Blocking YouTube only not other Google Services
Hello -
When I set a filter to block YouTube.com is also blocks Google Classroom. Is there a way to set this up properly?
Here's the Filter/Block i'm using: *.youtube.com
Thanks
-
I'm having this too - blocked *.youtube.com seems to block a lot, if not all Google sites - including www.google.com search engine.
Is there a better filter? Using this as Firewalla isn't blocking youtube on my sons android phone, despite the video block being on.
Any help gratefully received!
Mark
-
I am having the same problem with Firewalla Blue.
I select the laptop device, go to Blocking Rules > create a new rule.
Set a target as domain > youtube.com and saved.
I try to access Youtube.com with the laptop and youtube.com page is showing error. But it also affected Google Hangout and other Google services.
I don't understand what do you mean by device view and tap on + then ipv6.
Please help.
Thanks,
Sean
-
Sean
Firewalla blocks services using both DNS and also IP address. In your case, it is highly likely that youtube.com was sharing the same IP address (range) as the rest of the google services.
I remember, one way to block youtube is using *.googlevideo.com instead of youtube.com.
We may implement a simpler DNS only block in the future, those blocks are pretty easy for kids to bypass.
-
I am using the Block App -> Youtube rule and it's blocking google classroom, google drive, etc...
IP Address blocking is not the appropriate way to do this, as many of these services share the same public address space and use NLBs to direct requests to the appropriate internal resources...
I want to restrict my child from watching youtube videos during the day, but she still needs access to her virtual classroom that uses other google services! I'm on Firewalla Gold and a little frustrated at this.
-
Hi Steve
I think our engineering is trying to work out a better way to block youtube.
The reason for IP block + DNS block together is to make sure the block is harder to bypass. We have seen smart kids just add a DNS entry locally and were able to bypass DNS-only blocks.
It is only recently we start seen google mixing significantly the different servers riding on the same IP, which we are trying to fix now. It will likely be a combination of DNS + IP blocks.
-
I did find that there's an option kinda buried in the Block Mode settings that will allow you to block DNS only, which is a good way to approach youtube.com and not block all the IPs also used for legitimate web services and apps also owned by Google.
In your Rule creation, select Domain as your target, enter youtube.com, and set your Block Mode to Domain Only.
I'm testing this now, and anticipate it to work until my child is a little older and computer savvy. Hopefully by then all this virtual classroom junk is behind us...
cheers
-
Why is youtube so stinking hard to block? So far I haven't been able to block it at all using firewalla. I've tried implementing it as an application block and as a domain block. Neither work at all. The kids can still watch all the youtube they want.
Using screen time on iOS I can block it on their ipads by blocking the website youtube.com, but i'm not having success on computers.
I'm going to try blocking youtube on my pi-hole and see if that works.
Sounds like it has been a problem for many others though too?
-
Now that Google Play Music has been replaced with YouTube Music, it gets even more fun.
Application block for YouTube breaks YouTube Music.
Application block for YouTube with a separate "allow music.youtube.com" blocks everything.
Had to switch to using a domain-only block for YouTube.com with a separate allow music.youtube.com.
That way, they can listen to music, but not go down the video rabbit hole. Hopefully, it doesn't break anything else. :)
Please sign in to leave a comment.
Comments
17 comments