Blocking websites

AmirahRose

Does anyone know how I can block certain websites ie. gambling, porn etc I've tried open dns but its not blocking sites ive got a laptop and iPad 2 and want to block at the router my hubby just lost thousands gambling online this weekend and it's non stop I'm at my wits end I'm not very technical

28064212

AmirahRose wrote: »

Does anyone know how I can block certain websites ie. gambling, porn etc I've tried open dns but its not blocking sites ive got a laptop and iPad 2 and want to block at the router my hubby just lost thousands gambling online this weekend and it's non stop I'm at my wits end I'm not very technical

http://www.gamblersanonymous.ie/gamanon/gamanon.html

Blocking websites is not going to help you. If your husband has an addiction, he will find a way to fuel it. Even if you could find a way to block sites (difficult even for technically-minded people), he will go down to the bookies in person, or access the internet from other locations or a smart phone. You need to talk to someone who can advise you on this, who knows what it's like.

In the mean time, you should try and limit your exposure. Do you have your own income? Can you move it to a personal (not joint) account?

knotknowbody

I'd agree with 28064212 here, blocking particular websites won't help, he will just find a different one, or gamble elsewhere like the bookies, you can't possibly block every gambling/porn website that is out there, even if you could he can get round the block very easily if he is any way tech savvy, a simple google search would probably have him past it in less than 5 minutes.

You need to identify the root cause of the problem which seems to be the gambling addiction and take action to correct it, get in contact with gamblers anonymous and see what advice they have and what meetings happen in your area.

He needs to want to change, so you have to talk to him and try to make him realise that he can't go on like this, it's a tricky situation as if you bring it up he may try to blame you and say that nagging him about it drove him to be worse, what ever you do make sure you and any dependents are protected because things may get much worse before they get better.

syklops

There was a politician on newsnight the other night and she said "im getting a bit fed up of the tech companies saying blocking porn is difficult". Well her getting fed uop doesn't stop the task being difficult and it is. Blocking one thing and allowing another thing is really really hard. I could make a definitive list of all gambling websites currently on the internet and in the time it takes me to post this message a new one will be created.

Im sure if you go looking there will be numerous websites who dont have gambling or betting in their summaries, they will have "Ask Dave" or "Turn to Phil" as well as various slang terms.

As others have said, there is no technical solution for this. Ban him from using the internet, or even leave the router at a friends house until he gets this under control. Cut up any payment cards he has and get him into a support group.

LoLth

Have to say, I agree with what's been posted so far. Blocking may give you a temporary respite but it wont solve the problem.

However, seeing as this is a computer section of boards and this is a forum for Information security, there are some answers you get.

One method would be to edit your hosts file (windows or linux) so any sites that you dont want access to go to 127.0.0.1.

However, you say you are not very technical, so that is really not recommended. You wont cause any permanent damage by trying but you may cut yourself off the internet completely until you solve it.

For the business user: there are hardware firewalls that also act as content filters. Some of these are effective (they read the site and look for keywords before allowing access), some are next to useless (the use lists and as syklops pointed out, these lists are very hard to keep up to date). Many of these solutions are too expensive for the home user (though if you are losing thousands....) and most require a Phd in rocket science from Rocket U to properly configure and manage.

For the home user there is software that may help. One of the only ones I am in any way familiar with is Net Nanny.

http://www.netnanny.ie/

it had a good reputation years ago and was used for installations in schools to stop children access adult material. Of course, there is a way around it and , if the other user has the same rights as you on the system, they could just uninstall it or stop the service from running.

Mcafee also have a product: http://home.mcafee.com/store/family-protection

but that seems more targetted at adult material, I'm not sure if you can add gambling to that or whether it runs on lists or actual site content.


For any further responses to this thread: Can we please limit advice to technical issues/solutions. It is up to the OP to determine if counselling is the correct course of action (and imho it is). As far as we, as techies, are concerned, the question is about blocking sites and its effectiveness and the reason could be anything from "I dont want my kids seeing 8008135" to "I am a creationist and I dont want to be reading the lies spread by wikipedia and other so called scientific websites such as jurassicpark.com"....

@OP: for advice of a personal nature you may want to have a read of the Personal Issues forum under the SOC category:

http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2056181484

the link is to their charter, which also has a list of useful resources including several for addiction.

LoLth

further proof that blocking may not be the solution for you... I passed a poster this morning that Boyle sports have a mobile app. fairly sure other bookies do too.

you cant use technology to sidestep the heavy lifting. From experience this is a common mistake and always causes more trouble than it solves

manager: "my employee is always on facebook, block facebook"
IT: "can you not just talk to her?" Manager:"just block the site"
IT: "ok, blocked"
Marketing Manager: "wtf? we cant access facebook, we need facebook!"
Guilty Employee "my boyfriend just sent me a way to use a proxy to get around the facebook block!"
Other Employees: "oh noes. my pc has imploded after getting infected by a bot. IT!!!!!!!!"
Marketing manager: "IT are useless"
IT: "this isnt working, we said it wouldnt"
manager: "lets throw money at it!"

JimmyCrackCorn

AmirahRose wrote: »

Does anyone know how I can block certain websites ie. gambling, porn etc I've tried open dns but its not blocking sites ive got a laptop and iPad 2 and want to block at the router my hubby just lost thousands gambling online this weekend and it's non stop I'm at my wits end I'm not very technical

I am sorry to hear about your situation.

Your first port of call should be taking control of the finances and moving them beyond easy reach.
Even then a gambler that wants to gamble will find a way. I deal with a family member with an addiction and it always amazes(if that's the right word) me how far they will go.


Go to a support group for family of those affected by addiction. I cannot stress this enough.


OPEN DNS

In relation to openDNS for it to be effective on all devices on your home network you will need to configure it on your router.

https://store.opendns.com/setup/router/?__utma=247635969.1726886513.1376558364.1376558364.1376558364.1&__utmb=247635969.1.10.1376558364&__utmc=247635969&__utmx=-&__utmz=247635969.1376558364.1.1.utmcsr=google|utmccn=(organic)|utmcmd=organic|utmctr=(not%20provided)&__utmv=-&__utmk=8419254

This will still miss sites and is of limited use.


When you browse the configuration of your router there will be settings to turn on additional blocking and logging of sites. Enable them and review logs regularly.

smee again

Static DNS on the PC/device bypasses Opendns. If my 14 year old can Google it, anyone can

podgeandrodge

Just to clarify..what is the connection between the gambling and the porn? Is this costing too much money or do you just not want him looking at it?

syklops

podgeandrodge wrote: »

Just to clarify..what is the connection between the gambling and the porn? Is this costing too much money or do you just not want him looking at it?

The OP said hubby lost thousands over the weekend. That is surely enough of a reason to try to get it blocked.

podgeandrodge

syklops wrote: »

The OP said hubby lost thousands over the weekend. That is surely enough of a reason to try to get it blocked.

Yes, she said he lost thousands "gambling online". I'm asking what the story is with the porn bit.

LoLth

podgeandrodge wrote: »

Yes, she said he lost thousands "gambling online". I'm asking what the story is with the porn bit.

does it really matter? surely the question remains the same:

how do you stop people visiting any particular site or classification of sites on the internet?

ignore the words gambling and porn, think of it as facebook and online headshops if it makes it easier. The story behind why has no bearing on the security aspect of the answer.