British MP Calls For Pornography 'Opt-In' 335
Robadob writes "Internet providers should create an 'opt-in' system to prevent children gaining access to pornography, a Conservative MP has said. Claire Perry wants age-checks to be attached to all such material to reduce exposure to it. The mother-of-three, who has prompted a Commons debate on the issue, said internet firms should 'share the responsibility' of protecting children."
Claire Perry, way to admit to being a bad mother. (Score:5, Insightful)
Here's a ground-breaking idea: (Score:5, Insightful)
Also: come on people, it's not like your children are going to be scarred for life if they see a penis. Get over yourselves.
Internet Fragmentation (Score:4, Insightful)
Nothing to see here. (Score:2, Insightful)
Unfortunately the internet will be much more detailed in it explanation.
How about (Score:4, Insightful)
We just leave kids the fuck alone? They don't need to be 'protected' from pornography anymore than they need to be 'protected' from any other kind of media. It doesn't harm them. It may raise some questions, it may gross them out, but it's not a life-ruining situation that must be stopped at all cost. Protect them from things that can actually harm them, not media.
This "for the children" mentality, as many have said, has been and always will be illogical.
Not an invasion of privacy, no sir (Score:5, Insightful)
"Alright, citizens of the United Kingdom, you're all going to need to opt-in if you want to get porn on your computers at home. So everyone who likes to watch porn on their computers, please raise your hand and sign this form. Here, can you pass this around for the perverts to sign?"
Mind you, I'd be standing in front with my hand up, jumping up and down yelling, "Oooh, me! Me! I want to sign!" But maybe some people would have a problem with that.
Opt in list (Score:1, Insightful)
I'm sure they'll use the list that is inevitably created if they went through with this responsibly. Of course they wouldnt take that list and start door knocking people on the list first when there was a sexual assault in the area.
I'm sure they wouldn't cross reference the list with other professions to fire people who were on the list who worked with or around children.
The list of things that I'm sure they wouldnt do is quite long and dangerous.
Re:Claire Perry, way to admit to being a bad mothe (Score:5, Insightful)
When I was going through those awkward teenage years I got curious, like pretty much every other guy ever born. But, unlike those unlucky enought to be born before the internet, I had a safe place to experiment and explore - somewhere I could get away from with the yank of a power cord, complete with anonymity and free from labels. I didn't need to hang out in sketchy nightclubs inviting all kinds of potential dangers, I didn't need to risk STDs or scarring or pregnancy or whatever else - it was all safe and relativly educational, and without having to leave the house. I could look at girl bits and relieve some pressure, I could look at guy bits and see if those odd feelings were going to last or if they were passing, I could look at various combinations of those and explore the full richness of human sexual experience - and I could do a little light flirting when and where it *ahem* arose.
I want my kids looking at porn at home. It's safer than looking for sex on the streets, and they just may learn a few things.
Re:Claire Perry, way to admit to being a bad mothe (Score:5, Insightful)
While it’s almost a rite of passage, a teen shouldn’t have to sit up in the early AM watching scrambled porn and hoping for an occasional flash of breast. They shouldn’t have to try to sneak into an adult store so they can indulge their curiosity about leather, or call sex lines to see if they actually like dudes. The internet gives kids the opportunity to explore their own undefined sexuality without leaving the house – it’s a great way for teens to learn what they like, what they don’t like, what’s even possible, without incurring the risks of going out into the world and doing the same.
I guess I’m just trying to say that good parenting should be about letting your kids grow up safely into holistic people – and that includes a developed sexual identity. Part of that means providing them the ability to learn, to explore, and ultimately to decide.
Re:Here's a ground-breaking idea: (Score:5, Insightful)
How about parents take all the "responsibility of protecting children." Seeing as they are the ones who want to decide what "protecting" means, why should the ISPs, or government, or anyone else have to "share" (or more accurately in this case, shoulder entirely by themselves) that responsibility? Also: come on people, it's not like your children are going to be scarred for life if they see a penis. Get over yourselves.
No, but if they see a breast, they'll be severely stunted, emotionally, and God help them if they ever glimpse a pussy before they turn thirty. Gagh. Spare us from the prudes.
... kinda lost interest in pictures, at least compared to all my friends who were still being victimized by their parents, "forbidden fruit syndrome" and all that. They would come over to my place and see this huge stack of Playboys and Penthouses sitting in my room, and would flip out: "Oh my God, hide 'em quick before your parents get home!" When I explained the situation, the reaction was, "Gosh, your Dad is so cool."
... nature. That's it, folks: the human body isn't some artificial evil, it's who we are.
My father handled the whole pornography issue very simply when I was twelve or thirteen years old. He trucked over to his ex-Marine brother's place, picked up a three-foot stack of magazines, brought them home and plopped them on my bed. I still recall my eyes bulging out of my head. So naturally I overindulged for a week or two and then
Now I'm a senior engineer, about the only crime I've ever committed is the occasional speeding ticket (very occasional, I've had three in my entire life, lucky I guess) and some of my best friends are women. I also prefer participation to observation when it comes to the female body, and otherwise have experienced no ill effects from my early exposure to, well
If your kid needs psychotherapy after seeing a picture of a nude woman, it's because you convinced him that what he's doing is so wrong that he needs to punish himself for it.
