UKNM: Re: Protecting Children/Censorship

[Val Stevenson]

> Its is almost impossable to block the net which means

> people need to police the children not other adults.


On the contrary, it is incredibly easy to block the Net using software like

NetNanny, and if you do, your child will not be able to access web sites

with 'offensive' material such as the American Civil Liberties Union, the

National Organization for Women, the Electronic Frontier Foundation, Nizkor

(an online memorial to victims of the Holocaust), the International Gay and

Lesbian Human Rights Commission, the HIV/AIDS Information Center of the

Journal of the American Medical Association, Planned Parenthood or even,

closer to home, Fortean Times. (The total list would crash servers; check

out peacefire.org, a youth activism site, for more deserving but doomed

sites.) The operators often give no reason for their decisions - in some

cases, merely criticising filtering software has been sufficient to get your

name on the list.


> A really good child ISP is maybe needed for my ten year old sister because

> adults will be adults.


Excellent. I'm mildly curious at what age she will be permitted to start

developing her own judgement. Twenty-five used to be the age at which

middle-class girls were held to have developed enough sense to control their

allowances, but you may feel that's a bit prescriptive. My 12-year-old son

neither needs nor wants that sort of protection, and I expect he'll turn out

just fine. Ah well...


--

Val Stevenson


"I mean, there needs to be a wholesale effort against racial profiling,

which is illiterate children."

George W Bush, second presidential debate, October 11, 2000



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