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The problem of children accessing adult content either on purpose or by accident is a challenging one. The UK government sees this as a "sex shop" problem, whe

by junto 10y ago

The problem of children accessing adult content either on purpose or by accident is a challenging one. The UK government sees this as a "sex shop" problem, where adult material is hidden behind a door where under 18's are not showed to enter. Most of us would agree that the responsibility for our children's internet access falls on the parents shoulders, but since the vast majority of children are much more tech savvy than their parents, and they have smartphones that are difficult to lock down, parents are failing to protect their children. The NSPCC study that was linked illustrates that point. The question is, how do we solve the problem? My preference would be to opt in with service provider to block known porn content, but blacklists are flimsy. Also, there are websites like reddit that offer a variety of content that spans various subjects, including porn subreddits. Can my child access the Minecraft subreddit? It's a pretty easy jump to NSFW material. OpenDNS used to have some pretty good content blocking tools, but a smart kid is going to figure out how to switch their DNS settings to use Google instead. It's a whack a mole problem where established websites will suffer, and we'll new porn sites popping up even more frequently than they do now, with ISP's playing a constant game of catch up.

notgood 10y ago
Protect their children? Has there been any study that children need this "protection" you speak of? I was able to get hold on porn videos when I was a teenager, despite not having internet at home or somewhere else. At the end, the only way forward is to speak with your children, it has nothing to do with firewalls.
- junto 10y ago
  >Protect their children? Has there been any study that children need this "protection" you speak of? I was able to get hold on porn videos when I was a teenager, despite not having internet at home or somewhere else. At the end, the only way forward is to speak with your children, it has nothing to do with firewalls. I was referring to this part of the article: >The government said its new rules were based on studies that suggest viewing pornography at a young age can have detrimental effects on future adult relationships. A survey from the NSPCC found that nearly half of 11-16-year-olds had accessed an adult site and one in five 11-17-year-olds said that they had seen images that had shocked or upset them. The reality is that even younger children are now regularly accessing the internet and they are able to access pornographic content by accident. When it comes to young children, what exactly are you expecting parents to talk to them about? These are children who haven't reached the age where they have had any education regarding sexual activity, but they can still use an iPad or a laptop. Here is a classic example of inappropriate advertising in a children's iOS application: http://www.independent.co.uk/news/media/advertising/explicit-porn-advert-banned-after-appearing-in-talking-tom-app-used-by-children-10310701.html http://www.independent.co.uk/news/media/advertising/explicit... As a parent of young children I do want to be able to restrict their access to the certain parts of the internet, in exactly the same way that I wouldn't let them watch an age-inappropriate movie. It's an entirely different scenario to you as a teenager seeking out pornographic videos. The point is that young children can stumble into a "virtual sex shop" or a "virtual strip club", whilst in real life they can't - they are barred from entry.
  - notgood 10y ago
    They have the ages all wrong then, teen years start at 12, not at 17. Meaning you are interested in kids from ~1 to 12 When I mean "talking to children" I mean the all things, tell them to reach you if they see anything they find concerning on the internet, tell them some people may put ugly things on the internet so if they see anything that upsets them they should talk to you, all this even before sex education. Still, you are over-estimating the effects of sexual images to kids, they barely understand what they see at that age; and I'm pretty sure it's 100% impossible to tell apart adults who saw porn when they were that young from the ones who didn't. But still, even with the firewall argument: parents who are concerned about it should be educated about using Ublock or something like that; not a censoring that affects everyone. Specially because such censoring power is always going to be used for evil after a few administrations, it starts with porn and then it is for "evil online forums" and then its for anyone talking against the government.

by junto 10y ago

notgood 10y ago

Protect their children? Has there been any study that children need this "protection" you speak of? I was able to get hold on porn videos when I was a teenager, despite not having internet at home or somewhere else. At the end, the only way forward is to speak with your children, it has nothing to do with firewalls.

junto 10y ago
>Protect their children? Has there been any study that children need this "protection" you speak of? I was able to get hold on porn videos when I was a teenager, despite not having internet at home or somewhere else. At the end, the only way forward is to speak with your children, it has nothing to do with firewalls. I was referring to this part of the article: >The government said its new rules were based on studies that suggest viewing pornography at a young age can have detrimental effects on future adult relationships. A survey from the NSPCC found that nearly half of 11-16-year-olds had accessed an adult site and one in five 11-17-year-olds said that they had seen images that had shocked or upset them. The reality is that even younger children are now regularly accessing the internet and they are able to access pornographic content by accident. When it comes to young children, what exactly are you expecting parents to talk to them about? These are children who haven't reached the age where they have had any education regarding sexual activity, but they can still use an iPad or a laptop. Here is a classic example of inappropriate advertising in a children's iOS application: http://www.independent.co.uk/news/media/advertising/explicit-porn-advert-banned-after-appearing-in-talking-tom-app-used-by-children-10310701.html http://www.independent.co.uk/news/media/advertising/explicit... As a parent of young children I do want to be able to restrict their access to the certain parts of the internet, in exactly the same way that I wouldn't let them watch an age-inappropriate movie. It's an entirely different scenario to you as a teenager seeking out pornographic videos. The point is that young children can stumble into a "virtual sex shop" or a "virtual strip club", whilst in real life they can't - they are barred from entry.
- notgood 10y ago
  They have the ages all wrong then, teen years start at 12, not at 17. Meaning you are interested in kids from ~1 to 12 When I mean "talking to children" I mean the all things, tell them to reach you if they see anything they find concerning on the internet, tell them some people may put ugly things on the internet so if they see anything that upsets them they should talk to you, all this even before sex education. Still, you are over-estimating the effects of sexual images to kids, they barely understand what they see at that age; and I'm pretty sure it's 100% impossible to tell apart adults who saw porn when they were that young from the ones who didn't. But still, even with the firewall argument: parents who are concerned about it should be educated about using Ublock or something like that; not a censoring that affects everyone. Specially because such censoring power is always going to be used for evil after a few administrations, it starts with porn and then it is for "evil online forums" and then its for anyone talking against the government.