Parental controls a disaster under Lion

Since installing Lion, my son's managed account has been a disaster. I use Parental Controls to automatically filter web content. This has always worked well in the past. When he encountered a site that was questionable, Snow Leopard asked for my credentials to add it to the approved white list. This includes all secured (https://) web sites, which Parental Controls consistently and intentionally blocks, because the browser/OS can't appropriately filter for content on secured connections.
In the modern age of web browsing, however, hundred of companies attempt to install cookies, use invisible images (or other "bugs") or otherwise track Internet usage to sell to marketers. Many of these cookies and bugs make secured (https://) calls to their host domains, either to secure the user's personal data they are transmiting (probably their story) or to hide the information they are transmiting so we users won't know what they are tracking about us (probably the reality).
Either way, every time my son visits a web page from any even remotely popular site, a dialog box with a laundry list of of secured domains he has (in Safari's words) "attempted to access" appears. Dismissing the box is not helpful. Another appears every time he moves to another page. It is an incredible annoyance for both him and me.
I've blocked cookies from most sites in the Safari preferences. I've installed the Ghostery extension to block most of the "secret" marketing related traffic affiliated with most web pages. (I swear, if most people saw how many third-party companies track their private Internet browsing, they'd probably suffer anxiety attacks and never use the Internet again.) The problem seems a little better, but still isn't totally gone.
Any suggestions would be most welcome.

I to have issues with "Parental Controls", it seemed fine with Lion and even 10.8 but now on 10.8.2 skype sems the worst culprit (perhaps it the softy roots) it keeps posting the same requests tht is one for msnmessenger.msn.akadns.net and the other the other is for Skype itself even when I grant permission the same requests keep coming up it interferes with web browsing since when the requests appear they demand action over everything else.
My son is just 14 and he has reached the age where it is vital that there are limitations on his use . The biggest neede for control over a` Spanish social site Tuenti which he received **** from a so called friend which rekindled the need for control and particular to block this site.
Has anyone found a solution to this loop of permissions in the past I set it added approved sites probable about 20 of them then forgot about it .
I switched the controls off yesterday to see if it would reset and cure the situation no improvement plus my son erased his browsing history so it is obvios I need to keep the controls in place.
The only other thought will be to use Little Snitch to control the computer.
Any thoughts anyone!

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Parental Controls bug in Mountain Lion 10.8.2

For years I've used Parental Controls, not to restrict my daughter's web content, but to limit her time on the computer. But tonight I upgraded Mountain Lion from 10.8.1 to 10.8.2 and something broke.
Suddenly every secure web page she tries to access (to include google, gmail, amazon, etc.) fails. It says "Parental controls restricts access to secure websites".
A little hunting around turned up the following Apple Knowledge Base article: http://support.apple.com/kb/HT2900 that says "https note: For websites that use SSL encryption (the URL will usually begin with https), the Internet content filter is unable to examine the encrypted content of the page. For this reason, encrypted websites must be explicitly allowed using the Always Allow list. Encrypted websites that are not on the Always Allow list will be blocked by the automatic Internet content filter."
I understand that logic however that should NOT apply to me since I'm not trying to automatically restrict her adult web content or create allowed/blocked site lists, etc. She has *unrestricted* web site access, so the Internet content filter shouldn't even be in play here.
Just to get this up and running, I did type the Admin account and password in at the prompt to let her gain access to the web pages. However that did not work. Even though it said it would now allow access - it did not.
I also tried going into Parental Controls, turning ON web site filtering, going into Custom, and adding in approved secure web sites (google, etc.) Even *that* did not work.
Everything was great until 10.8.2 came along but now her account is for all intents and purposes unusable.
Help? And thanks.

