What do I need in order to filter content on my Devices?

You will need to:

1. Sign up for a Tech Lockdown account.
2. Link a Cloudflare account (our setup wizard explains how to do this)
   
3. Install the filter on your Devices.
   

Afterwards, you are ready to start configuring your Content Policy!

What is Bypass Prevention?

Bypass prevention means ensuring that your security protocols are being used, always.

One of the biggest problems is that users either intentionally or unintentionally get around protective systems. 

For example, a user might set up Security and Privacy protections using a DNS Filter (like the one we provide). However, a YouTube advertisement might convince the user to install a VPN, which would cause the DNS Filter to not work properly. The user has unintentionally bypassed DNS Filtering in this case and may not know that its no longer protecting them from Security and Privacy threats.

The most common example of intentional bypass is related to addictive online content. Internet ground rules are only effective when a person is highly motivated. In a moment of weakness, a user might make a Content Policy less restrictive or intentionally bypass it entirely to access the content. 

What’s the difference between a Blacklist and Whitelist?

Both Blacklisting and Whitelisting are Content Filtering approaches.

A Blacklist allows you to specifically pick what should be blocked while allowing everything that you haven't specified. This is the most common Content Policy rule action.

A Whitelist Allows you to exclude. For example, if another rule blocks the category Social Media, you can add Facebook to your whitelist, which will exclude Facebook from being blocked even though it is part of the Social Media category in your block rule. 

What is DNS Filtering?

DNS Filtering is a type of internet content filtering. DNS filters categorize websites and applications that rely on the internet to work properly.

You can point your devices to a DNS Filter, which will route internet activity through that filter. Then, you can specify a Content Policy, which tells the DNS Filter which websites and applications to allow, block, or to enforce SafeSearch on.

Why can’t I use a Proxy or VPN with DNS Filtering?

VPNs and proxies are rarely compatible with DNS Filtering. In some cases, they cause your device to completely bypass the DNS Filter. In other cases, the DNS Filter is not able to accurately categorize the content accessed behind the VPN.

In other words, VPNs will prevent you from being able to use filtering.

We recommend blocking the VPN category to prevent intentional or unintentional bypass of DNS Filtering.

What is SafeSearch?

Search engines like Google and Duckduckgo provide a SafeSearch mode so that the search results are filtered from explicit content. Search engines allow you to find images, videos, and websites, so the SafeSearch mode can cater the results suggested to you if enabled.

We have a Content Policy Preset that does just that:

With the SafeSearch rule enabled, supported search engines will enable the filtered results mode.

Can I block Explicit content on Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, or other websites and apps?

In most cases, it's not possible to filter content within a website or application using a DNS Filter. However, there are some exceptions.

When you visit a website like youtube.com, a DNS Filter sees that you visited a Video Streaming website. It can't examine the videos you are watching on YouTube to see those categories. 

Some websites provide their own content filter for content that they provide through their platform. For example, YouTube provides a restricted mode (Ytrestricted) and Google and other search engines provide SafeSearch. You can use DNS Filter to enforce these restricted modes on those websites.

It’s important to note that not all browsers support SafeSearch.

Although you can't always filter specific pages within a website using a DNS Filter, there are some other alternatives:

1). Block media content delivery networks for that website to block images

For a website like YouTube, blocking image thumbnails can make the platform less of a problem if you are trying to reduce "fishing" for explicit content. 

2). Schedule access to mixed-content websites

If you need to access a website that offers mixed content, you can schedule when you access that website or application.

For example, twitter.com is a useful website for financial news, but this platform also hosts adult content. A good strategy would be to only allow access to the Twitter application in the morning or at lunch time while blocking it for all other hours of the day.

What is an IP Address?

An IP address is a sequence of numbers that define where each computer lives on a network. You can think of them as similar to home addresses, but for computers.

However, it can be very difficult to remember IP addresses, as they usually look something like “12.34.56.78“ or “192.168.0.1”. The Domain Names System translates Domain Names, such as “YouTube.com” or “FaceBook.com”, into their IP addresses.

When someone refers to an IP address, they mean the actual address of that computer on the internet. When they refer to a domain, they’re referring to the web URL, usually of a website.

What is the difference between Public and Private IP addresses?

Both are addresses for computers on a network.

Private IP addresses are typically used on Home Networks. They are isolated from the greater internet and are only for private use. Examples include “192.168.0.0” or “10.0.0.0”. Typically, when you access your home router, you access it’s private IP address (that’s why most router addresses usually start with “192.168”, those are private addresses).

Public IP addresses, on the other hand, are used on the biggest network in the world - the internet. When you want to connect to a website or browse online, you are using public IP addresses.

When you’re “online”, you really have two IP addresses, a public and a private one. The public IP address is used by your device to connect to the internet, and the private IP address is used on your local network.

Do I need my Public or Private IP address for router filtering?

DNS Filters need access to your Public IP address. This is because you public IP address is how the rest of the internet sees you - a Private IP address won’t be available on the public internet.