Internet porn - Opt-in?

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BBC News - MP calls for pornography 'opt-in' to protect children
I like the idea of the internet being “safer” for kids however I believe this MP’s naivety of how the internet is not different from shops and tv channels is her undoing.

"We already successfully regulate British TV channels, cinema screens, High Street hoardings and newsagent shelves to stop children seeing inappropriate images and mobile phone companies are able to restrict access to adult material so why should the internet be any different?"

The internet is a different animal all together.
There are so many millions of sites, servers, services, web pages and if you want to create a new site then it can be up and running (sometimes) within hours or even minutes.
To compare this to a shop keeper selling porn mags or a cinema screen I think is lying to yourself.

I do not see how ISPs can block all porn sites…unless of course the porn sites all conform to that new idea of www. porn-site-name-here. xxx
The xxx instead of .com
Well at least I think I remember reading that?

Anyways!

What do you guys think?
For me I believe it is not down to the ISPs as they should IMO remain as impartial as possible with the traffic they are transferring across their network.
Instead a government run scheme for those software bundles that block unsafe sites and sites that would be unsuitable for kids.
 
Instead a government run scheme for those software bundles that block unsafe sites and sites that would be unsuitable for kids.

Not sure why it needs to be government run at all, or even managed by the ISP. Just have a parental control option in the web browser that limits the sites children can use to those you specify. Anything else requires the parents' permission. Let's have the parents responsible for what their own children do for a change.
 
I believe that if parents want to protect their children from the dangers of the internet, then they should do it themselves instead of demanding the government do something, then crying "nanny state" about something else.

The internet is not supposed to be "safe" for kids, any more than allowing your 6 year old to walk the streets of Soho alone, the sooner people understand that, the better, in my opinion. Active, interested parenting is the key, not legislation just so that parents can stare vacantly at their X-Factor for an extra hour while the internet babysits their kids.


As you can tell, I've pretty strong opinions on the subject of internet censorship (though, just to clarify for the "paedogeddon" brigade, if any are looking at this - I don't condone child abuse websites).
 
It's a dangerously slippery slope if/when the internet starts getting regulated like this at the isp/website end, i for one am not for it, at all. Fair enough if its a browser/pc option but at the internet end of things certainly not
 
you can't control the internet, it controls you :D

Honestly though if people are not confident enough to set up control on their personal computers then maybe they should not allow access to the home PC to children in the first place :thumbsup:
 
Agreed it should be down to the parents...

however not all parents would bother or even know.

I know my mum and dad have no idea about internet porn and the other things you can find on there, such as sites suggesting you can find someone to sleep with that night!
 
I agree that it shouldn't be down to ISPs to filter, but I think consumer routers need to be more intelligent in how they filter websites, i.e. having a block list for all but one machine is no good as if a child uses that computer the filter is pointless.

They need to be able to detect the user account being used on any number of PCs. No ones wants software-based solutions installed on every PC independently.

I do agree, however, that adult entertainment web sites should conform to the .xxx TLD, as having previously worked in a school know it's a nightmare to even try to block everything. I don't see how the adult entertainment industry is against this as surely they don't want minors seeing their material, unless they think it's a way of getting them into the business?
 
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I do agree, however, that adult entertainment web sites should conform to the .xxx TLD, as having previously worked in a school know it's a nightmare to even try to block everything. I don't see how the adult entertainment industry is against this as surely they don't want minors seeing their material, unless they think it's a way of getting them into the business?

How are you planning to regulate this worldwide? If I'm in some relatively lawless (or at least not so submissive to the religious right) country, and I set up my own porn website within the .com domain, what's to stop me? Unless you're perhaps expecting an army to a) trawl the internet all day every day looking at every new site (and old site, since a site's content is easily changeable) on the net, looking for naughty pictures, then b) police the world somehow to punish me to the extent that I won't try it again...

Just so someone's kid doesn't get to see a boob when they shouldn't? Yeah, cost/benefit seems about right...
 
Also I am not entirely sure what the long term effects are on the child that "sees internet porn".

how do they measure the impact?

I saw some porn I think when I was about 14...maybe a little younger.

was actually trying to download an eminem music video off napster at the time and it was named as such however it was some woman on top of a man...
annnnyway!

I have not been damaged by it...
saw some much worse things on mate's mobiles when the blue-tooth thing was first out and I seem ok!
 
How are you planning to regulate this worldwide?

It should be that when you register a website you should have to specify it's content. Much like enterprise filtering software works on categories.

If you enter false information, it gets banned immediately. But I understand that this would still need to be monitored.
 
I think most of us in here are pretty computer savvy, which cannot be said for others with young children. Many don't know how to set up a secure WiFi connection on their router, let alone provide "intelligent" filtering in the router which has to be manually updated.

