Comments on: Blocking YouTube with a WRT54G

By: gregor@switch

gregor@switch — Sat, 06 Mar 2010 13:16:13 +0000

Does my mac adresse change if I upgrade my computer with some other hardware? For example change the graphic card?

By: Jeff

Jeff — Thu, 31 Dec 2009 07:26:49 +0000

I am unable to get my WRT54G to block websites at all, at least world of warcraft. I tried Martin’s approach – dumbing down the URL (worldofwarcraft.com). No luck. I put the http:\\www back in – no luck. Following a suggestion I tried an asterisk: *.worldofwarcraft.com. No luck. I’ve followed numerous “how to” instructions shown on many many websites. I’ve upgraded the firmware. I’ve entered MAC addresses. I’ve been through LinkSys’s knowledge base. I’ve spent hours. No luck.

Yes, I put it in the hosts file and yes that works, but it’s just as easy for my bright 16 year old to remove entries from the hosts file as it is for me to put them there. I want to do this in the router because in my judgement that is where it belongs. But nothing works. The router simply does not block the website.

By: Martin

Martin — Tue, 02 Dec 2008 14:48:26 +0000

Jonathan,

I’ve thought about installing DD-WRT on my WRT54G’s, but I have v8′s, which have the lowest memory of the whole series and would only allow a very stripped down version of the software. I’ve got Paul and Larry’s book, Linksys WRT54G Ultimate Hacking, but it’s not worth the amount of effort I’d have to put into it for what I’d gain. And right now, I just don’t have the time to spare to perform an install and test; I can’t afford the potential down time.

I am one or two clicks away from purchasing an Asus WL500G, which I’ve been told takes many of the extended packages that the WRT54G takes. Just haven’t hit the ‘purchase’ button with all the money flowing out of my account in anticipation of Christmas.

Martin

By: Jonathan

Jonathan — Tue, 02 Dec 2008 00:37:00 +0000

Dear Martin,

The WRT54G is one of a few handfuls or routers that can be flashed with custom software. There is a project going on called DD-WRT that turns a $30 router into a $300 router.

I would try checking it out because it’s free.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DD-WRT

By: Martin

Martin — Tue, 02 Dec 2008 00:09:30 +0000

Dude,

Mostly because my kids have physical access to their computer. I haven’t taught them what a host file is yet, but I want to be able to block them on something they don’t have any controls over. They might be able to log into the router some day, but for now they don’t even know which set of blinky lights it is.

Besides, it IS the Network Security Blog, so I put the controls on the network equipment, not the host system.

Martin

By: Dude

Dude — Mon, 01 Dec 2008 19:23:15 +0000

I am just curious why you didn’t just edit the “HOSTS” file?

This is a “Network Security Blog” right?

By: Tim

Tim — Thu, 27 Nov 2008 01:38:27 +0000

Martin,

Dont forgot http://video.google.com sorry video.google.com (they own youtube).

(;

Love the podcast

Tim Mugherini

By: alan shimel

alan shimel — Wed, 26 Nov 2008 23:10:54 +0000

Martin – We had a similar experience a few months back at our house (our kids being the same age, I guess that means that this is normal behavior for kids this age). Our boys were looking at videos of “Emos” (I didn’t know what that was, but it is something like Goths, dressed in black and stuff). I overheard my youngest son talking about someone locking themselves in a refrigerator and dying and other people laughing about it. That was enough for me. I did not want to completely take out You Tube from the house though, as I and Bonnie occasionally view it. I laid out the money for Net Nanny and have started enforcing user accounts and passwords on the home machines. I have found it a great program to take out all kinds of sites that the kids shouldn’t be watching. Today it is You Tube, tomorrow it is something else. I am not going to lose this security war by being reactive, I am being pro-active and denying whole classes of media.
Also if I want to allow a particular site I can always override with passwords.

Hope that helps!

By: Wim Remes

Wim Remes — Wed, 26 Nov 2008 22:24:06 +0000

Oh, you wanted to block it completely

For those people who want to block it but don’t have that option in their internet firewall/router, there’s three other resorts :

point http://www.youtube.com to 127.0.0.1 in the hosts file in c:\windows\system32\drivers\etc
*this is an easy way out, but if $spawn is knowledgeable enough and using an admin level account, you might be out of luck.

use OpenDNS as your DNS provider instead of your ISP’s DNS servers. OpenDNS provides a FREE parental control filter (category based) AND allows you to block specific pages, as Martin explained in his post.
*this is ‘my way’ as anybody who wants to tinker with the settings needs an account to do so. If you’re really paranoid. Block port 53 TCP/UDP outgoing on your internet router/firewall so you’re prodigy son can’t use other DNS servers.

use Windows Parental control. From what I heard it can block youtube content based on categorization so $spawn can still use youtube but not the ‘dirty’ content.
*I haven’t tried this and this solution relies on the third party properly categorizing their content. I don’t think this is a good solution for this purpose, but Parental Control killes more than one bird being the stone it is.

Cheers,