Using a router server to filter the Internet?

[Daniel Siemens]

If you have a "junker" PC floating around, check out ipcop.org.   Install a add on call 
dansguardian content filter and that will limit his porn ability greatly.  Note that it will not 
eliminate all sites but it will reduce it a lot.
 
 

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From: owner-kclug at kclug.org on behalf of Leo J Mauler
Sent: Mon 5/3/2004 10:36 PM
To: kclug at kclug.org
Subject: Using a router server to filter the Internet?

So my father-in-law has asked me to engage in one of the time-honored
computer challenges of the last 12 years: filter my nephew's Internet
access such that he has no access to porn.  Apparently his 14 year old
mind has developed the urge to see the divine female form undraped, and
what better place to find photographs of this nature than on the World
Wide Web?

While this isn't as much of an issue right now, as he is still on
dial-up, my in-laws (nephew lives with his grandparents) are switching to
broadband, which has all the more pitfalls for the under-18 individual
who wants a steady supply of pornographic materials.

Money is a bit of an issue, and traditional software solutions are
somewhat costly, so I was thinking of a slightly different route:
segmenting the network and handling the filtering on the router.  I've
heard of employers doing this, so its clearly possible to do.  There are
spare PCs to use as Linux-based routers.

However, what exactly are they doing to accomplish the server-side
Internet filtering?  I'm presuming some sort of HTTP proxy and IP address
blocking, but are there other elements to use as well?

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