I love this sort of guerilla open source activism.
The whole “manifesto” style of the main webpage is extremely well done and makes a compelling argument, even if we don’t choose this as our core distro.
I like that it also serves as a good page to send to even non-Linux folks, to explain why these dystopian cudgel laws must be resisted at every turn.
On a semi related topic, is there any way to implement good parental control in Linux? I’m giving my old thinkpad to my 10yo, so I want to implement some controls in it.
For managing screen time on a per-user basis,
timekpr-nextis a pretty solid tool. I use it for the “family” PC (old Macbook w/ Linux Mint). We still keep an eye on their usage, of course.Better off doing this at the router proxy level.
@[email protected]
I like this suggestion. You can block adult content through just switching the router’s DNS to a certain cloudflare address, and I THINK some routers allow blocking a connection from a certain MAC address from X to Y time.
There’s also huge blacklists for PiHole to block that stuff, if you’re open to self-host stuff.
But those lists, by nature of the vast Internet, won’t cover everything, so I think computer use out in the open (like the family area) with set internet-open times would be best.
(A bit more advanced but I’m sure you can, say, permanently whitelist stuff like your distro’s update domains, for example.)
And the best thing: Really just have open conversations about the dangers of this stuff on the Internet, and how things will try to hijack your brain. Kids are smart.
I’m about to be an any-day-now dad, so I’ve been trying to get ahead of this too! :)
Thanks for the detailed info. Is there a way to provision a walled off youtube experience? I want her to leverage the vast knowledge stores on youtube for her various interests (blender tutorials for example), but also don’t want her getting hooked on youtube itself, as I know how easy it can be to lose control. Currently I have a jellyfin server where I have a collection of hand selected youtube videos available as a library for her to watch, but I want her to gain the skills to find information/solution on the internet without getting exposed to its nastiness.
Thoughtful comments and you spelled it out much better than I did… all of those things apply and keep surveillance away from your kid.