News Cameron pushes on porn-filtering programme

[Gareth Halfacree]

Will 'educate' buyers at point-of-sale.
http://www.bit-tech.net/news/bits/20...cameron-porn/1

[Maki role]

This is just a slippery slope that we really should avoid. It's bad enough with search engines tailoring results, this would just make everything worse. How long until the filters start getting a abused by various parties?

[theshadow2001]

I wonder if they can produce evidence that the problem this is supposed to combat even exists. Nice picture by the way Gareth!

[Gareth Halfacree]

Originally Posted by theshadow2001

Nice picture by the way Gareth!

You have *no* idea how happy I was when I found that on the Number 10 Press Office site. Talk about the perfect image for the story!

[law99]

To be fair, when I was a kid, if it was as easy as it is now I'd have been all bored with sex by the time I was 12. Either that or I'd be some sort of addict above and beyond my current understanding.

In the meantime, it doesn't sound that bad to me... unless of course they use it as a template to do other things. I don't see how it should be the ISPs responsibility though. A crash course in some user software = fine.

[Cerberus90]

I thought most ISPs already had filtering like this which could be turned on if requested.

It's not exactly hard to setup local filtering anyway, I bet there's something in a Which guide about it,

[ShinyAli]

Domain names ending in .xxx, designed for pornographic websites have been on sale for a while now but have they done any good?
Porn sites that don't care who views their content wont use .xxx as they don't want their content filtered.

Prime Minister David Cameron has plans to push content filtering systems on parents, enforcing their use via 'education' at point-of-sale in a similar way to the current TV Licensing system.

Yeah, that will work well considering the majority of children know more about using computers than their parents ever will and given that many parents buy their children 18 rated games and allow them to watch DVD's and TV programmes that are meant for adults

At point of sale, "Do you have any children" replies "No"...Big Brother fails again

[VipersGratitude]

Originally Posted by ShinyAli

At point of sale, "Do you have any children" replies "No"...Big Brother fails again

Rather - "Do you have any children", replies "Yes...Oh crap! I left them at the pub!"

[ShinyAli]

Originally Posted by VipersGratitude

Rather - "Do you have any children", replies "Yes...Oh crap! I left them at the pub!"

Yeah, but she was eight and probably finishing her pint off

[Nexxo]

Takes a long time when you keep popping out for fag breaks.

[Shirty]

... and having casual sex and breaking my windows and defacing my flower beds.

/proper old man rant

[Lance]

I actually think this is a very good idea.

I once was on the laptop of someone I was babysitting (about 6 years ago) and I found tons on porn sites in the history of his computer. This was a 9 year old kid, he should not be considering in that way sex at that age, its just not good for you. This is not a joke and I honestly found it quite distressing.

His parents could be blamed, but I don't think that's really fair as to be honest I NEVER would have expected someone that age to need to be protected, because this should not even be on their radar.

The lines between oppression and protection are fine and dangerous to walk, but sometimes the opt in is better than the opt out, as long as there is an option.

[steveo_mcg]

Originally Posted by ShinyAli

Yeah, that will work well considering the majority of children know more about using computers than their parents ever will and given that many parents buy their children 18 rated games and allow them to watch DVD's and TV programmes that are meant for adults

Thing is though this is changing. The guys who were young when the internet was Hampster Dance and Geocities are growing up and having kids, in a few years this problem will become less and less of an issue as the "adult" population becomes more internet savvy... They, after all, did build it.

[Shirty]

Originally Posted by Lance

I actually think this is a very good idea.

I once was on the laptop of someone I was babysitting (about 6 years ago) and I found tons on porn sites in the history of his computer. This was a 9 year old kid, he should not be considering in that way sex at that age, its just not good for you. This is not a joke and I honestly found it quite distressing.

His parents could be blamed, but I don't think that's really fair as to be honest I NEVER would have expected someone that age to need to be protected, because this should not even be on their radar.

The lines between oppression and protection are fine and dangerous to walk, but sometimes the opt in is better than the opt out, as long as there is an option.

I understand the sentiment behind this and I too find it truly shocking. BUT it is up to the parents to attempt to filter out not just pornography, but gambling, gore, adult themes etc.

I would do this as a matter of course regardless of the age of my daughter when she starts using the internet, because you just never know what they might innocently stumble across.

I'll just add that I think forcing people to opt in at point of sale seems a non-problematic approach, those who are allowed to view this sort of material will hardly be inconvenienced by a single check box in the ordering process, or the need to provide a credit card for authorisation. The point is not to restrict access to pornography as they do with illegal themes, but simply only to allow access to those who feel they need it.

[Corky42]

The internet will go the way of all media, censored and/or banned/blocked, it already happens with all other Media, Films, Books, Magazines, etc, etc.

So its only a matter of time before government tells us what is acceptable for us to read/watch on the internet as well.

[Shirty]

To be fair, unless I'm reading this really wrong, the government aren't actually going to block anything. They are just going to make you ask your ISP to allow you to watch adult material when you sign up.

For a huge proportion of households this will make no difference (yes I realise that the demographic on this particular forum*might* just feel differently). It will also be a filter that could be lifted retrospectively.

[GeorgeStorm]

Originally Posted by Lance

I actually think this is a very good idea.

I once was on the laptop of someone I was babysitting (about 6 years ago) and I found tons on porn sites in the history of his computer. This was a 9 year old kid, he should not be considering in that way sex at that age, its just not good for you. This is not a joke and I honestly found it quite distressing.

His parents could be blamed, but I don't think that's really fair as to be honest I NEVER would have expected someone that age to need to be protected, because this should not even be on their radar.

The lines between oppression and protection are fine and dangerous to walk, but sometimes the opt in is better than the opt out, as long as there is an option.

To me the fact a 9 year old has his own laptop is pretty bad.
What happened to playing with lego etc?


My parents found out the hard way (as did I) that they had to try and limit what I viewed online.

I'm not a massive fan of it in general. However since a lot of sites don't have age limits, and even then they don't work, it may be ok, no different to limiting who can buy pornographic magazines etc.

[ShinyAli]

Originally Posted by steveo_mcg

Thing is though this is changing. The guys who were young when the internet was Hampster Dance and Geocities are growing up and having kids, in a few years this problem will become less and less of an issue as the "adult" population becomes more internet savvy... They, after all, did build it.

True, but there will always be some parents/step parents/ legal guardians that are irresponsible and just can't be bothered or just don't care enough, I come from a background where if the internet had been available when I was a kid I could have done what I wanted on it.

I think there are just too many variables in parenting and home life for children to be able to cover every possible scenario of them accessing unsuitable material, you might be able to lock down the home PC but what about net access on phones, pads, tablets, consoles, I don't think many parents will be able to keep up with it all, you could deny your children these devices but there will always be a friend of theirs that has something to access the net on.

[[PUNK] crompers]

Originally Posted by Corky42

The internet will go the way of all media, censored and/or banned/blocked, it already happens with all other Media, Films, Books, Magazines, etc, etc.

So its only a matter of time before government tells us what is acceptable for us to read/watch on the internet as well.

Tin foil hats ahoy. Seriously mate, its not that bad. When was the last time a film was actually properly banned?

Seems like a reasonable idea to me, plenty of kids have laptops/tablets nowadays and even the advertising in certain corners of the internet can be a bit rich.

[blacko]

i wonder if Dave has ran this past his wife?

because we all know she must do a few googles to look at other men because he's a boring f*rt.