Fucking prudes. They should all just get laid, and get over it.
Re:Claire Perry, way to admit to being a bad mothe (Score:5, Insightful)
True, but dirty magazines lack the breadth of the internet. You're not going to find that your dad's secret stash accurately reflects the full expanse of sexual predilections,
I hate to break this to you, but - neither does any porn flick. The "full expanse" includes emotions, touch and smell and many other fine details that even the best porn does at most hint at.
I'm with you on most of your points, but I consider it equally important that kids are taught the difference between actors in a movie and people passionate about each other (no matter if it's love or a ONS).
Re:.SEX & .XXX & Routers.. OH MY! (Score:4, Insightful)
Exactly how do you define porn?
A naked breast? A girl in a bikini? A diagram of female/male anatomy?
Different people define porn in different ways. Should wikipedia be changed to wikipedia.xxx because there are some naked pictures on there? Who decides?
Every individual need to make the categorizations for themselves. Supervise your kids when they're on the internet.
Re:Internet Fragmentation (Score:3, Insightful)
In any case, it's not really all that different from the same issues you get in real life. Parents complaining about a brothel opening up near a school, or billboards advertising 'gentlemen's clubs', or sex-related ads about premature ejaculation placed in between kids shows, etc.
The main thing that is attractive about the internet is that it *is* a lawless, unregulated arena of society. That's what I, and many others like about it. But it's not that strange that more conservative people want it to have regulations and laws placed over it like other facets of society do.
Backwards, again (Score:5, Insightful)
This is like the .xxx TLD. It's exactly backwards. We don't make the entire physical world child-friendly; we build playgrounds and schools and other kid-specific places for them so they can enjoy themselves safely, and adults can do the wide variety of things that adults do everywhere else that eight-year-olds probably shouldn't.
The prudes and their kids should be pushing for a TLD that is "family friendly", whatever that means to them, and let everyone else go about their business. It could be .kid, or something else -- .beige, .vanilla, .whitebread, .boring, .babyjesus, and .uptight come readily to mind. They configure their machines to access only that domain, and filtering software providers could focus their efforts on making sure .lame domain registrants host only incredibly dull content instead of blocking access to breast cancer awareness sites in the net at large.
What's next? (Score:2, Insightful)
Re:How adorable (Score:5, Insightful)
A politician who says 'think of the children'... (Score:3, Insightful)
...has something else than protecting children on his or her mind. Expansion of power, maybe religious zeal, possibly just an expression of their own stunted ideas of right and wrong. Maybe I've turned into a cynic when it comes to politicians but if that is the case they have nothing but themselves to blame. 'Think of the children' is to politics what 'Hitler' is to the 'net, call it Cynic's corollary to Godwin's law.
And yes, I have children. I will do the thinking when it comes to them and I don't need meddlesome politicians to decide for me.
Re:How adorable (Score:3, Insightful)
After clicking throught the age warning warning warning explicit sexual content etc no one under 21 years of age etc. It's not like you type poesjes.nl in your browser and the vagina's pop up in your face.
I understand your point, but it illustrates the problem with the 'solution' Mrs. Perry proposes. It's just not feasable unless we globally decide to move all the porn sites to a special tld. And this will always be blocked by people who oppose porn on principle grounds and think their principles extend to others or at least should do so.
Re:Story time. (Score:1, Insightful)
Even if this opt-in made sense (which it doesn't), (Score:3, Insightful)
asking the ISPs instead of the hosters to do it, would be like asking the public transport companies and those who run the roads to enforce age checks before carrying people to porn shops and bars.
Internet firms and protecting children (Score:1, Insightful)
How about the parents accepting responsibility for protecting their own children and not using the Internet like television as another BabySitter ..
Opt-in is already there (Score:2, Insightful)
Ms Perry added: "British internet service providers should share the responsibility to keep our children safe so I am calling for ISPs to offer an 'opt-in' system that uses age verification to access pornographic material."
There already is an opt-in when you buy the service. You bought the service, not your children, it is your responsibility how you let then use it. If you want to limit what your children do with it, either educate them on it, or if that is too much for you get some software that do a default blacklist and add you own whitelist of sites that are okay for them to visit. Parenting is not something you can magically get others to do for you.
Dumb ass (Score:3, Insightful)
"The mother-of-three [...] said internet firms should 'share the responsibility' of protecting children."
This father-of-one says Perry needs to get her head out of her ass and do some actual parenting.
Since when (Score:2, Insightful)
Re:Not an invasion of privacy, no sir (Score:3, Insightful)
"All people who sign this list will also automatically be tracked to make sure you're not downloading illegal porn, and the list will be made public."
Want to sign now?