Can I disable "private browsing" in safari?

faithfulfrank

Hi guys. I did a search on this, but only found scads of guys drooling over how awesome private browsing was for checking out porn....and while I am not throwing stones at people who use their mac for this reason, since this is our family computer, I want to be able to monitor it's use a bit better.



Having teenage boys, I would like make it so my boy's user accounts can not use this feature. I looked under security, and parental controls, but all I could find was where they could only go to websites that were in their bookmarks.



This would be too restricting. I just want them not to be able to click "private browsing". Is there any way I can do that? If I cannot, can I disallow the other users on our computer to even use safari, and make them use firefox?



Thank you in advance for your help.



Frank D.

kickaha

You can do the latter by setting Safari as a disallowed app in the Parental Controls for their account, can you not?



Also, you could force them to use a hacked version of Safari that simply has that menu item and command key disabled permanently. This can be done quickly with the Dev Tools. You could have a version of Safari that is unhacked, if you wanted.

omega

This linky-linky should give a bit more info

youcanhaveyourpc

You really think that you're going to control your teenage boys from looking at porn? Really now.

faithfulfrank

Omega, Thank you for that helpful link.

I think all parents should monitor what info their kids are finding on the internet. You cannot believe everything you read just because it is on the internet. Smart adults know this, kids may not.



Apple should allow the administrator to disable "reseting" and "private browsing"

to some user accounts so this can be dome. The parental controls are too limiting.



Frank D.

danosaur

Even without private browsing, if you have raised your kids right they will be able to figure out how to cover their tracks. You would just have to delete the items in the history and empty the cache.



Alternatively they might download any web browser and use that one without your knowledge. You couldn't check the history if you didn't know it existed.



I'm no father but maybe it would just be best to instill good values in the kids and let them make their own decisions. Not to say you shouldn't monitor them or have blind trust but you will only frustrate yourself if you try to have 100% control.

faithfulfrank

Agreed.

I have great kids. All the smart stuff is done....computer in a common area, etc.

I'm not obsessing on this.....my kids do not clear history, etc, and I do check it every so often.

I just think that the parental controls are very limited in Safari....to say the kids could only go to the following websites would be a pain. I trust them to be able to use the internet w/o limiting them that much.....it is just a good idea to see where they have been every once in awhile.



Frank D.

kaiwai

Quote:

Originally posted by Danosaur

Even without private browsing, if you have raised your kids right they will be able to figure out how to cover their tracks. You would just have to delete the items in the history and empty the cache.



Alternatively they might download any web browser and use that one without your knowledge. You couldn't check the history if you didn't know it existed.



I'm no father but maybe it would just be best to instill good values in the kids and let them make their own decisions. Not to say you shouldn't monitor them or have blind trust but you will only frustrate yourself if you try to have 100% control.

Or better yet, don't turn sex into the grand taboo; then your son/daughter won't go searching for porn on the internet - geeze, I swear that puritanism is live and well in the US of A.



So your 14 year old son wants to jerk to a little porn; atleast you know he is developing like a normal guy; I'm gay, but atleast when I was young my father didn't get puritanical - if I wanted to look at porn, I could, I didn't have to go around his back - here I am, a few years later, and I've turned out to be a pretty normal person; oh, and low and behold, after a few porn pictures, I couldn't work out what the buzz was - haven't looked at porn since - except for the occasional erotic novel or story.



Sorry, all that puritanism brings is a level of stupidity that can only be compared to the rantings of a fundamentalist christian.



Pussy and Dick don't harm - ignorant parents with poor communication skills cause developmental problems in children.

placebo

I just thought I'd post a screenshot of my Safari interface mod:

omega

The green arrow is very nice.

placebo

Quote:

Originally posted by Omega

The green arrow is very nice.

I usually don't use Safari, so that's Firefox running in the background.

chucker

Quote:

Originally posted by faithfulFrank

Having teenage boys, I would like make it so my boy's user accounts can not use this feature.

Don't you think "teenage" boys are old enough to look at what they want?

gon

Either you trust them, or not.

If not, don't allow internet at all, or only allow it on computer in common living space when you're home.

I can't see how snooping around in logs is a good idea in any case. It sounds dishonest.

trendannoyer

if the kids are 'only allowed to go to certain sites' and that site is 'google' which lets face it at the VERY least they have to be able to use ONE search engine.... whats to stop them typing in 'PORN' and getting to it through that??







were theres a will theres a way



we dont all suddenly have sense at age 18 (or whatever it is in your state) some have it younger some have it older...



i fully agree with your wanting to keep your kids minds free from a load of crap they dont really need to be bombarded with... but , you know, were you looking at porn at that age??



{if not, then fine.}



but why you gonna stop your kids doing something you did?



agreed the internet has WAAAAAY more porn to access for FREE than what was possible when i was a kid... which is a good enough reason.



common room and a parent actually BEING IN the room, is best

ichiban_jay

or you can do what some parents have been starting to do... I saw it on Dateline, you can install a webcam in their bedroom and on the wall behind the computer in the common room. Then you can check on them anytime during the day from the internet in your office.



The kids might hate you, but you can say it's all for the best.



Actually, the kids they interviewed said that it was wierd at first, but they get used to it and sometimes actually find it comforting that their parents keep tabs on them all day.

theapplegenius

those are some messed up kids...

jwink3101

i don't really see the problem if your teenage kids want to look at porn. As long it doesn;t become an obsession. And for that matter, as long as it is a necessity to "do the deed" i don;t see how it is a problem. You are better off telling them what your feeling are and telling them that you know you can;t control what they do but they will know that you agree of don't



Thats what my parents did for me with pot. They told me their feelings and they said they know that they can can't control what i do or not do but they wanted me to know how they felt. I smoked twice and i have no desire to do it again. A good 70% of my friends who smoke do it because it pisses off their parent.s

red5948

[I]The link you suggested has been removed, my son has a iPhone 5s that I would like to disable private browsing but not restrict access, do you know of any ways to do this?[/I]

veng4

I don't believe the man was asking for parenting advice. Who are any of you? They're not your kids. It's difficult enough trying to raise kids as it is now. Maybe instead of chastising someone for actually trying to PARENT, you may want to look at yourselves and ask why you are so offended. Maybe you have a problem? Internet porn is a big problem for a lot of people. Maybe that's you. Either way, I don't believe the topic was "how should I parent my children? (according to random nobodies on the internet)