[gentoo-user] OT: parental control software

[gentoo-user] OT: parental control software

[Neil Bothwick]

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I'm looking for software that can be used to control a child's usage of
the computer (not Internet filtering). At the very least it should be
able to control length of login sessions and when the child is able to
login. Ideally it would also be able to control access to programs, for
example education programs can be used for a couple of hours but games
for only 30 mins at a time (net control software can be used to deal with
online versions). There are other situations where this sort of thing is
useful, so it need not necessarily be a package aimed specifically at
parental controls.

Timekpr looks the ideal candidate, except it hasn't had a release in
over three years.

Any suggestions?


-- 
Neil Bothwick

"I think not," said Descartes, and promptly disappeared.

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Re: [gentoo-user] OT: parental control software

[Michael Mol]

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On 03/20/2013 07:04 AM, Neil Bothwick wrote:
> I'm looking for software that can be used to control a child's usage of
> the computer (not Internet filtering). At the very least it should be
> able to control length of login sessions and when the child is able to
> login. Ideally it would also be able to control access to programs, for
> example education programs can be used for a couple of hours but games
> for only 30 mins at a time (net control software can be used to deal with
> online versions). There are other situations where this sort of thing is
> useful, so it need not necessarily be a package aimed specifically at
> parental controls.
> 
> Timekpr looks the ideal candidate, except it hasn't had a release in
> over three years.
> 
> Any suggestions?

I've been studying Kerberos a great deal lately, and so that's naturally
where my mind went when I read this. Take the practicality of the idea
with a grain of salt. I also make no claims to know exactly how to
implement this for programs not already inherently kerberized.

You might use Kerberos to enforce access limits by associating services
with each thing you wish to control, giving the auth tickets a short
rollover period, and refusing to regrant after a ticket has been rolled
over enough times in one day.

That easily covers the question of "when the child is able to log in",
and could also work for "enforce the length of login sessions" if you're
able to use a thin client model, or put the user's profile on a
kerberized samba or nfs server. I don't know what mechanisms are
available to force clean shutdowns of user sessions, though; anything I
can think of risks data loss if apps haven't committed all open data to
storage yet.


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Re: [gentoo-user] OT: parental control software

[Volker Armin Hemmann]

Am 20.03.2013 12:04, schrieb Neil Bothwick:
> I'm looking for software that can be used to control a child's usage of
> the computer (not Internet filtering). At the very least it should be
> able to control length of login sessions and when the child is able to
> login. Ideally it would also be able to control access to programs, for
> example education programs can be used for a couple of hours but games
> for only 30 mins at a time (net control software can be used to deal with
> online versions). There are other situations where this sort of thing is
> useful, so it need not necessarily be a package aimed specifically at
> parental controls.
>
> Timekpr looks the ideal candidate, except it hasn't had a release in
> over three years.
>
> Any suggestions?
>
>
limits.conf
groups (just add the kid to all the groups it needs - and nothing else)
parental supervision.

Really. You are ok with your offspring to use a machine connected to the
mains - do you let it play with the stove in the kitchen, wall sockets
and needles or power tools too?

No? Why?

Re: [gentoo-user] OT: parental control software

[Paul Hartman]

On Wed, Mar 20, 2013 at 6:04 AM, Neil Bothwick <neil@digimed.co.uk> wrote:
> I'm looking for software that can be used to control a child's usage of
> the computer (not Internet filtering). At the very least it should be
> able to control length of login sessions and when the child is able to
> login. Ideally it would also be able to control access to programs, for
> example education programs can be used for a couple of hours but games
> for only 30 mins at a time (net control software can be used to deal with
> online versions). There are other situations where this sort of thing is
> useful, so it need not necessarily be a package aimed specifically at
> parental controls.
>
> Timekpr looks the ideal candidate, except it hasn't had a release in
> over three years.
>
> Any suggestions?

I have not tried it, but:

"Gnome Nanny is an easy way to control what your kids are doing in the
computer. You can limit how much time a day each one of them is
browsing the web, chatting or doing email. You can also decide at
which times of the day the can do this things. Gnome Nanny filters
what web pages are seen by each user, so you can block all undesirable
webs and have your kids enjoy the internet with ease of mind, no more
worries!"

http://projects.gnome.org/nanny/

Re: [gentoo-user] OT: parental control software

[Neil Bothwick]

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On Wed, 20 Mar 2013 21:00:18 +0100, Volker Armin Hemmann wrote:

> limits.conf
> groups (just add the kid to all the groups it needs - and nothing else)
> parental supervision.

Whilst I agree with that in principle, I have been tasked with finding
software solutions. And the uses are not limited to children.

> Really. You are ok with your offspring to use a machine connected to the
> mains - do you let it play with the stove in the kitchen, wall sockets
> and needles or power tools too?

Have you never heard of netbooks or laptops? Although hiding the PSU is a
fairly blunt way of controlling usage :)


-- 
Neil Bothwick

Hard work has a future payoff. Laziness pays off now.

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Re: [gentoo-user] OT: parental control software

[Paul Hartman]

On Wed, Mar 20, 2013 at 6:04 AM, Neil Bothwick <neil@digimed.co.uk> wrote:
> I'm looking for software that can be used to control a child's usage of
> the computer (not Internet filtering). At the very least it should be
> able to control length of login sessions and when the child is able to
> login. Ideally it would also be able to control access to programs, for
> example education programs can be used for a couple of hours but games
> for only 30 mins at a time (net control software can be used to deal with
> online versions). There are other situations where this sort of thing is
> useful, so it need not necessarily be a package aimed specifically at
> parental controls.
>
> Timekpr looks the ideal candidate, except it hasn't had a release in
> over three years.
>
> Any suggestions?

I think logoutd from sys-apps/shadow can control allowed login windows
by day-of-week and time-of-day, by user or group. Not sure if it
translates to the X era or only applies to consoles.

[gentoo-user] Re: OT: parental control software

[James]

Neil Bothwick <neil <at> digimed.co.uk> writes:


> I'm looking for software that can be used to control a child's usage of
> the computer (not Internet filtering). At the very least it should be
> able to control length of login sessions and when the child is able to
> login. Ideally it would also be able to control access to programs, for
> example education programs can be used for a couple of hours but games
> for only 30 mins at a time (net control software can be used to deal with
> online versions). 
> Any suggestions?

Neil,

I've never tried this sort of thing, but SELINUX would seem
to be capable of what you seek and so much more.

I'd look for existing rules-set (policy) that are similar for
your goals. Sure, it's a bit of overkill but it should do everything
you want, with as fine-grained control as you need....

For example:
https://docs.fedoraproject.org/en-US/Fedora/17/html/FreeIPA_Guide/
selinux-mapping.html

Another idea:
http://www.netnanny.com/


ymmv, hth,
James

Re: [gentoo-user] OT: parental control software

[Neil Bothwick]

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On Wed, 20 Mar 2013 17:24:28 -0500, Paul Hartman wrote:

> I think logoutd from sys-apps/shadow can control allowed login windows
> by day-of-week and time-of-day, by user or group. Not sure if it
> translates to the X era or only applies to consoles.

This is only available on PAMless systems, but thanks for the pointer, I
went with using pam_time which does much the same thing and does work
with X as well as consoles.


-- 
Neil Bothwick

How is it one careless match can start a forest fire, but it takes a
whole box to start a campfire?

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