This site will have limited functionality while we undergo maintenance to improve your experience. If an article doesn't solve your issue and you want to ask a question, we have our support community waiting to help you at @FirefoxSupport on Twitter and/r/firefox on Reddit.

Avatar for Username

Search Support

Avoid support scams. We will never ask you to call or text a phone number or share personal information. Please report suspicious activity using the “Report Abuse” option.

Learn More

This thread was archived. Please ask a new question if you need help.

Turning off Private Browsing permanently for CIPA compliance

CShockr
CShockr
more options

I need to be able to lock students out of the ability to use the Private Browsing feature to be in full compliance with the Child Internet Protection Act at the school I work for. I have been using Incognito Gone which solved the problem for me up until the last update when Firefox changed something and now Incognito Gone doesn't work!...

If I can't turn off Private Browsing where student are NOT able to re-enable the feature, I CANNOT LOAD FIREFOX on our school machines, as I will be in violation of CIPA compliance...I have tried the safe mode work around, but my students figured out how to get around it in about 5 minutes...

Any help would be appreciated!

I need to be able to lock students out of the ability to use the Private Browsing feature to be in full compliance with the Child Internet Protection Act at the school I work for. I have been using Incognito Gone which solved the problem for me up until the last update when Firefox changed something and now Incognito Gone doesn't work!... If I can't turn off Private Browsing where student are NOT able to re-enable the feature, I CANNOT LOAD FIREFOX on our school machines, as I will be in violation of CIPA compliance...I have tried the safe mode work around, but my students figured out how to get around it in about 5 minutes... Any help would be appreciated!

All Replies (3)

ideato
ideato
more options

Hello CShockr, that's a difficult question..... see : https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/questions/768275

https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/questions/956542


thank you

cor-el
cor-el
  • Moderator
  • Top 10 Contributor
more options

See also:

Note that it may be possible to disable Safe Mode.

the-edmeister
the-edmeister
  • Moderator
more options

Incognito Gone was never a true "fix". All it did was hide the Private Browsing menu items; the keyboard commands still worked and that add-on could be easily disabled by using the Firefox SafeMode (from what I have read about Incognito Gone at the developers own blog).

I am not familiar with the Child Internet Protection Act, but from the little bit I have just read it sounds that add-on did little to nothing to comply with that act - to limit children's exposure to pornography and explicit content online. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Children%27s_Internet_Protection_Act

Private Browsing doesn't "allow" that exposure, it just hides the "tracks" of the content which has already been accessed. A proper solution would be to block what comes into the PC, not to rely upon saved browsing history to "see" what has already been accessed. That's like closing the barn door after all the horses have escaped.

Trying to block content at the browser level is foolish, at a minimum it should blocked at the operating system level for single installations or at the local area network level when you're dealing multiple PC's. Such as a good network firewall server with "nanny" type software, which is kept up to date. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Content-control_software

IMHO, you need to understand what web browser Private Browsing does vs the intent of CIPA - blocking adult content from reaching the users PC.