i find it fascinating how limiting network access for kids does not result in them abiding by your rules but rather leads them to find ways around it

my parents always restricted my internet on a MAC address whitelist mechanism so i learned how to use wireshark and ip tools

my high school had a firewall set up to prevent us from accessing game websites and tools that could potentially help us cheat, so i learned how to bypass their sophos and fortinet firewalls by setting up an nginx conf for google.com on my server, doing host header spoofing and tunelling my traffic over wireguard which was also tunneled over chisel, a http tunnel

maybe i would've followed their rules if they had a reasonable explanation as to why it was for my own good instead of screaming at me and forcing their bullshit views onto me

@alina @cstross I very clearly tell the children under my care that any network I manage will block malware and other security threats, egregious ads and privacy risks, along with blocks for hate sites, gore, and stuff that’s likely to lead to nightmares.

Three have gone through that to be young adults, with another three that are still covered under that umbrella (most aren’t my children). They’ve all understood it, and they’ve been thankful when they’ve been able to warn their friends when a dodgy mod or similar has done the rounds, leading to their parents asking me about network/device protection that’s more likely to be effective.

@sendai
My family has a squid proxy and some scripts that remove execute bits for games at certain times. I tell my kids how it works and why it works, they negotiate to get things changed. If they negotiate well I change them. They are learning why you shouldn't just download crap off the internet, and how game companies try to addict you. They are way more knowledgeable than avg kids. But they don't try to circumvent.
@alina @cstross