Locking Safe Search on SearchScene

It is possible to lock Safe Search to "Strict" on SearchScene. Setting Safe Search to "Strict" ensures that no adult content will be displayed within the search results.

Safe Search Lock is a parental control setting that makes SearchScene safer for kids, whether at home or at school. It can also be used on public- facing computers, such as libraries, etc. The Safe Search Lock does the following…

1. It sets and locks the Safe Search setting to “Strict”, which means that no adult content or explicit images or videos will be shown in the search results.
   
   
2. It removes the Safe Search setting from the search results pages, so that it is not obvious to children or other users that an alternate setting even exists.

How to lock Safe Search

To lock Safe Search to the Strict setting, please visit the settings page.

You will need to enter a password in order to lock Safe Search. Please choose something memorable and make a note of it.

Locking Safe Search to the Strict setting also removes the Safe Search setting from the top of the search results pages, so that it is not obvious to children or other users that an alternate setting even exists.

How to unlock Safe Search

To unlock Safe Search, please visit the settings page and enter your password. Please remember that your password is cAsE sEnSiTiVe.

What if I forgot my password?

Your password is stored on your device using cookies and is also backed up to local storage on your device. The only way to reset your password is to delete it from cookies and local storage on your computer or device by deleting your website data. The method is different for different devices, so please follow these instructions...

Desktop / laptop browsers (Chrome, Firefox, Edge, Safari):

https://www.howtogeek.com/304218/how-to-clear-your-history-in-any-browser/

SearchScene iPhone/iPad App (Firefox):

https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/clear-browsing-history-firefox-ios

SearchScene Android App (Firefox):

https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/clear-your-search-history-firefox-android

Other browsers on iPhone/iPad (e.g. Safari):

https://www.howtogeek.com/407694/how-to-see-and-remove-all-the-data-websites-have-saved-on-your-iphone-or-ipad/

Other browsers on Android (e.g. Chrome):

https://www.howtogeek.com/744646/how-to-clear-cookies-and-site-data-on-android/

Deleting your website data (cookies and local storage contents) will erase your other settings on SearchScene too, which includes your token counter. If you are signed in at the time then your token counter will also be stored on our secure servers. However, you will need to sign in again using the same email address as before so that the token counter on your device is synced again with our servers.

Please note that your password is not stored on our servers, so there is no way we can recover it for you or reset it for you. Please clear your website data following the instructions above and your password will be deleted and Safe Search will be unlocked. To lock it again, please follow the instructions above.

Limitations

We decentralised the process of locking Safe Search so that no one user (for example, a student) could lock a machine's Safe Search setting without anyone else being able to unlock it. For this reason, there is no administrator who is in overall charge of locking/unlocking the Safe Search setting on the machine. The setting is stored locally on your device and can be deleted.

1. The Safe Search Lock is not a substitute for proper supervision of your child or student on the internet. We recommend that children use the family computer in a communal setting and that children are properly educated on the dangers of using the internet in advance. Young children should always be supervised whilst online.
   
   
2. No filter is 100% perfect. That said, enabling Safe Search Lock will help to ensure that your children are not exposed to adult material or violent material whilst online.
   
   
3. The password you set is stored on your device. Clearing your browser's cookies and local storage will erase the password. As such, an older child with some knowledge and determination may be able to erase the password and unlock Safe Search.
   
   
4. Safe Search Lock is specific to the SearchScene search engine. It has no effect on other websites or search engines being accessed via your browser and has no effect on other external applications, such as the YouTube app, Facebook app, etc.
   
   
5. If using the SearchScene iOS or Android app on your phone or tablet, this setting will not prevent your child from accessing adult material on that phone or tablet. This setting only affects the search results displayed by the SearchScene.com search engine. Please see below.
6. There is nothing stopping a child from navigating to a different search engine and executing a search from there.
   
   
7. There is nothing stopping a child from accessing an adult site by typing its URL directly into your browser's URL bar.
   
   
8. This setting needs to be set on each computer and for each browser (and for each browser profile) where SearchScene is being used.

If your children or students are using SearchScene, then it is our recommendation that the Safe Search Lock be used in conjunction with some parental software such as NetNanny or Cybersitter.