UK seriously considering opt in policy for online pornography.

[drater]

www.dailydot.com/news/uk-internet-opt-in-porn/

Am I the only one who thinks this is ridiculous? I hate the way that public figures are trying to make out that the Internet should be child safe. It's an adult place, with adult content, and if you want your kids to venture into it, you make them safe by using Netnanny or similar tools or by, and here's a radical idea, supervising them. You wouldn't (or shouldn't) go shopping in an adult store and expect to take your kid in there with you and have them cover everything so little timmy doesn't see some tittays, so don't let your kid meander round the Internet without some form of supervision.

Shouldn't it be a parents job to survey their children's internet use rather than a nanny government limiting it for everyone?

My main problem with this is why should the Gov be spending money on this when it is already available from all ISPs?

Every ISP that I know of has the ability to set permissions for each family member.

If people are that bothered there are additional programs that can be installed on the pc/latop/ipad.

Flatpackhamster- so online porn is just 'naked people' is it?

Uh huh.

FlatPack that's like saying It's ok to buy clothing and novelties made by abused children in the third world...because they will make it for others...it's not an excuse it's a reason.

"Am I the only one who thinks this is ridiculous?"

No you aren't the only one. It won't work and will be used instead of far more effective filters which already exist. This is a clear case of the government wanting to be seen to be doing 'something' even though the something is, at best, completely pointless, and at worst quite dangerous.

Also, why on earth are they taking advice from Esther Rantzen and the DM? Surely it would make more sense to ask people who actually have a clue about how internet technology works?!

Well I'm not talking about the principle of pornography. That's an emotive debate and completely separate to why I am against these proposals.

The proposals will not work and simply lull people into a false sense of security.

Presumably you are for the block because you hate pornography, feel it exploits women and this opt-in block is a partial block which is better than nothing. The fact we're using the 'protecting children' as an excuse is just convenience then and makes it harder for rational adults to point out that in actual fact...the proposals don't work.

The opt-in block is the proverbial chocolate fireguard and your position is basically to tell me that if I am against it then I am not protecting children and in favour of exploiting women. In actual fact I'm trying to say the solution doesn't work!

niceguy but they are being proposed BECAUSE of the principles involved. I am not using the protect our children as an excuse....it's a PART of the bigger picture.

You can't say the solution doesn't work yet. It's not been tried.

'People will kick off about this because they like porn'

As niceguy2 has pointed out, no, that's not the reason.

If someone told you they were going to erect a giant clingfilm bubble over the British Isles in case of zombie apocalypse, would your immediate response by 'Ooooh, great idea. I hate zombies, me.'?

Those of us saying 'THAT WOULDN'T BLOODY WORK' aren't actually necessarily zombie huggers...

It has been tried. Cf. UAE.

Doesn't work. Just google 'how do I access porn in the UAE?'

As an IT professional who specialises in networking, firewalls and dabbling in IT security sometimes I think actually I am in a better position than most to be able to say the solution won't work.

Don't kid yourself that the proposals are because of the principles. It's because the politician's don't understand the concept either and/or are too afraid to go against this out of fear of being accused of being a porn lover/child hater.

What would be more effective (and cheaper) is to educate parents into using the already free software such as K9 internet security of Microsoft Family Safety. These products you can install today and not only protect your children from porn but other stuff too such as violent websites, gambling and terrorism etc.

If your desire is to protect children, why not use a tool which is totally free, protects against more issues, available now and totally under your control?

Why demand big brother implement a half cooked, fundamentally flawed 'solution' at great cost just so you can sleep soundly at night fooling yourself into your children are protected?

NCForNow

niceguy but they are being proposed BECAUSE of the principles involved. I am not using the protect our children as an excuse....it's a PART of the bigger picture.

What principles? What bigger picture?

Can one of the people who want to filter/ban porn please outline to me, in bullet points, the arguments in favour of filtering/banning? All I'm seeing here is a huge amount of "BUT WHAT ABOUT DER CHILDRENSZZZ!?!?!?!?" without any actual, rational thought behind it.

maples lets say there are 300 porn channels (?)

It's very easy for your supplier to turn off individual channels to you, they supply them all.

Compare that to the internet where you have millions, billions, trillions of porn sites with no official supplier, more sites going live all the time.

How do you propose your ISP/government filters the entire internet?

It's not that we are perverts, or don't care about the children, it's just not possible to do, and it can't be made possible.

"You can't say the solution doesn't work yet. It's not been tried".

Yes you can say it doesn't work, because it is obviously technically inadequate, and it is not in any normal meaning of the word a "solution".

Now, the question here is - do you want policy on technical matters to be made in light of technical evidence (which in this case, unfortunately, shows a total failure) or the DM?

"Flat pack you have to opt in to get porn on tv. Why is having to opt in on the I"nternet any more of an issue than that? Are you campaigning for porn freely available on tv?"

EXACTLY!!

[TORCH]

Animation read my reply to Maples

Well, it's a bit like 'why is trying to build a Large Hadron Collider any more of an issue than changing a lightbulb?'.