Same problem here. Apple seems to be neglecting the parental controls. First, they broke X11: http://xquartz.macosforge.org/trac/ticket/439. 10.8.1 didn't address that problem. Not only does 10.8.2 not address the X11 bug, it actually breaks secure web browsing!
Just to add a little more information, secure browsing on Safari seems to work OK for me once authorized. However, neither Firefox nor Chrome work with any secure site even after they have been authorized. Unfortunately, my daughter's school site is secure and it doesn't work on Safari so her Mac is useless for school now.
Looks like I'll have to restore using Time Machine and not update again until I know this has been addressed.
Apple, I'm not impressed.
Mike

Parental control problem on m-lion

I have an account with parental controls enabled (managed acocunt) and on most occassion, access to all outgoing http requests using this account are blocked, either through a browser, curl or any other client. This error appears in the system log:
webfilterproxyd[4640]: **** ERROR: accept(): Too many open files, perhaps the connection was blocked by seatbelt?

Yes, I have also tried it with unrestricted access and the problem persists. Goole: webfilterproxyd: **** ERROR: accept(): Too many open files, perhaps the connection was blocked by seatbelt and note that I am not the only person experiencing this issue. But I have not found a resolution.
tried lsof -i but it did not help me much in finding what the problem is.

Parental controll issues os lion

I'm having problems with the parental control in the new Lion oppgrade. Regard how much time my kids have left, the time dissapears if they log off. Anyone else having these problems or having suggestions for solving the issues?

Hello,
No, as stated above, Mac OSX Lion no longer comes as standard with Adobe Flash, it must be downloaded as a seperate piece of software, the reasoning for this is unknown, but it can be ssured it is no big deal, simply go to the adobe website and search flash, the download the appropriate one for mac.
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AppleSupport2011

Controlling email under parental controls for network accounts

I use OS X server (10.8) to mange kids accounts at home, so they can logon to laptop or desktop and all there stuff is there.
This works perfectly as does the profile server ensuring that they have their parental controls set.
I've just stated to look at creating an email account for the older one and found that whilst there is a great 'People' tab in the Systems Preferences parental controls this doesn't seem to exist in profile manger at all.
Does anyone kniow how to setup 'safe' lists of people for inbound and outbound email using profile manager or directory admin ?
Thanks in advance

Quick Kick wrote:
Thank you.
But does anyone know the default Parental Controls Settings, specifically under the Other tab?
you can find them out yourself. make a new account and enable parental controls on it. then expand "other" and see what's checked and what's not checked.

HELP... Unable to alter any parental control settings- I get an error message immediately and the lock goes back on.

Is there a fix to the parental control problem – in Mountain lion? I've been unable to change any control settings for months...should have kept the family PC...this IMAC is garbage at this point.

Although one would think that re-creating the index could fix this problem, that’s not the case. What sometimes works is restarting the computer or doing some cache-cleaning — don’t ask me why, and I don’t know how to fix the problem when that doesn’t work either.
You may also want to take a look at the following thread, where another user reported the problem in his/her case was related to a difference in how the email address was written:
Error - "... unable to find your response..."

Restoring Parental Controls for Guests

So I stumbled across the Security features on my Macbook Pro. My kid's been bothering me to play with my Mac. But, I was worried about him running across the "evils" of the internet that daddy regularly "stumbles" across.
Anyway, I enabled a guest account and then activated Parental Controls. But, foolishly, I saw a minus sign over the "Other" tab and clicked it, believing it would expand. Instead, the minus sign disappeared. So I clicked it again, and now there's a check mark there. When I finally expanded it, there was a whole slew of programs that asked me whether I wanted to allow the Guest access to them. But, I never got to see what the default settings were. Also, I have no idea what many of these programs do, whether they are vital or not.
Basically, I just want to know what the default Parental Control settings were, under the "Other" folder.
Also, how do you create additional "guest" accounts. I figured my two older boys (6-8) would appreciate their "own" accounts. You know, kids like to think they have something special just for them.
I tried to name that Guest account but got freaked by the warning that any changes may make the account unusable. I'm guessing that that first Guest account cannot be deleted or modified, right?
Thanks.

