Question Profile passwords and logging in

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I'm in my trial period trying to figure out of Oeck can help control child internet access. I create a profile no problem, I set filters and they work no problem.

But logging into that profile takes the account password, so what would stop a child from opening the VPN app and changing the profile? Or if they use an OpenVPN client, what stops them from removing the "-profile" suffix from the account name? I can't understand how the feature is useful when profiles share a common password.

I have an OpenWRT router so I can set the VPN at that level, so children couldn't turn it off, but then it would limit other devices unnecessarily.
 
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Hi j490539931,

The child would need to know what the profile name is in order to sign in to an unfiltered profile.

Can the OpenWRT router route certain clients through the VPN while leaving others use the normal WAN connection using policy based routing or similar?
If so, you could route the kids devices through a filtered VPN.

Cheers,
dooley
 
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Huh. Yeah that's interesting. I mean, they'll be on a device with the VPN app right. So they can open the app right. So they can see the profiles there and pick a different one without changing the password.

Or they open an OpenVPN generic app and see "j490539931-restricted" and then look up Oeck and learn on the first page that they just need to remove "-restricted" and they'll have open access.

It just seems bafflingly shortsighted on the part of the Oeck product design team. All they need to fix the whole problem is separate passwords for each profile, and a VPN kill switch on the device. Then the device could only get the limited internet with that profile/password, or else nothing.

In any case thank you for the eval period but it doesn't do the thing I need it to do for my uses.
 

Peter

Staff member
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Hi @j490539931,

The issue with allowing each device profile its own password is by design. If we allow each profile to have its own username and password, it will not be long before a single users purchases a subscription for $9.95 per month and creates multiple profiles with their own password ( basically a full VPN subscription ) and gives them away or sells them to others. We allow 6 simultaneous connections which will mean 6 x $9.95 ( $59.70 ) of service is available for 1/6 of that price - we will not be able to stay in business with that pricing.

We do allow account sharing, but the single password is there to deter from users abusing the service. I am not saying this is what you are trying to do, but not all users will be as honest as you are. We can't risk that for that price point.

What you could try is what @dooley suggested. Set up a profile with the restrictions you need and use that in your router. Then, for your own devices, load up the Oeck app and connect to Oeck using a profile will less or no restrictions. This will also achieve what you are trying to do.


Regards,
Peter @ Oeck.