Should the Internet be censored

[Missy86]

Do you think these new plans are good

I am all for stoping children being able to access porn but I think it should be the parents responsibility

I admit that I watch porn but I will not be opting opt of the porn filter because I have a fear that people who do will end up on some sort of data base

As a adult I don't think the government should be able to stop me watching things that are not illegal

 

[smokey]

I think its the wrong direction, parents should be watching over and monitoring what their children do online and have the ability to have their own filters and safety in place and it wont stop adults finding dodgy things because they can just turn it off.
I regards to parents and children I think it will just result in not watching what your children are doing and lets face it they are smart little buggers, LO is 3 and has already learnt how to turn the filter off on the tv media centre (we don't lock adult stuff but rather the cartoons because im sick to death of watching lion king 5-6 times a day)

 

[fantastica]

I'm undecided. I do think it's a good thing, but it needs to be done properly. As Smokey said, people will be able to bi-pass it anyway and it should be the parents' responsibility. However, if the filters worked properly (as atm certain filters will block things which they shouldn't, I think there are some concerns that it could block informative sites about sexuality etc.) then i'm all for it, if people want to watch it they can opt out and it may just stop children being able to so easily access material they shouldn't be.


The plans to get search engines to return no results for searches associated with child porn etc. are good, but i'd bet that most paedophiles would just laugh at that and continue on their way, so other things need to be put in place to stop that.


I do agree with online porn in the UK having the same restrictions as porn for sale as a hard copy, e.g. nothing depicting rape, and that would therefore be illegal in the UK.


I'm against censorship as a whole, and do fear that this is a small step into normalising certain forms of censorship, and do have suspicions about Cameron's motives, but ultimately the porn industry needs regulating, and until it is then I would rather it wasn't as available.

 

[kerrie24]

I think it should be the parents responsibility to monitor what their kids are doing.
What happens if this makes parents think their child is 'safe',then somebody comes along and grooms them on some apparently harmless site which isnt restricted?

Plus I think the perpetrators will be clever enough to work around it and it will be a giant waste of money.

 

[Midnight_Fairy]

There will still be a way! It's so easy to download that it wont be impossible for people to access porn. Control imo.

 

[Missy86]

My mil already has a porn and gambling filter on her Internet, bil who lives with them was telling me it blocks out completly innocent sites too

 

[Natsku]

Its a dangerous step, its not only going to be filtering out porn https://www.wired.co.uk/news/archive/2013-07/27/pornwall

Parents (anyone really) should take responsibility for internet in their own homes, they ought to stick with the opt-in system (i'd also worry that those opting out might be put into some database)

 

[Kate&Lucas]

I really don't know. Yes, parents should take responsibility with regards to censorship, but many don't. There are some horrendous things on the internet and hiding them from children as a default wouldn't be the worst thing.

I used to have a porn filter on my phone and it blocked BnB

 

[babycrazy1706]

I think its a good idea. Yes parents should take that responsibility but many many don't and it only takes one kid to download a vid and its shared instantly with the whole class.

 

[fannyadams]

Hmm in clearly in the minority here but yes I think you should have to opt in.
As the mother of a 21 year old I can tell you that from the age of about 6-7 he knew so much more about computers than me, my oh, my friends etc that he could find his way round anything. He knew how to change our passwords etc so I wouldn't stand a chance of blocking him.
It's also not just in your own house, their friends bring stuff to school on their phones or pass around a DVDs.
I'm not against porn and I'm well aware it's healthy for teenage boys (and girls) to seek it out but it's not just normal porn anymore and if you search free porn you get faced with all sorts of stuff.
My son tells me he worrys about the next generations growing up cos the stuff he's seen has had an impact and its only getting worse.
It worries me it really does.

 

[smokey]

I really don't know. Yes, parents should take responsibility with regards to censorship, but many don't. There are some horrendous things on the internet and hiding them from children as a default wouldn't be the worst thing.

I used to have a porn filter on my phone and it blocked BnB

Not surprised with some of the threads after 50 shades came out

 

[lhancock90]

Its a dangerous step, its not only going to be filtering out porn https://www.wired.co.uk/news/archive/2013-07/27/pornwall

Parents (anyone really) should take responsibility for internet in their own homes, they ought to stick with the opt-in system (i'd also worry that those opting out might be put into some database)

Thanks for this. Its the same thing i was going to post.
I agree it should be an opt-in system. This is the first time i have felt VERY uncomfortable about the level of Government control.

