Kids Online Safety Act will allow Attorney Generals to Censor the News.::Caitlin Vogus is Deputy Director of Advocacy at the Freedom of the Press Foundation.
Kids Online Safety Act will allow Attorney Generals to Censor the News.::Caitlin Vogus is Deputy Director of Advocacy at the Freedom of the Press Foundation.
I think everyone can agree that child safety is important. But the fact internet as it stands is not safe for kids is completely undeniable.
As always, however, censorship is not the solution, especially not if it’s headed by government. I’m honestly not sure what the solution is.
Parents can childproof their homes, buy car seats, etc.
But when you say “child safety is important”, all I hear is “the government needs to childproof the country”, and all that means to those in power is “yes, more police state powers for me, thank you very much”
I know that’s not what you’re intending, but when you give an inch, like your comment did, they’ll take a mile. Don’t give an inch.
I appreciate the comment!
If you’ve ever been a kid with stricter parents, you’ll know that there’s always a way around child-proofing. It’s an unfortunate reality. Additionally, if you’ve ever been in a school, you’ll know that if you add ‘unblocked’ to the end of your Google search, you’ll find exactly what you wanted to find. Restrictions can only go so far. (Sorry, I don’t mean this to sound snarky.)
I believe there is a fine line between censorship and limited availability. For instance, many of the internet’s ‘big brother’ algorithms will recommend suggestive content right off the bat. I think, (and this is my personal opinion) that larger services such as social media sites, search engines, etc. should be held responsible for the content that their platform shows to children. I definitely think that a little checkbox saying “I’m over 18” is a token effort at best.
I’m conflicted on this matter, as I believe strongly in privacy and anonymity and in the open, collaborative nature of the Internet; but, on the other hand, allowing children unfettered access to said Internet has been proven to be a bad idea. So, I’m somewhat undecided on the issue as far as the role of government or the role of service providers.
Parental roles are clear, however. Thanks for your comment ant have a lovely evening.
Parenting. The solution is parenting.
Censorship is fine as long as it’s controlled exclusively by parents and caregivers. As soon a government, corporation, school, or any authority gets the slightest hint of control it always results in an abuse of power and manipulation.
Until kids learn to bypass Net Nanny by using the Tor network.
I think the system is broken, but my opinion isn’t of much value as I don’t have a solution for the problem. It’s a classic debate question.
I don’t have the perfect solution either but I don’t think some GOP shitstain from a state with less people than my city has it.
Parents have to parent. I got kids myself and so far I have never felt the urge to censor stuff. I do discuss it with them and yes I generally know what they are looking at. Little bit of a tangent but my 9 year old asked if she could take a book out of the library about magical Jesus stories. I told her it is a silly book but if she wanted to she could.
No, I don’t think a 14 year old should be looking at hardcore porn. Yes I would be very unhappy if I found out my kids were on stromfront. All I think we can do is try to make them good people and accept the fact that there are dangerous stuff out there and they will have to face it one day.