Quick Kick wrote:
Thank you.
But does anyone know the default Parental Controls Settings, specifically under the Other tab?
you can find them out yourself. make a new account and enable parental controls on it. then expand "other" and see what's checked and what's not checked.

Connecting to Http Proxy on Lion under parental controls

Hello.
Ive been looking for a couple of days for a fix for this. The issue im having is running parental controls on an account (any settings enabled/disabled, even with no web access permissions) and using a proxy (http, https, ftp) to connect to the internet. Connected as a standard/administrator user I can connect to the internet fine, but as soon as parental controls are enabled i cannot. I can't even connect to a local address without an error in the browser.
I have tried this on multiple lion computers with the same outcome.
The error im getting is:
Chrome: is no data received, no server data was sent.Error 324
Firefox is the default connection was reset error
And safari dosen't even give an error just a white screen.
And external programs don't seem to work.
The computer is 100% uptodate.

Parental controls use an internal proxy which ignores the proxy set in Network Preference. By making the internal proxy non-executable to the user with parental controls request can be passed to the external proxy.
You can run the following command from Apple Remote Desktop as root (or locally with sudo).
chmod a-x /System/Library/PrivateFrameworks/FamilyControls.framework/Versions/A/Resources/webfilterctl
Note: This also works in 10.8 which has the same problem.

Safari has stopped working properly since upgrading to Mountain Lion. Have parental controls in place and it will not add websites. Also short cuts at top of tabs now all messed up!

Since upgrading to mountain lion the other day (from lion) safari has not been working properly. I have parental controls in place but seem unable to add new web pages to allowed list - wasn't expecting to have to anyway - these are webpages that were working perfectly well on safari prior to upgrade. Also the shortcuts above the tabs on safari are all now messed up.
Any advice on how to fix - I am not a computer expert so keep it simple please!
In the meantime I am having to use Firefox.
Thanks
Andrew

Since upgrading to mountain lion the other day (from lion) safari has not been working properly. I have parental controls in place but seem unable to add new web pages to allowed list - wasn't expecting to have to anyway - these are webpages that were working perfectly well on safari prior to upgrade. Also the shortcuts above the tabs on safari are all now messed up.
Any advice on how to fix - I am not a computer expert so keep it simple please!
In the meantime I am having to use Firefox.
Thanks
Andrew

Parental Controls are not working correctly. Websites I've listed under Allow Access are still blocked. How can I fix this?

Parental Controls are not working correctly. There are websites I've listed under Allow Access, however they are still blocked. - such as: Yahoo mail and USAA banking. How can I fix this?

Hendry
Just thought I'd let you know. Our suspicions were correct, it was the OS. After I installed Snow Leopard (10.6.8) all the problems were corrected. I also updated the RAM from 1 gb to 6 gb. The mac is working all around better. Sorry it took so long to get back to everyone. My superdrive had pooped out. Rather than replace it I got an external drive from OWC connected with firewire 800. So far everything is running very well, as far as I can tell this external drive is better than the original superdrive. My superdrive has always acted funny, infact I returned the first mac I got after a week because its superdrive was also malfunctioning. Anyway, all that to say everything seems to be fully functioning again.
Roy
Re: Function keys are not working correctly

E2000 Parental control tab missing - Mac OSX Lion

I am trying to use the Parental Control feature. I can't use Cisco Connect as there currently isn't an update for this router for Mac OSX Lion
The firmware version in the support site hasn't been updated for ages, and I am running the latest (v 1.0.04)
The Parental control tab, that is supposed to appear in the web browser interface isn't there. It's supposed to be, but doesn't show up.
Any ideas why or what the work around might be?
Thanks

If you want to use the Parental Control Feature then it will be in the name of Access Restriction instead of Parental Control…
Cisco Connect 1.4 comes with the latest Linksys routers. It is compatible with Mac OS X Lion. This has resolved compatibility issues encountered in the past.
Here is the link for the Cisco Connect Software Installation:
http://www6.nohold.net/Cisco2/ukp.aspx?pid=93&login=1&vw=1&app=search&articleid=21463&userrole=Links...

