On Sat, 9 Jun 2007 17:38:20 -0400 Keegan.Holley@sungard.com wrote:
IMHO, unless it's something blatantly illegal such as kiddie porn and the like I don't think content filtering is the responsibility of the ISP's. Besides all of the conspiracy theories that are bound to surface, I think forcing ISP's to block content is a bit like forcing car makers to police what can be played on the radio. I think that giving parents the option of manually turning off porn sites would be an improvement. Although still not within the responsibility of the ISP they are in the best place to implement such a technology. However, I don't like the idea of a mandatory global traffic filtering initiative.
I think in the home is the best place to implement the technology - a power switch or BIOS password. Here is a true analogy. My father worked for a TV station, so you'd think we'd have the TV on all the time, yet right through up until after I left high school, my parents wanted to limit my TV watching ... significantly. How did they do it ? (a) they didn't buy a TV set and put it in my bedroom - the TV was in a common area of the house i.e. the lounge and/or dining room (b) they didn't allow me to watch the TV unsupervised So what I don't understand is why parents put computers in their childrens' bedrooms and don't supervise their children's Internet use. Substituting a piece of filting software that won't ever do as good a job as a parent in enforcing parental responsibility is just bad parenting in my opinion, and not the responsiblity of government or ISPs. Regards, Mark. -- "Sheep are slow and tasty, and therefore must remain constantly alert." - Bruce Schneier, "Beyond Fear"