Types of GoGuardian Block Pages

GoGuardian Block Pages

GoGuardian has a few ways to block web content. Each block type has a different block screen and message. You may also find that students are blocked by other means. This article will help to identify the block sources. 

Blocked by Admin Filtering Policies

Filtering Policies can block websites by specific URLs and by categories of sites. If you see the block page below, the page was blocked by one of your filtering Policies configured in GoGuardian Admin. Policies can be configured and modified on the Policies page and can be applied to various OUs on the Assign page. This page can be bypassed for a predetermined amount of time using a bypass password. Bypass passwords can be configured and managed on the Bypass page. 

 

Blocked by Smart Alerts

Smart Alerts Triggers can be configured to block certain content. If you see the block page below, the page was blocked by a custom Trigger. Triggers can be configured and modified on the Triggers page in Smart Alerts.

Browsing Disabled by a Teacher

Teachers have the ability to lock the browser of a student during an active classroom session using the "Lock Screen" command. The command is designed to unlock at the end of the session, but if a student joins a new session before the first session ends, they will remain locked. 

The Lock/Unlock Screen command can be issued by any teacher, so if a student joins your session in a "browsing disabled" state, they can be quickly unlocked by selecting the student and issuing the "Unlock Screen" command.

Blocked by a Scene

Teachers have the ability to filter content and set browsing rules for enrolled students during their classroom sessions using Scenes. If a student is blocked by a Scene, the "Hey there!" screen will be displayed (shown below).

 When students receive a blocked page. Please check the end of the URL on the student device to see the URL the student was blocked from and the teacher whose Scene blocked it. 

Students can also be enrolled in multiple concurrent sessions. The most recently applied Scene will override any currently applied Scenes. If a student is in multiple sessions and is blocked by a Scene, the "You're popular!" page will be displayed (shown below). The block page will display the classroom owners. Contact the listed owners to remove or modify the scene if necessary. 

Blocked by GoGuardian DNS

If a site was blocked by GoGuardian DNS, there will not be a "Bypass" button visible. 

Blocked HTTPS Traffic with GoGuardian DNS

In this scenario, the above "Your connection is not private" warning will appear due to the requested HTTPS certificate - in this case "test.com" not matching the received HTTPS certificate which in all cases will be from blocked.com-default.ws. This warning/message is the expected behavior for when a site is blocked via GoGuardian DNS.

Youtube Videos Blocked by Admin Filtering Policies

Filtering Policies can block YouTube videos by category, keyword, channel, and by specific video URL. Students will see the "blocked" message below when YouTube videos are blocked by Filtering Policies. YouTube Filtering can be configured on the Policies page and can be applied to various OUs on the Assign page.

Youtube Videos Blocked by the Google Admin Console

The Google Admin Console has the ability to override GoGuardian Youtube filtering. If your students see the blocked video page below, it's due to Youtube settings in Google Admin Console, not by GoGuardian Policies.

To find this setting from the Google Admin homepage, navigate through Device Settings > Chrome Management > User Settings, then scroll down to Safe Search and Restricted Mode section. For more information about this setting, see Google's help center article. 

Sites Blocked by Google Admin Console

Google Admin Console also has the ability to block sites by URL. If your student sees the page below, it was likely blocked by a blacklist entry in User Settings, not by GoGuardian Policies. 

To find this setting from the Google Admin homepage, navigate through Device Settings > Chrome Management > User Settings, then scroll down to URL Blocking section. Check this section for each OU and sub-OU.