Safeguard not enforcing google safe search

[#1]

As of maybe a week ago, Safeguard is no longer preventing me from turning off safe search mode in my browser (see attachment for an example of me searching via google.com).

The normal website blocking of categories do still seem to be working correctly.

My primary/secondary DNS servers are pointing to the right SafeGuard addresses: 213.120.234.42, 213.120.234.38 (see DNS attachment).

This happened around about this time last year too around about the time my Broadband IP address changed, which seemed to be somehow related, and was eventually resolved but I was never sure how or by who.

My investigations last time led me to understand that this is something that PlusNet need to get BT to fix since the SafeGuard DNS service is owned by them.

When I request for example "google.com" via DNS, when it is working correctly it should actually return the IP address of something like "forcesafesearch.google.com" (or whatever it currently is) rather than that of the normal "google.com". My understanding is that this is accomplished by BT's DNS server knowing that when requests come via my routers IP address it should return the alternative IP address instead of the regular one.

(see https://community.plus.net/t5/Everything-else/Safeguard-not-working-at-all/td-p/1946414/page/3)

Thanks for your help.

[#2]

Hey @CuriousSideny,

This definitely seems like a strange one as our Safeguard only uses the primary/secondary DNS to block websites as if you were to remove the DNS safeguard will just not work also it does not interact with any safe-search options on browsers for it not to let you toggle the option and it displaying no errors is also weirder.

So we can test if its a browser issue you can try toggling SafeSearch on a different browser like Microsoft Edge

[#3]

Hi Marsh, thanks for your response.

This has impacted all devices in my house, from Android phones to Windows PCs, the experience change has been the same and in all previous cases they were not able to disable safesearch.

Note that the person who raised this community post had the opposite problem https://community.plus.net/t5/Tech-Help-Software-Hardware-etc/Safeguard-and-Google-Safesearch/td-p/1...

Another way that some ISP protect against this thumbnail views being visible is to append &safe=active (under the hood) to google searches (for example) to again prevent the option even appearing to the searcher:. For example try following this URL https://www.google.co.uk/imghp?hl=en&safe=active&ogbl? and you will find that, depending on your search terms, it will show "SafeSearch filtering is on" with no means to disable it.

Given that the behaviour has changed, would it be possible to reach out to BT about this?

Thanks!

[#4]

Safeguard does not alter internet traffic in the manner you suggest. It blocks DNS name resolution of quarantined sites.

Safe search is a feature of search engines - see https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/SafeSearch

[#5]

It definitely has and does. If you search online you can see any number of discussions about the various methods that are used to accomplish this by ISPs. I've mentioned two of them above.

[#6]

As mentioned, for example, here https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SafeSearch 

SafeSearch can be enforced by local area network administrators and ISPs by adding a DNS record. This is often done on school networks to prevent students from accessing pornographic content

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[#7]

Is there a mechanism I can use to raise a support ticket to get this addressed? @Marsh 

Thanks!

[#8]

@CuriousSideny Safeguard - the PN mechanism, and Safesearch - the Google one, are totally different.

[#9]

I've already linked above how ISP's can and do enforce safesearch for the various search engines. This was working (across *every single device* in my house, android, Windows, iPad, etc) a few weeks ago.

[#10]

Hey @CuriousSideny,

"Is there a mechanism I can use to raise a support ticket to get this addressed? @Marsh"

Unfortunately not, as this issue is not related to Plusnet. I have asked with one of our Net-ops members, who confirmed that Plusnet SafeGuard does not interact with any browser's safe-search options.

[#11]

It's very strange that it got fixed last time it was raised last year and eventually got resolved. Could your netops guys talk to BT about it?

[#12]

Was last years query on the forums, or over the phone. If it was on forum, can you provide a link?

[#13]

As already linked in the original post: https://community.plus.net/t5/Everything-else/Safeguard-not-working-at-all/td-p/1946414/page/3
Admittedly this was more than just one thing though, as Safeguard in general was also misbehaving - but the experience with safesearch was the same: i.e. that originally when I joined PlusNet and enabled SafeGuard no phone/computer/anything could perform a search and see explicit results, and then something changed and everything suddenly could now see explicit search results. As part of whatever they resolved in the above case it also resolved the safesearch issue and explicit results were no longer able to be viewed (until about 1 month ago).

[#14]

@CuriousSideny Sorry - didn't read back to the original post, but as @Marsh says above, PN SafeGuard and Google safesearch work independently.

It really needs @bobpullen , or someone with his experience/clout, on the job.

[#15]

@Marsh 

I think you (and others) are not understanding the problem here, and you asked the wrong question of Net-ops.

The answer they gave to the question you asked is true, but that is not the issue.

When Plusnet SafeGuard is switched OFF -

• Any DNS requests to google.com should be handled by Plusnet/BT DNS to get results for google.com
• In this circumstance the browser SafeSearch buttons should be under the users control.

When Plusnet SafeGuard is switched ON -

• Any DNS requests to google.com , Plusnet/BT DNS should get results from forcesafesearch.google.com
• In this circumstance the browser buttons are blocked and are indicators that SafeSearch is enforced at network level.

@CuriousSideny 's original observation was -

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@CuriousSideny wrote:

As of maybe a week ago, Safeguard is no longer preventing me from turning off safe search mode in my browser

Therefore the expectation was that when Plusnet SafeGuard is enabled, that Google SafeSearch would be active, and when SafeSearch is working that the corresponding browser buttons should be non functional and should only be indicators that SafeSearch rules are being applied.

The question ISN'T how does SafeGuard interact with the browser buttons (which is what @Marsh asked)

The question to Net-ops should be -

 "When Plusnet SafeGuard is enabled, why isn't Plusnet's DNS lookup to google.com being redirected to forcesafesearch.google.com,  when this was apparently the SafeGuard behaviour until recently ?"

.