How come when I block one website under parental controls, other websites become blocked?

I am a teacher and have found it necessary to block facebook. I am doing this under Parental Controls. Unfortunately, my students also frequent an Adobe website, I have discovered that by blocking facebook this site and others are not accessible. I then went and removed the block in Parental Controls and the Adobe site was still not accessible. I discovered that ONLY BY clicking on ALLOW UNRESTRICTED ACCESS TO WEBSITES were my students once again able to access the Adobe site.
Here is URL for the Adobe site: https://color.adobe.com/create/color-wheel/

See [[Searches are redirected to another site]] and [[Is my Firefox problem a result of malware]]

Have parental controls gone mad in Mountain Lion?

I have two children each with separate accounts, for 2 years the settings have been to automatically restrict web sites according to the content rules set by Apple. Its worked brilliantly with nominal customization! Fab - Until Moutain Lion.
The settings I think remain the same. However, every website the kids try to use through Chrome or Safari puts a block on it asking for an administrator password as the computer is trying to access a secure website which is restricted. - I didn't restrict it (I don't think) so how can I stop it happening.
It is also happening with other applications such as Skype.
The web has become unusable for ordinary school work for both children, I need to resolve this without turning off parental controls - can anyone help please?

It's funny that you should mention the two issues together because they are entirely related.
The problem affects mostly user accounts that were created in "Panther" or "Tiger" before upgrading to "Leopard". When the users and groups were converted from "NetInfo" to "DirectoryService", the group records were imported as-is, but various parts of the Leopard system apparently aren't happy with the old format.
Try fixing the "managed" user's primary group's record by adding a 'RealName' property, and possibly add the user explicitly to 'GroupMembership', after which the user should be able to access the internet.
The same change should also cause "Get Info" to properly display their "group"

Parental Controls don't work correctly under Yosemite

I'm having some serious issues with Parental Controls under Yosemite, issues serious enough that Parental Controls prove to be worthless under Yosemite as currently implemented.
This is a clean install of Yosemite upgraded to current version 10.10.1.
Symptoms:
Using the child's account with parental controls active, when the parental control blocks a website, a dialog comes up offering to allow the parent/admin to approve the site and add it to the exceptions list. This is nice! Unfortunately, approving the website DOES NOT add it to the exceptions list... ever. We discovered this when launching Keynote, which kept trying to connect to an akamai.net server (probably an update check). We would sign in with the admin account to clear the server, then it would pop up with the same dialog box again. We did discover that I _can_ add the site via the Parental Controls prefpane, but kind of a pain. Why have a dialog box pop up if it doesn't actually work.
Time limits don't seem to be obeyed at all in Yosemite, child played on his account for 2 hours despite being set to 1/2 hour a day.
Some apps just lock up on launch (I do NOT use any app controls). I suspect (but can't demonstrate with certainty) that they are accessing blocked websites in the background. Two of the hanging apps are Pages and Keynote (current versions), apps I would expect to behave properly.
For now, I have disabled parental controls, as they are worthless in this form and just make for a frustrating experience for all. It has been disappointing that a feature that used to come in handy (mostly the time limits) has become completely worthless now.

Apple doesn’t routinely monitor the discussions. These are mostly user to user discussions.
Send Apple feedback. They won't answer, but at least will know there is a problem. If enough people send feedback, it may get the problem solved sooner.
Feedback
Or you can use your Apple ID to register with this site and go the Apple BugReporter. Supposedly you will get an answer if you submit feedback.
Feedback via Apple Developer

Lion Parental Controls and secure sites

This is driving me and my son mad. Since "upgrading" to Lion from SL every time he visits a site that uses https an alert box appears saying it needs to be added to Parental Controls, or you click OK to continue. Is there any way to return to the SL way of doing things?
Thanks in advance.

Nobody? Looks like we are stuck with this then. Nice one Apple, why can't you leave stuff alone if it works?

Parental controls a disaster under Lion

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