HTH.

To my view I "opted in" when I bought my connection to the internet.

I knew that when I subscribed to my ISP that there was porn on the net.
I knew that when I subscribed to my ISP that there were racist sites on the net.
I knew that when I subscribed to my ISP that there were gossip sites on the net.
and news sites
and car sites
and and and and etc.

If you want to block porn do it at your end.
Use your ISP parent locks
if they are not good enough buy net nanny or any of the other Parental tools that are out there.
That will be a damn site more effective than a blanket policy that gives the Government free reign to restrict communication.

maples

Flat pack you have to opt in to get porn on tv. Why is having to opt in on the Internet any more of an issue than that?

Because the internet doesn't work like your TV. I've worked in IT for 12 years, on networks, on servers, on workstations. I know how the internet works. And frankly, with a statement like that, you clearly don't.

Are you campaigning for porn freely available on tv?

Is this as good as your argument gets? And what would be wrong with porn on TV?

There's a lot wrong with porn on TV or anywhere else.

The opt-in policy is still a stupid, unworkable and dangerous idea.

What is needed is regular education and support to all parents. It could be done through schools, maybe at parents' evenings, and could cover -

• installing, configuring and maintaining filtering software (people could bring along their devices if they were having probs)

• how to deal with the occasions when the filtering software lets something through or is deliberately circumvented - i.e. how to discuss what's out there with your DC - because no system is perfect and sooner or later they'll have access to it all.

• online bullying, both by people they know in RL and people they only know online. What to do, who to tell, coping strategies.

• online safety - social networking, posting photos, videos and personal info, stalking, grooming. What to do, who to tell.

Probably a few other things too.

Or, we can all wish very hard and believe in a big shiny politically popular PORN-BE-GONE button which will not work.

"Or, we can all wish very hard and believe in a big shiny politically popular PORN-BE-GONE button which will not work"

Quite.

But why let reality and facts get in the way of outrage.

Fab give half wit parents even more readon o abdecate their role

Of people keep a good dam eye on what the hell their chikdren are doing then this would not be a issue

Why dose a 11 year old need a internet ready phone if the phone really is for saftey as these parents normally bleet then you can get a £5 phone with out internet and they are also less likey to get robbed

Also the amount of parents who allow their children to have laptops in their rooms with out any parent locks astounds me bit hard to look at hard core porn if pc is in the front room now

People letting tyeir 9 year olds on face book a read the other day how some guy allowed his 5 year old a facebook page she was then groomed and sent sexual images

We have one pc which ds uses it has swaer worf filter and a proxy alarm also it emails me all the websites that he gose on a age bocker so any sites that are 12 and over are barred also we have a time lock to he cant sneak down in the middle of the night he has two hours every day thats plenty of time for homework amd a litlle r&r time

If he needs more he can ask
Sorry but i really feel your child seeing somthing the shouldnt is down to piss poor parenting

These children are not looking at porn at school or at the local libuary they are looking at it on he mobile and lap tops their less then viglinat parents give them

flatpackhamster their already is porn on tv its called babe sation and like any other good parents who uses net nanny you use the parent controls for your sky

Again only piss poor parents wouldnt

Any movie 12 and over requires a pin which is changed every 6 months also and their is a function were you can put a pin on seprate channels

Hi Bo. I don't have any of that. I could. But I choose not to. I've no filters, no time locks, no PIN on my Sky.

What we do have though is the computer in a communal area. Ditto with the TV. It's hard to try and surf porn when mum/dad is sat arms length away from you.

Despite our differing approached the one thing we have in common is that we are taking responsibility for what our kids do and see.

The 'PORN-BE-GONE' button (I love that phrase) may as well be the 'I ABDICATE RESPONSIBILITY' button. I guess that's not as catchy.

Mrbo I don't think it's fair or helpful to slam parents quite as much as you do.

All your precautions are very sensible. Now all you need to do is work out a system to stop your DS's mates from sending him anything via email or phone and to vet all his friends' parents' web filtering systems, and his friends' phones ... sadly DC do see porn at school on occasion. It only takes one to D/L it and it's passed around the rest.

This is not an excuse to abdicate responsibility - we should all do whatever we can to safeguard our DC - but it's almost guaranteed that something will get through at some point before our DC are 18, even if they don't search for it themselves, which is why it's important for parents to not only understand and feel confident with filtering technologies but also to understand what their DC might see and the issues raised by this and to feel confident about discussing those issues with their teens.

Part of my job is teaching basic IT to the Shit Scared. There are a lot of them and they are not all old. Lots of them are in their 40's and 50's - sort of parents of teens age ... They already feel stupid. They haven't grown up with this technology and it feels alien and uncontrollable. No wonder a PORN-BE-GONE button looks attractive!

They don't need telling that they're 'half wits' or 'piss poor', they need accessible education and support to help keep their (and our) DC safe.

PlentyOfPubeGardens

I run a club for OAPs 60+ some are 80 yrs old, they want to learn and go away with a whole host of information.

I get the some people feel stupid, but this is not rocket science.