Last month, when we launched the ability to block specific domains, we heard from you loud and clear: you want the ability to block adult websites in an easy way that puts you in control. Today we’re excited to offer you that ability.
Like everything else we do, we wanted this feature to be powerful and simple to use. That’s why we teamed up with the smart folks at St. Bernard Software (a leader in internet filtering) to make it happen. St. Bernard’s iGuard service is the only 100% human-reviewed system of its kind with millions of sites categorized and reviewed.
Everyone has a different idea of what they consider to be adult content and we wouldn’t pretend to guess what it is. That’s why we’ve broken our adult site blocking feature into six categories that cover different themes. Pick the ones you want to block or don’t block anything; it’s up to you.
If you’re interested in blocking adult content, OpenDNS is the easiest way to do it. Like all our other features, it requires no on-site hardware, there’s no software to install or update, and it’s free.
Nat Woodbridge
Brilliant, this is just the think I was looking for. I don’t have to use these expensive parental control programs any more.
Well done on the good idea
posted on June 11th, 2007 at 12:49 am
Mike B.
Thanks Much I am glad you heard me!
posted on June 11th, 2007 at 3:07 am
David Szpunar
Thanks! While I’m sure there will be many people that find this useful, I’m sure a popular use will be church web filtering! The use of St. Bernard’s database is an excellent idea…good blacklists are hard to come by and if the amount a company charges for their filtering is an indication of filtering quality, St. Bernard is an excellent choice
I haven’t found much negative about them in my personal research of content filtering over the past few months. Thanks again! Review posted on my site for you 
posted on June 11th, 2007 at 3:57 am
Marvin Conn
Cool. This is great. I’ve always wanted to do this, but really don’t trust the other services because they block far more than just adult sites. Thanks for your help.
posted on June 11th, 2007 at 4:38 am
David Ulevitch
Marvin,
Yeah — I’ve found that the sites blocked by the “Adult themed” and “lingerie/bikini” categories aren’t what I consider to be adult, so I don’t block those. I could see someone else wanting those categories blocked though, that’s why we’ve given people the ability to pick and choose their categories. Adult site blocking is certainly not a one-size-fits-all kind of solution.
posted on June 11th, 2007 at 7:31 am
Rod
I guess I can say something about this now..
I had the privlege of being asked by one of the
OpenDNS team to try this out a few days ago
before the roll-out.
after a bit of wrangling because of a IP addy
changeing on me here,
I was able to enable it, with the help
of the un-named staffer
( I don’t wanna get anyone in a jam with David :-p )
Anyway, it seems to be working, the example site is blocked,
I did notice however that my very curious teen age boy did find a way
around it somehow already.. perhaps using a proxy site..
I’m not sure yet.. I’ve gotta dig a bit deeper..
(he’s a smart kid, and highly motivated by…well.. you know..)
I’m wondering what we should do if we happen across a site
that escapes the filters..do we notify O-DNS or iGuard?
I won’t post the link here.. I can email it if requested
however.
Nice work O-DNS team..
Rod
GHOSTRIDER
New York
posted on June 11th, 2007 at 10:54 am
alvin
This is great! I don’t have to tweak my server and add any content filtering engine. Saves money, time and effort. Thanks guys, keep up the good work
posted on June 12th, 2007 at 1:14 am
Bobby Flay
OpenDns I really hope you hear me
Your service is great. Fast rock solid, Phishing protection, Adult website blocking, the ability to block any domain you want…..
BUt you missing something, Just one thing.
Malware website blocking.
how about teaming up with http://stopbadware.org/ and add the feature
NOT ONLY will you benefit from this feature,, or we,
but the internet as a WHOLE will become much more healthier.
posted on June 13th, 2007 at 10:38 pm
Bobby FLay
Google is opening malware blocklist api
http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20070619-google-opens-up-malware-blacklist-api.html
please consider blocking malware websites thank you
posted on June 20th, 2007 at 1:38 pm
compneo
About 30 minutes ago I enabled the site block on all six categories for one of my locations. I used a specific website as an example: r0tten.com (Of course change the 0 to o) when I go to www.xxxxxx.com it is blocked. However if I go to xxxxxx.com it is not blocked. Is this a flaw in the systam or just a configuration issue on my end?
posted on June 21st, 2007 at 7:13 am
Lee Munsil
It’s fairly easy for a teenager to use google archives to get around the adult site blocking. Any “good” solution is going to have to take that into consideration along with other search engines that could have the same problem. Even though some of the “archived” info is caught, a little persistence by the kids will pay off.
I appreciate the effort you are making! Nothing takes the place of parental involvement though.
posted on June 21st, 2007 at 9:45 pm
Jason McClain
Your Adult Site Blocking is a fantastic development as far as I’m concerned. I’ve been a fan of your service for months, and an intelligent, fast porn blocker that doesn’t compromise surfing is the perfect addition.
Thanks - you guys rock
posted on June 22nd, 2007 at 12:12 pm
Lee Munsil
I’ve seen several comments about problems with shortcuts on IE7. I’ve had them also. I now have shortcuts working on a home network with 2 XP machines and 1 Win98 machine.
Without a logical explanation, my “work-around” is quite simple. But if you like to do google/yahoo/etc web searches from the URL address window instead of the new IE7 “search window”, forget it, as the solution means that your address window web searches will be done by OpenDNS. You can however still use the search engine of your choice in the new IE7 search window at the top right of the screen.
If you are interested, check out the “OpenDNS” forum on “shortcuts”. I will post my simple “work-around” there. (In a few minutes).
posted on June 23rd, 2007 at 8:55 pm
Lee Munsil
Sorry, my prior post should have been put under “shortcuts” in the blog section. It’s getting very confusing going back and forth between “blogs” and the “forums”.
posted on June 24th, 2007 at 3:14 pm
Peter R.
As a father of three young boys (who does actively monitor their Internet browsing), I strongly applaud this feature. As we all know, even the best of attempts to browse legitimate websites may result in accidentally stumbling upon adult content. Excellent job.
(New Blog RSS subscriber)
posted on June 25th, 2007 at 8:46 am
Jon Robinson
Is there a manual override feature or do we just change our DNS? You could have libraries and schools use this as CIPA compliance if they can have an administrator override it.
posted on June 27th, 2007 at 8:12 am
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