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Forum Discussion
Genie and major shortcomings
Dear Netgear, Your parental controls/Genie have some MAJOR shortfalls. Here is what EVERY parent wants: 1. Able to disable any additional MAC addresses from connecting to the router via Wir...
I am sympathetic to your plight (I am a parent, too), but if your kids know how to change their MAC address, then it's game over. They can use the MAC address of a whitelisted device that has been granted full Internet access.
Moreover, a kid that can change MAC addresses can also change DNS servers. So long OpenDNS.
Or they can just reset your router. :smileysurprised:
Proper control is more likely to succeed when enforced on the device. Look into Microsoft Family Safety (really worth checking out), OSX Parental Controls and, of course, 3rd party software.
Or you can just announce that you have the ability to log all traffic and that any forbidden activity (visiting adult websites, breaking curfew) will have consequences. And trust your kids to do the right thing. Having #8 is certainly nice to have to back up your threat. You can also periodically audit their computers. Or you could just bluff. :smileywink: