Bluecurve pause internet loophole

[norml1]

There appears to be a bug in the Bluecurve pause internet feature in that if you pause a device and the device is rebooted, the device can still access the YouTube web site and the videos on the site. Other sites seem to be blocked but YouTube is unexpected accessible. I have encountered this on a laptop and a desktop mini-computer.

Anyone else experiencing this?

[mdk]

YouTube has multiple IP-addresses.

At a Windows command-line prompt, enter:  nslookup www.youtube.com.

to get a list. 

Are you "pausing" by IP-address?

[norml1]

I don't think I'm pausing a specific ip address. I'm just pausing the device through the Shaw BlueCurve app and when I do pause, www.youtube.com (and other sites) access is stopped. But when I reset the laptop for instance, I can get back onto YouTube and play their videos.

Entering "nslookup www.youtube.com" does give me multiple ip addresses but I don't think this is the problem. I would have expected when I pause a device, all internet access to the device is blocked and remains blocked until I unblock it.

Can I assume this behavior doesn't occur for you?

[mdk]

@norml1 -- Can I assume this behavior doesn't occur for you?

No, you cannot make such an assumption. I have no personal experience using that feature from which to draw.

[STOKER]

My guess: shaw doesn't let you manage your  static IPs anymore.  So it blocks the ip address from using the internet, then device restarts and since it's a dynamic ip it just adds a new ip address.   I'd try setting a static ip on the phone or whatever you want to block but make sure it's the same as the one your router gives you first.  

[norml1]

That's a good guess. Sadly, it didn't pan out. Setting a static ip on my computer made no difference. Still could access YouTube after a power restart but only YouTube - other websites I tried seemed to be blocked although I didn't try every website in the world. It's very strange.

Anyway, this feature is not a very good feature if it can be easily hacked, especially by my eleven year old. Makes me want to switch to the competition to see if they got it right...what are the odds, eh?

[mdk]

@STOKER -- good guess.

However, it's my experience with the HITRON cable-modem that once it assigns an IP-address to a specific device, that device will always get the same IP-address, even after being powered-off for more than one week. That's a nice feature, especially for a networked (wired or wireless) printer -- any computer on your private network can always connect to the same IP-address.

[seknudtson]

iPhones seem especially sensitive to this. My IP sniffer program shows several “phantom” IP address after the device IP is paused. YouTube.com is specifically undetected by the pause it seems.  

[mdk]

@seknudtson -- My IP sniffer program shows several “phantom” IP addresses.

Tell us what you see.

[Jack69]

We have this exact issue with our eleven year old too! Only with YouTube, not other websites.