Exclude YouTube from Safesearch

stuart.l — Tue, 21 Mar 2017 05:23:17 GMT

Hi All,

I have an issue with getting my PA to work in conjunction with Google Apps ( or G Suite) as it is now known. A little about the enviroment:

Two group of users:

Group 1
SSL decryption enabled
Safe Search disabled
Allowed to approve videos in YouTube (see https://support.google.com/a/answer/6245597?hl=en)

Group 2
SSL decryption enables
Safe Search enabled
Restricted to viewing approved or safe videos (using DNS, see https://support.google.com/youtube/answer/6214622?hl=en)

When users from Group 2 try to watch a video that is on the 'appoved' list they are sent to the safe search response page, even though they are logged in and restricted mode is enabled via G Suite.

I guess the obvious answer would be to remove YouTube from safe search enforcement, but I cannot see any granular control. Disabling safe search is in not an option in this enviroment. Has anyone got any other ideas?

Re: Exclude YouTube from Safesearch

stuart.l — Fri, 24 Mar 2017 01:33:03 GMT

Ok, I found a pretty brutal workaround for this. A bit of sniffing found that users were able to view videos when the URL was stuctured in this format:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?ebc=random_string&v=sBvfENq_4Vk

But not this format: (I never found out what ebc variable is)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sBvfENq_4Vk&ebc=random_string

Because this site runs the modified 'URL Filtering Safe Search Block' response page that redirects the users transparently via jscript I added a URL rewrite for any blocked youtube videos that deletes then adds the "ebc=random_string" url variable. It is brutal and ugly, but it mostly works. Unfortunately I have not managed to get the mobile app working for allowed videos when users from Group 2 are logged in.

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Exclude YouTube from Safesearch

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