 

[Midnight_Fairy]

They do realise people will just use proxys?!

 

[Missy86]

Yeah I don't think they will be able to get rid of the proxys

 

[pinkpolkadot]

Its a dangerous step, its not only going to be filtering out porn https://www.wired.co.uk/news/archive/2013-07/27/pornwall

Parents (anyone really) should take responsibility for internet in their own homes, they ought to stick with the opt-in system (i'd also worry that those opting out might be put into some database)

Thanks for this. Its the same thing i was going to post.
I agree it should be an opt-in system. This is the first time i have felt VERY uncomfortable about the level of Government control.

Agree with this and I worry about the path it is leading us down, to pick a quote from the article that represents my feelings on this...

The ORG's Jim Killock says: "What's clear here is that David Cameron wants people to sleepwalk into censorship. We know that people stick with defaults: this is part of the idea behind 'nudge theory' and 'choice architecture' that is popular with Cameron."

Don't get me wrong I think some of this stuff needs to be kept out of kids' reach but that's my repsponsibility as a parent.

 

[JessicaM123]

Its a dangerous step, its not only going to be filtering out porn https://www.wired.co.uk/news/archive/2013-07/27/pornwall

Parents (anyone really) should take responsibility for internet in their own homes, they ought to stick with the opt-in system (i'd also worry that those opting out might be put into some database)

Thanks for this. Its the same thing i was going to post.
I agree it should be an opt-in system. This is the first time i have felt VERY uncomfortable about the level of Government control.

Agree with this and I worry about the path it is leading us down, to pick a quote from the article that represents my feelings on this...

The ORG's Jim Killock says: "What's clear here is that David Cameron wants people to sleepwalk into censorship. We know that people stick with defaults: this is part of the idea behind 'nudge theory' and 'choice architecture' that is popular with Cameron."

Don't get me wrong I think some of this stuff needs to be kept out of kids' reach but that's my repsponsibility as a parent.

this exactly

 

[Foogirl]

Of course the internet should be censored to protect children, but it should be done by parents. Internet filters don't work, they block what they shouldn't and let through what they should. But that isn't so much a problem for parental controls. They are simple to set up, and are a vital part of home internet security when you have children who will be online. To be honest, I'm a believer if you have children and you don't know how to protect them from the internet, then you don't let them use the computer. Parents of toddlers spend huge amounts of time and money looking at home safety, stair gates, cooker guards, door guards etc, but then refuse to make the same effort with the internet when their children get older.

I heard a mother moaning the other day about how easy it was for her son to accidentally find porn on the internet by clicking links. I'm on the internet pretty much most of the time and I cannot remember the last time I accidentally found porn. I don't suppose this mother had thought to talk to her partner about what he had been doing on the internet before the child was on there. And the whole supposition that paedophiles go looking for child porn by using google is ridiculous. Just because a search term was found on the computer of couple of high profile criminals. Did anyone actually say whether they had been successful? It is yet another situation were the media have taken one small part of a story and blown it up to be the main event, whipping up animosity against companies like google, when it is not their responsibility, nor within their power to police the internet.

Once again our politicians are kneejerking, jumping on the bandwagon and rolling out policy which is ineffective, misses the point and is purely designed to get the popular vote.

 

[fannyadams]

Maybe you don't search the same thing teenage boys do?
Someone I know posted on Facebook she was buying tickets to something and she clicked on a link which took her to a site with pics of abused children and beaten men and women.
Not something she would search for-she's a grandmother.

 

[bumpy_j]

They do realise people will just use proxys?!

This is exactly it - Tor browsing is pretty much impossible to trace, so many more people will be turning to that (especially those who use the internet for the already illegal and questionable) to avoid being put on some sort of list. It is not the Governments responsibility to filter legal things.

I am 100% against it and actually appalled that this is probably going ahead.

 

[Foogirl]

Maybe you don't search the same thing teenage boys do?
Someone I know posted on Facebook she was buying tickets to something and she clicked on a link which took her to a site with pics of abused children and beaten men and women.
Not something she would search for-she's a grandmother.

She was talking about a 9 year old, but that does go to the point I was making. Porn is rarely found accidentally.

If your friend found that, she should have reported it to Facebook, but as the point has been made so far, that would have been a proxy and no filter would have stopped it.