Screen Time site blocking foiled by "special characters"

Question

Screen Time site blocking foiled by "special characters"

I want to block specific sites using Screen Time. However, if sites have punctuation marks on certain letters, Screen Time cannot block them.

For example, Screen Time cannot block http://paciência-xl.com but it CAN block http://paciencia-xl.com. The only difference is the "ê" in the url. The first url is NOT accepted in the "Restricted" list (accessed via the "Customize" button in the System Preferences - Screen Time pane). Umlauts (e.g. ü) cause the same problem.

This issue occurs on both macOS and iPadOS.

Is this a bug? Is there a workaround if you want to block sites that use letters with punctuation marks above them?

Posted on Jun 13, 2020 5:08 PM

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Answer 1

Jun 14, 2020 2:12 PM in response to LuigiBenetton

I can bypass pretty much everything tried here, via VPN or other means.

As for blocking the domain using your current strategy, enter the punycode for the domain, as a workaround.

That’s what is actually transmitted and not the Unicode characters, so a filter will probably capture the punycode version.

Here’s the punycode translation of the specified domain: http://xn--pacincia-xl-qbb.com/

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Answer 2

Jun 15, 2020 7:18 AM in response to LuigiBenetton

Workaround aside, log some feedback with Apple as this is clearly a bug in Screen Time.

Product Feedback - Apple

The folks at Apple may or may not see your (bug) report here, so...

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Answer 3

Jun 14, 2020 1:51 PM in response to BDAqua

That's good lateral thinking! But the router/modem supplied by my ISP does not seem to have the ability to block specific urls.

The goal is to block specific urls... I'm open to other ways to do this if Apple's Screen Time can't do it.

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Answer 4

Jun 15, 2020 6:46 AM in response to MrHoffman

What a community! I hope Apple incorporates this type of workaround into Screen Time. Seems like there are LOTS of punycode translators on the web, and I'll need to keep this trick in mind. Meanwhile, thanks MrHoffman!

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Answer 5

BDAqua

Level 10

250,253 points

Jun 14, 2020 11:26 AM in response to LuigiBenetton

Sure sounds like a bug.

I wonder does your router block IPs?

172.67.151.231

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Answer 6

Jun 15, 2020 8:26 AM in response to MrHoffman

Done - and thanks again.

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Screen Time site blocking foiled by "special characters"

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