Parental Controls in Leopard?

[VMSZealot]

I've given my son his grandfather's old G5 - just until he proves that he can look after nice things.  I'm not going to splurge the cash on him only for him to break whatever it is that he's been given!

The problem I have is that Parental Controls for web browsing don't seem to work any more.  It's a G5 running Leopard - and I'd like to restrict adult sites (or possibly restrict his browsing only to approved sites).  I don't want him to see anything traumatic!

But the web filtering functionality appears to be broken.  I've installed Leopard Webkit (because otherwise he won't be able to load modern websites) and with filtering turned off it works fine.  With filtering turned on though?  Nothing.  Nothing at all loads.  It just complains that it can't connect securely.

Has anyone else experienced this issue?  How did you deal with it?  Are there any other web filters that you've tried that might work better?

 

[Cory5412]

Disclaimer: I have never used this function.

Disclaimer 2: I do not have children.

Based on the wording you're repeating here, this function probably relied on some service Apple used to run, or runs, whose certificate has long-since expired and been replaced. (Or: it was an internal proxy server running on the machine itself doing the filtering, and that internal proxy server's certificates have long since expired.)

You should consider using a modern computer, even an inexpensive one, for this task, if you want to provide your child with Internet connectivity and want it to be filtered in this fashion. A chromebook or an inexpensive Windows 10 machine, whether a laptop or a desktop, might be suitable. Walmart has a cheap-but-reasonable house laptop brand called "MOTILE" using AMD processors with fairly reasonable storage and ram outfits for their price range.

Dell/HP/Lenovo will also have inexpensive desktops or laptops, or you could install windows 10 on basically anything you  can fish out of a dumpster or a public/corporate surplus property sale. My local university is ending resale of equipment back to departments that's over five years old so more equipment is actually leaving before its 10 years old, for example.

2014 Mac minis or ~2009+ macbook/minis and a very slim selection of iMacs may be suitable for use with 10.13+ or mojave/catalina patchers and those systems will have up-to-date parental protection/control functionality.

Another option might be to hang out with your kids while they're using the Internet. Most modern routers or older premium routers have access scheduling functionality as well.

Another-nother option is to do this at the router or security gateway level, perhaps even using software like untangle, which is available for $0 or for a home use license inexpensively, which has internet filtering functionality, targeted at small K-12s and public libraries.

Another-nother-nother option is to be up front with your kid about the kinds of things they might see online and what your expectation of them is if they engage with it in a way you don't find fit.

 

[jessenator]

A lateral option is installing piHole on a compatible Raspberry Pi and using it as your DNS. You can use pre-compiled or custom blacklists. I've used it to great effect in my own house.