As mentioned in several previous articles, I use Adguard Home on my local network as an additional ad blocker. You can read the review of Adguard Home on the following page.
In my setup, Adguard Home utilizes two different DNS servers: Cloudflare’s DNS Over HTTPS and Quad9, both configured in Load Balancing mode.
Since DNS Over HTTPS is employed, many websites blocked by the government or my internet service provider are directly accessible. This results in unrestricted internet access, allowing sites like Reddit and adult content to be opened freely without the need for an additional VPN.
Given that adult websites are now accessible as described above, to enhance security and restrict access to such sites without compromising Adguard’s functionality, we can utilize the parental control feature, which is fortunately available in Adguard Home.
The setup process is straightforward. Simply navigate to Settings > General > and enable Use Adguard parental control webservice.
Ensure that Use Safe Search is also activated to hide search results related to adult content.
Once these settings are enabled, all devices connected to the Adguard Home DNS will no longer be able to access adult websites, as shown in the example below.
As you can see in the image above, Adguard Home automatically blocks adult domains with the message Access blocked. Additionally, the Adguard Home Dashboard allows you to view logs of these blocking activities.
From the logs, we can observe at least 17 blocked adult websites, and by examining the logs, we can identify which IP addresses attempted to access these sites.
Such parental control features are crucial for monitoring and restricting internet access, especially if Adguard Home is installed on a home server used by children. Without proper supervision, children might access inappropriate content, which could negatively impact their mental well-being.
In the news, I often come across cases of minors engaging in activities outside societal norms, whether consensual or not. One of the primary factors contributing to such incidents is the easy accessibility of pornography.
As parents, it is our responsibility to monitor our children’s online activities to protect them from harmful content that could affect their future. This is precisely why the Parental Control feature was developed.
Can this setup be bypassed? Absolutely. The measures described above can still be circumvented using a VPN. Although we can add a filter list to prevent such bypasses, access might still be possible in some cases.
In other words, the parental control feature serves as an alternative preventive measure. Parents must also provide better education to their children and not rely solely on such features. Do you have alternative methods, especially for preventing VPN access? Share your thoughts in the comments below.
