Parental responsibility

[MarkCDodd]

They are talking about introducing a compulsory internet filter in the UK.

http://www.news.com.au/breaking-news/world/all-internet-porn-will-be-blocked-to-protect-children-under-uk-government-plan/story-e6frfkui-1225973481287

We have had this discussion in Australia for the last three years and the public have rejected the idea.

Why?

1) It is not technically possible to block all internet porn or even a majority of it.
2) The porn industry has not agreed to any online classification system, therefore putting an age filter on your PC or at the ISP does nothing.
3) Most porn children are subjected to is via search engines such as Google. A lot of it is from discussion groups and online blogs that are not full time pornography sites.
4) If not all porn can be blocked, then surely the responsibility is with the parents to supervise their childrens' Internet usage and provide advice on what they should do if they find "rude" pictures.

If you sit down with your children and give them good sex education, including all of those graphic pictures and photographs that make biology teachers blush, then the curiosity that leads to looking at online "rude" pictures has been taken away.

Teaching them that there is a difference between "sex" and "making love" is important.

My daughters both have computers in their bedrooms and I have no worries about what they view online.

I know that using Google to search for just about any subject will throw up "pornography" and that they ignore it.

As for illegal porn such as child pornography.

The vast majority of that is shared via peer to peer networks that no technology has a hope of controlling.

[Rob]

Every one seems to agree with wat you've written Marky !!

[gardener]

Every one seems to agree with wat you've written Marky !!

I don't

For a start, no amount of open discussions about sex will stop boys of a certain age sniggering over "dirty" pictures. For another, what are the chances of most parents having open and educational discussions with their children? Reality check!

I have no objection to a filter for porn, with an opt-in for those who choose. Mind you, I think this is a case of over-reporting since it seems to be at the stage of wondering when to have a meeting with the ISPs to talk about the possibility...

[MarkCDodd]

Look at the context of the talk.

Regulate voluntarily or we legislate.

Basically it is technically not possible to block the vast majority of pornography.

Most politicians and laymen think it is like a library or book store where you can easily restrict access to the naughty section.

The web is dynamic and the contents of any given site are contantly changing.

Johny can log onto the Disney site and Mr Pedo can send him naughty pictures in the chat room.

In other words, you can't just srlect a bunch of sites and say, "Blocking them will protect Johny!"

If the parents give their children access to the internet then it is up to the parents to lay down rules on what is acceptable usage.

[grangers14]

I have parental block thingies on my daughters lap top.

I dont allow her to take her lap upstairs nor her mobile phone .

I have tried to talk to her about all things but now the rest is up to her...
Right or wrong thats what we do. It works ok for us.

Children, if they want, will find a way round all things we set up to try and protect them.
Jo