pick your favorite search engine, and you will find what it is. It is exactly what it is, it sniffs the packets that flow through the network.

 

If I installed something on my computer that would not allow me to see the network on my iPod device right? So something would have to be on the devices.....

I found an app iPRTG in iTunes that I think it will do the trick but it cost $12.

Is there something free out there that would let me do this?