As I have said countless times, a layered approach is the best way to protect children from harmful internet content. The base layer should be controlling DNS, something that is fairly simple to do for the devices that use your home router. This post about Whole Home Protection goes into much more detail, but DNS uses the internet “phone book” of what websites go with what numerical address. Companies that run DNS services will manage their list by the category of each website based on certain criteria and determine whether a website is allowed or not. For example, a website may be disallowed because it has been categorized as a phishing website. Most businesses use DNS controls as a layer of their network security plan.
As we have highlighted in previous posts, Cleanbrowsing.org also recognized the need to help families employ this same technology at home. They also recognized that the problem of protecting mobile devices in the same way. As I have mentioned many times like in this Apple-related post, the solution would be for Apple to put DNS device controls behind their restrictions settings so parents could set the domain name service that they want their child’s device to use. They still have yet to offer that feature, but luckily there is a Cleanbrowsing.org App now that does. The app has legitimately good free options with a more advanced paid option and is easy to setup as shown on their website.