Perhaps the ISP's could provide an easy "opt-in" system for parents where all browser activity goes through a proxy and filtered unless a username and password is supplied which by-passes the proxy server. Parents do need to take responsibility, but it could be made easier for them to do so.
 
Also I am not entirely sure what the long term effects are on the child that "sees internet porn".

It's not the 'safe' stuff that matters. We all know there are young people out there, that if they saw videos of men abusing women, even if it's fake, they would think it right to act like it towards any future girlfriends/wives and god forbid children they may have.
 
let alone provide "intelligent" filtering in the router which has to be manually updated.

I did think that while posting, but most BB companies provide a router, so perhaps the ISP's technical support could include setting this up, either walking them through it or remotely using the remote management functionality.
 
Perhaps the ISP's could provide an easy "opt-in" system for parents where all browser activity goes through a proxy and filtered unless a username and password is supplied which by-passes the proxy server. Parents do need to take responsibility, but it could be made easier for them to do so.

The problem is t's not an exact science and what might be blocked might not actually need to be blocked, so to be prompted each time would just annoy, anger even, most parents.
 
The problem is t's not an exact science and what might be blocked might not actually need to be blocked, so to be prompted each time would just annoy, anger even, most parents.

Not each time, on a per session/cookie basis, cleared when signed out.
 
Not each time, on a per session/cookie basis, cleared when signed out.

But then if you forget to sign out? The weakest link in any system is the human using it.
 
But then if you forget to sign out? The weakest link in any system is the human using it.

Auto log out after a period of time. But if parents are keen to use an "easy and simple" way to protect their kids, I'd hardly call switching off or logging off either onerous or difficult. If they really want to protect their kids, remembering to do so is hardly beyond the means of any normal person.
 
Wasn't this the party which promoted itself on less government involvement and more personal responsibility in May? It is true that I know adults who would genuinely struggle to turn on a computer yet their grandchild can navigate iPlayer with ease but keeping them ignorant hardly helps
 
I've been watching porn for the last two decades and I wouldn't want any kids watching what seems to be more the norm in pornography today. Watch a porn film from the 70's and all you've got normally is pretty much pretend love making, nowaday's it's well (for another forum but you catch my drift)

I'm not even a parent but I believe any steps that can be taken to protect youngsters from seeing this should be applauded.
 
I've been watching porn for the last two decades and I wouldn't want any kids watching what seems to be more the norm in pornography today. Watch a porn film from the 70's and all you've got normally is pretty much pretend love making, nowaday's it's well (for another forum but you catch my drift)

I'm not even a parent but I believe any steps that can be taken to protect youngsters from seeing this should be applauded.
I think it was that scouse comedian on his tour (as broadcast on the BBC) who made a joke about teenagers getting unrealistic portrayals and expectations from watching porn :laugh:
 
I've been watching porn for the last two decades and I wouldn't want any kids watching what seems to be more the norm in pornography today. Watch a porn film from the 70's and all you've got normally is pretty much pretend love making, nowaday's it's well (for another forum but you catch my drift)

I'm not even a parent but I believe any steps that can be taken to protect youngsters from seeing this should be applauded.

I don't think porn has changed as much as you think porn in the 70's and 80's wasn't pretend love making any more than it is now it's just back then alot of people watched the soft corn porn on cable channels that wern't (arn't?) allowed to show penetration or erect penises etc and so there was fake sex, that stuff all still exists now. It's just now a days most people don't get their porn from tv channels.

All the harder stuff still existed then but you had to go into shops etc rather than just type in a web address.

I know when I was a child there were some great vhs tapes hidden under our tv cabinet. While everyone was alot hairer in those days it was just as graphic.
 
uhoh polititians commenting on the internet again when they dont have a clue how it works :rolleyes:

"We already successfully regulate British TV channels, cinema screens, High Street hoardings and newsagent shelves to stop children seeing inappropriate images and mobile phone companies are able to restrict access to adult material so why should the internet be any different?"
:facepalm:

Four in every five children aged 14 to 16 admitted regularly accessing explicit photographs and footage on their home computers, according to Psychologies magazine.
thats ******** for a start, you will stuggle to find many 14-16 year old girls that admit to regularly looking at porn.

regardless, at 14 what is the problem with looking at porn?

MPs will discuss whether to bring in measures to increase protection for those under the age of 18.
so having sex yourself is fine at 16, but you cant watch other people have sex till your 18?
 
so having sex yourself is fine at 16, but you cant watch other people have sex till your 18?

That one still confuses the hell out of me.
 
so having sex yourself is fine at 16, but you cant watch other people have sex till your 18?

And make sure you don't take any pictures whilst you're doing it either:D
 

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